Jorge Samuel Caballero Álvarez (; born 24 December 1974 in

Puerto Lempira Puerto Lempira or Auhya Yari is the Miskito capital of the Gracias a Dios department in northeastern Honduras, located on the shores of the Caratasca Lagoon. Though it does not have paved roads, it is the largest town in the La Mosquitia regio ...

Gracias a Dios department Gracias a Dios (; "Thanks to God", or "Thank God") is one of the 18 departments (''departamentos'') into which Honduras is divided. The departmental capital is Puerto Lempira; until 1975 it was Brus Laguna. History Once a part of the Mosquito Co ...

, Honduras) is a retired Honduran football defender. He currently is the president of Honduran national league club Deportes Savio.

Club career

Caballero began his career with hometown club Deportivo Melgar. He then joined Olimpia, playing with the team from 1996 until transferring overseas in 2001. The central defender moved to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

to play for

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a ...

, where his second season was hampered by a long knee injury lay-off. He would remain in Udine until moving to

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

in 2004. He only played in 2 cup games for them and then signed for Nacional in

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 ...

, but the move did not materialise since Nacional had too many foreigners in their squad, so he joined

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 achievem ...

instead. In Uruguay he was unlucky with injuries again. At the start of 2005, he moved to Major League Soccer and the Chicago Fire. Caballero had a disappointing 2005 with the club, and was released. He spent the 2006 preseason with the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, lat ...

China

Caballero had a lengthy spell with Chinese side Changchun Yatai and played in the 2008 AFC Champions League with them. In the 2008-2009 Winter Market it was reported that two teams from Honduras, Marathon and Olimpia, were interested in the signing of Samuel Caballero after he publicly stated his desire to return to Honduras in order to be close to family and return to the

National Team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. However, the player still had a contract with the Chinese Club Changchun Yatai and stated that if he did not receive any offers he would return to the club and complete his contract.

Career end controversy

In summer 2011 he finally returned to Honduras to sign with Necaxa and declared the team would be his final before retiring. However, he would never play for the club since he was still contracted to Changchun Yatai and they did not give him permission to play for Necaxa.

International career

Caballero has played an important part at the national team setup for over 10 years, mostly playing alongside other Honduran greats like

Amado Guevara Amado Guevara (born 2 May 1976) is a Honduran former professional footballer and manager. He was the coach of Puerto Rico from 2018 to 2019. A former midfielder, he is the second all-time cap leader for the Honduras national team seconded by M ...

, Julio César de León and

Carlos Pavón Carlos Alberto Pavón Plummer (born 9 October 1973) is a Honduran former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of the best Honduran footballers in history, and by most as the nation's greatest player ever. Mos ...

. He made his debut for Honduras in a January 1998

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Costa Rica and has earned a total of 71 caps, scoring 11 goals. He has represented his country in 22 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played at the

1999 UNCAF Nations Cup The 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup was a UNCAF Nations Cup held in San Jose, Costa Rica in March 1999. The host team won the tournament's final group. Costa Rica then qualified automatically, alongside second-placed Guatemala and third-placed Honduras ...

as well as at the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2005 and

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean ( CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States fr ...

s. Also, he played at the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil were the defending champions wh ...

. and was one of three of Honduras' over-age players at the 2008 Summer Olympics. His final international was a March 2009 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

Trinidad & Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of Gr ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first.''

Retirement

In October 2012, Caballero was named president of Deportes Savio.Samuel Caballero, nuevo presidente del Savio
– Tiempo

Honours

C.D. Olimpia *

Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras 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 ...

: 2000–01 Nacional *

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional football league in Uru ...

: 2004 Apertura Changchun Yatai *

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

: Champion 2007 *

: Runner-Up 2009 *

: Footballer of the Year (MVP) Individual *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

Best XI: 2005 *

All-Tournament team (Honorable Mention): 2007

References

External links

*
Caballero profile
– FIFA *
Stats
– Gazzetta {{DEFAULTSORT:Caballero, Samuel 1974 births Living people People from Puerto Lempira Association football defenders Honduran footballers Honduras international footballers 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 Copa América players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Honduras C.D. Olimpia players Udinese Calcio players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players Defensor Sporting players Chicago Fire FC players Changchun Yatai F.C. players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Serie A players Uruguayan Primera División players Major League Soccer players Honduran expatriate footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Italy Honduran expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in China Chinese Super League players