Álvaro Alberto Saborío Chacón (; born 25 March 1982) is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n 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 lea ...

, who played as a forward. Saborío originally retired in 2017 but returned months later. A full international for

since 2002, Saborío has over 110 caps and 36 goals for the nation, whom he represented at five

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

s, in addition to one tournament each at the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

, and

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

Club career

Saborío is a product of

C.F. Monterrey Club de Fútbol Monterrey Rayados, A.C., simply known as Monterrey or by its nickname Rayados, is a Mexican professional association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León, that plays in Liga MX, the top d ...

's youth system. He played with the club's reserve team in the Segunda División de México and with affiliate Coyotes de Saltillo in the Primera A.

Deportivo Saprissa

Saborio began his professional career with

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

in his native

. He made his

Costa Rican Primera División The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

debut against Limonense on 8 August 2001. Saborío was the leading goal-scorer of the 2003–2004 Costa Rican season, finishing the year with 25 goals, five above Whayne Wilson. With

, he has won a league title and a

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

and was part of the team that played the

2005 FIFA Club World Championship The 2005 FIFA Club World Championship (officially known as the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 for sponsorship reasons) was the second FIFA Club World Championship, a football competition organised by FIFA for the champion clu ...

, where

finished third behind

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. At the tournament, he scored two goals and ended up tied with three other players for top scoring honors.

FC Sion

He moved to

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

outfit

FC Sion Football Club Sion, commonly known as simply FC Sion or Sion, is a Swiss Association football, football club from the city of Sion, Switzerland, Sion. The club was founded in 1909 and play their home matches at the Stade Tourbillon. They have wo ...

after playing for Costa Rica at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

. He formed a good partnership at

with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

's Zbigniew Zakrzewski. His performances in Switzerland reportedly caught the eye of

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

's manager

Tony Pulis Anthony Richard Pulis (; born 16 January 1958) is a Welsh former professional football manager and former footballer who last managed Sheffield Wednesday. Pulis obtained his FA coaching badge at age 19, followed by his UEFA 'A' licence aged 2 ...

who aimed to sign him in the summer of 2009, however he instead joined

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

on loan.

Bristol City

Saborío played his first game for Bristol City in a Championship match on 13 September against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

making an impact by setting up fellow striker

Nicky Maynard Nicholas David Maynard (born 11 December 1986) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career at Crewe Alexandra, following over a decade in the club's Academy, and scored on his senior debut in Apr ...

. Saborío also picked up his first yellow card in English football as the match ended in a 1–1 draw. Saborio scored his first goal for Bristol City in their 1–1 draw with Scunthorpe United. He left Bristol City, and his contract was terminated with FC Sion in February 2010 so that he could return to Costa Rica.

Real Salt Lake

Saborío signed with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake (RSL) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Fou ...

in March 2010. He made a huge impact in his first season in Salt Lake: RSL boasted the highest-scoring offense in MLS in 2010 (45 goals); Saborío led the way with a team-high 12 tallies. For his efforts, he earned the MLS Newcomer of the Year award. He also starred for the club in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

tournament, scoring eight goals as Real Salt Lake advanced to the championship round. After a successful first season at the club, Saborío was made Salt Lake's first ever Designated Player, signing a four-year contract with the club on 1 December 2010. Saborío became the club's all-time leading scorer, and their key target man. As of 5 May 2012, Saborío had scored 38 goals across all competitions, eight of them coming from

play. On 18 November 2013 Saborío was named FutbolMLS.com's Latino del Año. Saborío scored a goal in the 52nd minute of the 2013 MLS Cup on 7 December. His goal was equalized by Aurélien Collin in the 76th minute. He later missed his penalty kick when the game went into a penalty kick shoutout, in which Sporting Kansas City won.

D.C. United

On 16 July 2015, Saborío was traded to D.C. United for Luis Silva. He scored his first goal for United on 26 July 2015, against the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the Union began ...

. On 2 October 2015, Saborío scored a stoppage time winner against

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

to clinch United a spot in the 2015 MLS Playoffs. Saborío re-signed with United on 17 November 2015. On 14 November 2016, Saborío announced that he was to leave United after two seasons. He played 31 games, scored 10 goals, and contributed 10 assists for D.C. United.

Deportivo Saprissa

On 10 January 2017, Saborío signed a one-year contract with

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its Association football, football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, Costa Rica, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aym ...

