Christian Reniery Santamaría (born 20 December 1972) is a retired Honduran

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who made his name with Olimpia and the national team in the second half of the 1990s.

Club career

Santamaría started his career at Olimpia and remained there for 10 years, except for a season at Millonarios in Colombia with whom he played in the 1997 Copa Libertadores and at Mexican side Atlético Celaya. In 2002, he moved abroad again to join Costa Rican outfit Cartaginés and he was signed by Salvadorans Municipal Limeño for the 2005 Clausura only to return to Honduras to play a season at Platense. In 2006, he had another spell in El Salvador when he was named one of three new players for Águila.

International career

Santamaría made his debut for

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, ...

in a December 1994

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 the

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

and has earned a total of 46 caps, scoring 4 goals. He has represented his country in 13

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played at the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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 Costa Rica national football team, host team won the tournament's final group. Costa Rica then qualified automatically, alongside second-placed Gua ...

s as well as at the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Gold Cup, the association football, soccer championship for the member associations of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North America, Central America, and the Caribb ...

s. His final international was a June 2003 friendly match against

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 ...

International goals

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

Personal life and political career

Santamaría is a son of Raúl Graugnard and Mary Santamaría. He took his mother's name since his father left them to study in his native Brazil. Santamaría is married and has a daughter, Christian Naville. After he retired from playing, he became a football commentator and started an acting career. In December 2012, Santamaría officially became the first candidate to be MP of the Liberal Party for

Atlántida Department Atlántida (, ) is a department located on the north Caribbean shore of Honduras. The capital is the port city of La Ceiba. In the past few decades, tourism has become the most important legitimate economic source for the coastal area. In 2005 it ...

.Christian Santamaría pasa a ser el primer candidato a diputado liberal por Atlántida
– La Tribuna

Honours and awards

Club

;C.D. Olimpia * Liga Profesional de Honduras (4): 1992–93, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99 *

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'' () in honor of Dr. R ...

: (2):

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Country

;Honduras *

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 ...

(1):

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santamaria, Christian 1972 births Living people Footballers from La Ceiba Men's association football midfielders Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.D. Olimpia players Millonarios F.C. players Atlético Celaya footballers C.S. Cartaginés players Platense F.C. players C.D. Águila footballers Honduran expatriate men's footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Expatriate men's footballers in El Salvador Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Liga MX players Categoría Primera A players