Arnoldo Alberto Iguarán Zúñiga (born 18 January 1957), also known as ''El Guajiro'', is a Colombian former professional

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He earned 68 caps for the Colombia national team between 1979 and 1993, playing at the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

and two

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

tournaments. With 25 international goals, he was the nation's sole top scorer of all time until

Radamel Falcao Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Rayo Vallecano and often captains the Colombia national team. Nicknamed "''El Tigre''" (Spanish for ''The Tige ...

tied him in 2015.

Club career

Born in

Riohacha Riohacha (; Wayuu: ) is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the Caribbean Sea. It is the capital city of the La Guajira Department. It has a sandy beach waterf ...

, Iguarán started and ended his club football career with

Cúcuta Deportivo Cúcuta Deportivo Fútbol Club S. A. is a professional Colombian football club based in Cúcuta, which plays in the Categoria Primera B. The club was officially founded on 10 September 1924, and its first appearance in a professional league wa ...

. He spent 12 years at

Millonarios Millonarios Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Millonarios was initially created in 1937 by students f ...

, and won the Colombian league in 1987 and 1988 with the club. In 13 seasons with Millonarios, he scored 120 goals in 336 league games. Iguarán returned to Cúcuta Deportivo and retired from playing at age 40, making him one of the oldest players in Colombian league history.

International career

Iguarán is also considered one of the best players ever in the Colombia national team, where he previously held the goalscoring record with 25 goals in 68 games between 1979 and 1993, until it was tied by

in 2015. One of the most memorable victories he had while playing at the Colombian team was in the

1991 Copa América The 1991 Copa América football tournament was hosted by Chile, from 6 to 21 July. It was organized by CONMEBOL and all ten member nations participated. Until the 2021 edition, this was the last time that the tournament consisted of only CONMEBO ...

, where they defeated

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 ...

2–0, the first goal was scored by

Antony de Ávila Antony William de Ávila Charris (born December 21, 1962) is a Colombian former soccer striker nicknamed ''El Pitufo'' ("The Smurf"), who last played for América de Cali. Club career De Ávila began his career with América de Cali in hi ...

, and the second one was scored by the "El Guájiro" Iguarán himself, in the 66th minute of the match. Since 1991, Iguarán had been considered Colombia's all-time goal scorer with 25 goals until

tied him in 2015. During Falcao's 24th goal in a friendly match against

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

, a match commentator on Colombian television claimed that Falcao had tied Iguarán at 24 goals sparking a nationwide debate on whether Iguarán had scored 24 or 25 goals. The controversy stems from a 1988 friendly match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in which Iguarán scored both of the game's goals. However, video evidence suggests that one of the goals deflected off teammate Alexis García. Regardless, the match report credited Iguarán with both goals and both

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

and the

Colombian Football Federation The Colombian Football Federation (in es, Federación Colombiana de Fútbol) is the governing body of football in Colombia. It was founded in 1924 and has been affiliated to FIFA since 1936. It is a member of CONMEBOL and is in charge of the Col ...

have Iguarán on record with 25 goals. When interviewed by Colombian radio about the controversy Iguarán said, "In my records I have 25 and the Federation has 25 as well. Anyway, I don't worry about that and I won't lose any sleep over it. I think that all records are meant to be broken and this one was not going to be the exception. Someday, another striker had to come and break it and truthfully it is an honor that it's Falcao, a player I much admire."

Legacy

After his retirement in the 1990s, a football academy was founded in his honor by his brother Camilo Iguarán.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Iguarán goal.''

Honours

Deportivo Táchira *

Venezuelan Primera División The Primera División (; en, First Division), or Liga Venezolana (; en, Venezuelan League) is the top-flight professional football league of Venezuela. It was created in 1921 and turned professional in 1957. It is organized by the Federación V ...

: 1981 Millonarios *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...

: 1987, 1988 Individual *

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Asso ...

Golden Boot: 1987

Notes

References

External links

* *
Website of the Arnoldo Iguarán football academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iguaran, Arnoldo 1957 births Living people Colombian footballers Colombian expatriate footballers Colombia men's international footballers 1979 Copa América players 1983 Copa América players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 Copa América players Categoría Primera A players Millonarios F.C. players Deportes Tolima footballers Cúcuta Deportivo footballers Independiente Santa Fe footballers Atlético Junior footballers Deportivo Táchira F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Venezuela Men's association football forwards People from La Guajira Department