. On 9 February 2017, Saborío announced his retirement due to conflicts with Saprissa fans.

San Carlos

Saborío was a leading figure in San Carlos' double championship: first in the second division, and once in the first division, they won the Torneo de Clausura for the 2018-2019 season.

International career

Saborío was an important player for the Costa Rica national team at numerous levels. He represented the U-23 team at the

2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, scoring the qualifying goal that took them there, and subsequently started three of four games for the team, scoring a goal against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. Saborío made his senior debut for Costa Rica in an October 2002

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and has, as of October 2021, earned a total of 112 caps, scoring 36 goals, placing him third at his country's all-time goalscorers list behind

Rolando Fonseca Rolando Fonseca Jiménez (born 6 June 1974) is a Costa Rican former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. Nicknamed ''El Principito'' (The little prince)''La Nación (San José), ...

and Paulo Wanchope. Saborío, better known as ''Pipe'', has been notably recognized for his accomplishments with

, and the high number of goals he scored in a short period. But after a year at the club his Costa Rican coach got a hold of him and he took part in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. He was mostly a substitute for the side, behind

Rónald Gómez Rónald Gómez Gómez (born 24 January 1975) is a Costa Rican former football forward and manager. He is the current manager for Liga Nacional club Achuapa. An important player on the Costa Rica national football team during the 1990s and ...

and former Manchestet City forward Paulo Wanchope. He also scored the first goal ever in the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, in the inaugural match against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Saborío was at the centre of much controversy in the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on Jun ...

, criticized heavily for his misses, including two penalty kicks in the quarterfinals against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

, and for a training pitch incident where he allegedly kicked a ball at a child who was in the stands. Saborío scored eight times in Costa Rica's successful

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

campaign, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 4–0 away win over

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

on 12 June 2012, and a further two goals on 16 October in a 7–0 win over the same opponents. On 12 May 2014, Saborío was named to Costa Rica's 30-man preliminary roster for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

in Brazil. However, on 29 May, the

Costa Rican Football Federation The Costa Rican Football Federation (, FCRF), also known as FEDEFUTBOL or FEDEFUT, is the official association football governing body in Costa Rica and is in charge of the Costa Rica national football team and the Costa Rica women's national fo ...

confirmed that Saborío had broken the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot during a training session with the national team and would subsequently miss the World Cup. Saborío was in Costa Rica's squad for the

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 23rd CONCACAF regional championship overall in the organization's fifty-four years of existence. It was held in the United States, with two matches bei ...

and earned his 100th cap on 11 July at the

BBVA Compass Stadium Shell Energy Stadium is an American multi-purpose stadium located in Houston, Texas, that is home to Houston Dynamo FC, a Major League Soccer club and the Houston Dash of the National Women's Soccer League and was the first soccer specific ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, assisting

Bryan Ruiz Bryan Jafet Ruiz González (; born 18 August 1985) is a Costa Rican former professional Association football, footballer. A left-footed Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder, he also played as a Forward (association football)#S ...

's goal in a 1–1

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for Grand tourer, grand touring (GT) cars used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World S ...

draw with

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

; he was the fifth Costa Rican to make one hundred appearances.

Personal life

A son of former Costa Rica international Álvaro Grant MacDonald and Marlene Saborío, Saborío can speak four languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. Saborío holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Saborío goal''.

Honours

Saprissa *

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

: 2003–04, Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006 *

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* Copa Interclubes UNCAF:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

Sion *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Real Salt Lake *

Western Conference Championship:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

San Carlos *

: Clausura 2019 *

Liga de Ascenso Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ameri ...

: 2017–18 Alajuelense *

: Apertura 2020 Costa Rica *

Copa Centroamericana The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

Individual * MLS Newcomer of the Year:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* CONCACAF Gold Cup All-Tournament Team:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saborio, Alvaro 1982 births Living people People from San Carlos (canton) Footballers from Alajuela Province Men's association football forwards Costa Rican men's footballers 21st-century Costa Rican sportsmen Costa Rica men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Costa Rica Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players Deportivo Saprissa players FC Sion players Bristol City F.C. players Real Salt Lake players D.C. United players Swiss Super League players English Football League players Major League Soccer players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in England Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Designated Players (MLS) FIFA Men's Century Club 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players

Club career

Deportivo Saprissa

FC Sion

Bristol City

Real Salt Lake

D.C. United

Deportivo Saprissa

San Carlos

International career

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International goals

Honours

See also

References

External links