Luis Héctor Cristaldo Ruiz Díaz (born August 31, 1969 in
Formosa, Argentina
Formosa () is the capital city of the Argentine province of Formosa, on the banks of the Paraguay River, opposite the Paraguayan city of Alberdi, about north from Buenos Aires, on National Route 11. The city has a population of about 234,000 ...
) is an
Argentine-born
Bolivian
football midfielder
A midfielder is an outfield position in association football.
Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...
.
He is Bolivia's national team record cap holder alongside
Marco Sandy
Marco Antonio Sandy Sansusty (born 29 August 1971) is a Bolivian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current assistant manager of Jorge Wilstermann.
Playing career Club
On club level he spent the majority o ...
.
Club career
Born in Argentina, he relocated to
Santa Cruz, Bolivia
Santa Cruz de la Sierra (; "Holy Cross of the Mountain Range"), commonly known as Santa Cruz, is the largest city in Bolivia and the capital of the Santa Cruz department.
Situated on the Pirai River in the eastern Tropical Lowlands of Bolivia ...
at the age of 15. Cristaldo then began attending the prestigious
Tahuichi football academy, and by the time he was 18 years old he made his official debut in first division. He played for Bolivian teams
Oriente Petrolero
Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero () is a Bolivian football club based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. They play at the 38,000-capacity Estadio Tahuichi Aguilera. Oriente have been Bolivian champions five times, Copa Aerosur winners two ti ...
(1990–92) and
Bolívar (1993–98), winning 4 national titles combined during those years.
In 1998, he went abroad to play for
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...
in Spain and later with
Cerro Porteño
Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football clubs in Paraguay. Its presi ...
and
Sol de América in Paraguay, not to mention a previous spell he had during 1994 with Argentine club
Mandiyú de Corrientes and legendary
Diego Maradona
Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the F ...
as the manager.
In 2001, Cristaldo returned to Bolivia and played with
The Strongest for the next six years. In 2007, during his second spell with Oriente Petrolero he called it quits, laying his football career to rest permanently after seventeen years of professional football.
International career
Cristaldo played at the
1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship
The FIFA U-16 World Championship 1987, the second edition of the tournament, was hosted by Canada and held in the cities of Montreal, Saint John, St. John's, and Toronto between 12 July and 25 July 1987. Players born after 1 August 1970 could p ...
in Canada.
He and
Marco Sandy
Marco Antonio Sandy Sansusty (born 29 August 1971) is a Bolivian football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is the current assistant manager of Jorge Wilstermann.
Playing career Club
On club level he spent the majority o ...
hold the record for the most appearances for the
Bolivia national team with 93 international matches and 5 goals between 1989 and 2005, including two appearances in the
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...
.
rsssf: Bolivia record international footballers
Cristaldo made his international debut on September 10, 1989 in a World Cup Qualifier against Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
in Montevideo (2-0 loss) and equalled Sandy's record in his final match against Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in October 2005. He represented his country in 33 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and at the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup.[
]
Honours
Club
* Oriente Petrolero
Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero () is a Bolivian football club based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. They play at the 38,000-capacity Estadio Tahuichi Aguilera. Oriente have been Bolivian champions five times, Copa Aerosur winners two ti ...
(1)
** Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano
Liga or LIGA may refer to:
People
* Līga (name), a Latvian female given name
* Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter
Sports
* Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain
* Liga ...
: 1990
* Bolívar (3)
** Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano
Liga or LIGA may refer to:
People
* Līga (name), a Latvian female given name
* Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter
Sports
* Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain
* Liga ...
: 1994, 1996, 1997
* The Strongest (3)
** Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano
Liga or LIGA may refer to:
People
* Līga (name), a Latvian female given name
* Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter
Sports
* Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain
* Liga ...
: 2003 (A), 2003 (C), 2004 (C)
References
External links
*
BDFA profile
comunidadboliviana article
Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cristaldo, Luis
1969 births
Living people
People from Formosa Province
Argentine emigrants to Bolivia
Naturalized citizens of Bolivia
Association football defenders
Argentine footballers
Bolivian footballers
Bolivia international footballers
Bolivia youth international footballers
1993 Copa América players
1995 Copa América players
1997 Copa América players
1999 Copa América players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players
2004 Copa América players
Oriente Petrolero players
Club Bolívar players
Textil Mandiyú footballers
Sporting de Gijón players
Cerro Porteño players
The Strongest players
Guabirá players
Bolivian expatriate footballers
Expatriate footballers in Spain
Expatriate footballers in Paraguay
Bolivian Primera División players
La Liga players
Club Deportivo Guabirá managers