Wilmer Enrique Cruz Paredes (born 18 December 1965) is a retired Honduran

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 ...

player. He is currently the manager of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Club career

Nicknamed ''Pájaro'' (Bird) and ''Supermán'', Cruz played 129 league matches for

Real C.D. España Real Club Deportivo España, Real España, or simply España is a Honduran professional football club, which plays in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras. With 12 championships, Real España is one of the most accomplished Honduran football ...

and also had spells with

Platense F.C. Platense Football Club S.A. de C.V. or simply Platense is a Honduran football club, located in Platense, Puerto Cortés, Cortés. The club was founded on 4 July 1960 and in 1965 became the first champions of the Honduran National Football Lea ...

F.C. Motagua Club de Fútbol Motagua (), formerly Club Deportivo Motagua up to 2017, is an association football club, located in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. F.C. Motagua was founded as ''Club Deportivo Motagua'' on 29 August 1928. The club competes ...

and

Deportes Savio Deportes Savio Fútbol Club, commonly known as Deportes Savio, is a professional Association football in Honduras, Honduran football club based in Santa Rosa de Copán. The club was founded in 1974, and participates in the Liga Nacional de Fútb ...

as well as short stints with C.D.S. Vida,

Independiente Villela Independiente de San Pedro Sula was a football club located in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. The club played several seasons in the Honduran Liga Nacional as well in the Honduran Amateur League. History Independiente Villela obtained the Cort� ...

and

C.D. Victoria Club Deportivo Victoria is a Honduran football club based in La Ceiba, Atlántida. They have enjoyed success in the past having won the Honduran first division once. They currently play in the Honduran first division. History Club Deportivo ...

. He played his final league game in January 2001 for Savio against Olimpia. In September 1999, he was said to be interested to play in Costa Rica but would have to withdraw his candidacy to become mayor of his hometown, Santa Cruz de Yojoa.

International career

Cruz made his debut for

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in a May

1991 UNCAF Nations Cup The 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup was the inaugural UNCAF Nations Cup, the Central American championship for men's national association football teams. It was organized by the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' or UNCAF, and it took place in Costa Ri ...

match against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and has earned a total of 63 caps, scoring no goals. He has represented his country in 16

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at the

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 ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

s as well as at 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 ...

and

2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fifth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the 15th overall CONCACAF tournament. It was held in Los Angeles, Miami, and San Diego ...

s. His final international was a May 2000

match against

Managerial career

After finishing his playing career with Savio, he became in charge of the team in 2003. In May 2011, he was manager of hometown club

Atlético Municipal Atlético Municipal is a Honduran football club based in Santa Cruz de Yojoa. The club currently plays in Liga Nacional de Ascenso de Honduras. History The club was established in August 1980. It was only the second team from the Second Divis ...

. Cruz resigned as coach of second division

Parrillas One Parrillas One (pronounced pah-RI-yas OH-neh) is a Honduran football team based in San Pedro Sula, Cortés. For the 2012–13 season they played at Estadio Alfredo León Gómez in Tela. They were first promoted to Liga Nacional de Futbol de Ho ...

in February 2012. In February 2013, he was named manager of Honduras Progreso, succeeding

Gilberto Machado Gilberto Leonel Machado García (born 23 March 1962) is a retired Honduran footballer who played as a midfielder for Marathón, Olimpia, and Deportes Progreseño in Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras. He is the current manager ...

. On 19 February 2019, Cruz was once again appointed as manager of

Juticalpa Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerci ...

C.D. Victoria

On 21 May 2019, it was announced that Cruz was named manager of

in the Honduran second division.

Honours and awards

Club

;C.D. Real Espana *

Liga Profesional 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 ...

(2): 1988–89, 1993–94 *

Honduran Cup The Honduran Cup was the top knock-out Association football, football tournament in Honduras. The first tournament was played in 1968 Honduran Cup, 1968, four years later the second tournament took the name ''Copa Presidente'' ( en, President's Cu ...

: (1):

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

Country

;Honduras *

Copa Centroamericana The Copa Centroamericana (, Spanish for "Central American Cup") was the main association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' (UNCAF), the sport's Central Am ...

(2):

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Wilmer 1965 births Living people People from Cortés Department Men's association football goalkeepers Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Independiente Villela players Real C.D. España players Platense F.C. players F.C. Motagua players C.D.S. Vida players Deportes Savio F.C. players C.D. Victoria players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Honduran football managers Juticalpa F.C. managers