Javier Vicente Wanchope Watson (born 10 August 1968) is a former
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
n
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
striker, who played most of his career with Deportivo Saprissa. He is the current manager of Panamanian club Atlético Chiriquí.
He was the second famous Wanchope soccer player to emerge in Costa Rica, after his dad
Vicente
Vicente is an Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese name. Like its French variant, Vincent, it is derived from the Latin name ''Vincentius'' meaning "conquering" (from Latin ''vincere'', "to conquer").
Vicente may refer to:
Location
*São Vicente, Cap ...
, who played in the 1950s and 1960 with
Herediano
Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...
and Limonense. His younger brother is international soccer forward Paulo Wanchope, and his uncle is current coach and former player Carlos Watson.
Club career
Javier began his career with Herediano, a team where all his soccer playing family members have played. He was transferred to Club Nacional de Football, where he played for 2 years in the Primera Division Uruguaya. He also played for
Defensor Sporting
Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievemen ...
. His style of playing was similar to his brother Paulo's, and was projecting himself to a successful international career when a knee injury cut his career short, and almost ended it before it even started. He returned to his country to play with Deportivo Saprissa, where he won two national championships, as well as two CONCACAF Champions Cups. He was an excellent scorer for
Saprissa
Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. The team's signature colours are purple ...
He played with his national team, during two World Cup qualifiers, and was part of the
1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship
The 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship, the first edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Dalian in People's Republic of China from July 31, 1985, to August 11, 1985. Players born after August 1, 1968, ...
held in China, the first FIFA World Cup tournament where Costa Rica ever appeared.
Managerial career
After retiring, Wanchope became manager at second division El Roble and assistant manager at Herediano in 2010 alongside