Roberto Carlos Palacios Mestas (born December 28, 1972) is a

Peruvian Peruvians ( es, peruanos) are the citizens of Peru. There were Andean and coastal ancient civilizations like Caral, which inhabited what is now Peruvian territory for several millennia before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century; Peruvian p ...

retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Palacios is Peru's record cap holder and played most of his career for

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A. is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, football team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by engineer Richard Bentín Mujica ...

, which was the team he started his career and later retired with at the end of the 2011 season.

Early life

Roberto Palacios grew up in the

Chorrillos District Chorrillos is a Districts of Peru, district of the Lima Province in Peru and part of the city of Lima. It gets its name from the Spanish language, Spanish word for "trickle of water". The district was founded as San Pedro de los Chorrillos and serv ...

in Lima. Palacios was introduced to soccer at an early age by his soccer-loving dad, and he played on regional teams in his early years .

Club career

Palacios became a player of Sporting Cristal, where he played in his youth. Palacios made his debut with Sporting Cristal in 1991, when his team faced Deportivo Municipal in late October 1991. Palacios then scored his first goal in the following week against Universitario de Deportes. Palacios was a successful player, and scored many goals for both his clubs and the National Team. He is

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d "El Chorrillano" or "Chorri". He was regarded, at his peak, by some as one of the best Peruvian players of the 90's. In Peru, Palacios has only played for one club,

. Outside of Peru he has played for several clubs such as

Puebla F.C. Club Puebla, formerly Puebla F.C. is a Mexican professional football club based in the city of Puebla, competing in the Liga MX. Known as ''La Franja'' ("The Striped Ones"), the team shirt features a diagonal stripe (traditionally blue on white ...

(Mexico),

Cruzeiro Esporte Clube Cruzeiro Esporte Clube (), known simply as Cruzeiro, is a Brazilian sports club based in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Cruzeiro is mostly known for its association football team. It plays ...

(Brasil),

Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara The Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (, ''Autonomous University of Guadalajara''), commonly abbreviated to UAG or Autónoma, is a coeducational, independent, private university based in the Mexican city of Guadalajara. Established in 1935, ...

(Mexico), Monarcas Morelia (Mexico),

Deportivo Cali Asociación Deportivo Cali, best known as Deportivo Cali, is a Colombian sports club based in Cali, most notable for its football team, which currently competes in the Categoría Primera A. Deportivo Cali is one of the most successful footba ...

(Colombia) and

Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito Liga Deportiva Universitaria (), often referred to as Liga de Quito, LDU, is an Ecuadorian professional football club based in Quito. They play in the Serie A, the highest level of the Ecuadorian professional football league. They play their ho ...

from

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. While playing for LDU Quito, "Chorri" was involved in a fightBarcelona vs liga puñetiza
, ''YouTube''. Retrieved January 20, 2012. and got suspended. This was caused because he scored a chalaca goal.

International career

"Chorri" was well known for his amazing 'chorrigolazos' (for his ability to surprise top goalkeepers by scoring from far away despite his small size) which nearly took Peru to the last 3 FIFA World Cups. Palacios had a long run with the

Peru national football team The Peru national football team represents Peru in men's international football. The national team has been organised, since 1927, by the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF). The FPF constitutes one of the ten members of FIFA's South American ...

that resulted in a record 128 caps and 19 goals for his country. He retired from the Peruvian National squad on May 25, 2012.

Outside football

Roberto Palacios and his father were part of the

Million Man March The Million Man March was a large gathering of African-American men in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995. Called by Louis Farrakhan, it was held on and around the National Mall. The National African American Leadership Summit, a leading ...

. Palacios is also a children's activist. He frequently works with

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

to help feed the poor children of Africa, and sometimes even by flying over and donating football gear and accessories. He recently donated a fair share of money to the

UNEP The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

to help the people of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

in the wake of the tragic 2010 earthquake.

Honours

Club

Sporting Cristal *

Primera División Peruana Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

LDU Quito *

Serie A de Ecuador The Liga Pro Betcris, simply known as the Liga Pro, or the Serie A, is a professional football league in Ecuador. At the top of the Ecuadorian football league system, it is the country's premier football competition. Contested by sixteen clubs, i ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

International

Peru *

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which national ...

: 1999

Individual

*Peruvian Player on the Year: 1994, 1995, 1996

References

External links

*
Roberto Palacios
at

rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

Roberto Palacios
at delgol.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Palacios, Roberto 1972 births Living people Footballers from Lima Association football midfielders Peruvian footballers Peru international footballers FIFA Century Club Sporting Cristal footballers Club Puebla players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Tecos F.C. footballers Atlético Morelia players Atlas F.C. footballers Deportivo Cali footballers L.D.U. Quito footballers Al Nassr FC players Peruvian Primera División players Liga MX players Categoría Primera A players Ecuadorian Serie A players Saudi Professional League players Expatriate footballers in Brazil Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Mexico Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Colombia Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Expatriate footballers in Ecuador Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Peruvian expatriate footballers 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players