José Milton Melgar Soruco (born September 20, 1959) is a retired 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 ...

. In 2006, he was appointed by the Bolivian Government under President

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to c ...

as Minister of Sports, but he resigned a year later. He currently runs his own youth football academy in his hometown.

Playing career

Club

At the club level, Melgar played for

Blooming Bloom or blooming may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Bloom, one or more flowers on a flowering plant * Algal bloom, a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in an aquatic system * Jellyfish bloom, a collective n ...

, Bolívar,

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 ...

and Real Santa Cruz in Bolivia, as well as Everton (VdM) and

Cobreloa Club de Deportes Cobreloa S.A.D.P. (), commonly referred to as Cobreloa, is a Chilean football professional club based in Calama, Región de Antofagasta, Chile. That competes in the Primera B. The club's home ground is the Estadio Zorros del ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. He also played in Argentina for the two giants and fierce rivals Boca Juniors and River Plate. In addition, during his career, he also had 53 Copa Libertadores appearances with 2 goals scored.

International

Melgar was capped 89 times and scored 6 international goals for Bolivia between 1980 and 1997. His tally of 89 caps was a national record until January 31, 2002, when it was broken by Marco Sandy who obtained his 90th cap in a

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 Brazil. Melgar played all three matches at 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 ...

, and his club at that time was The Strongest.

Managerial career

Following his retirement, Melgar pursued a managerial career. In 2000, he made his official debut as manager with Oriente Petrolero. Later in the year he also managed Blooming. In October 2002 he assumed his duties as the U-17 and U-20 national teams, but his stint was unsuccessful.

Club titles

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melgar, Jose Milton 1959 births Living people Footballers from Santa Cruz de la Sierra Men's association football midfielders Bolivian men's footballers Bolivia men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1983 Copa América players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players Club Blooming players Boca Juniors footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Club Bolívar players Oriente Petrolero players Everton de Viña del Mar footballers The Strongest players C.D. Cobreloa footballers Bolivian Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Bolivian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Bolivian football managers Oriente Petrolero managers Club Blooming managers Sports ministers of Bolivia