José Saturnino Cardozo Otazú (; born 19 March 1971) is a Paraguayan football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former

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 striker. Known for his prolific scoring ability, Cardozo spent most of his playing career with Deportivo Toluca, where he became the club's all-time leading scorer and won four league titles. He would go on to become the club's head coach from 2013 to 2016. Cardozo ranks as the fourth-highest scorer in the history of the Mexican football league. On the international stage, Cardozo made 82 appearances for

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

over a fifteen-year period, scoring 25 goals to become the country's second-highest scorer. He represented the national team in three

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 ...

tournaments, two

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 ...

s and the

2004 Summer 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 ...

, where he won a silver medal. In the 2002/03 season, José Saturnino Cardozo was recognized as the World Top Scorer in the First Division according to the IFFHS. He scored 58 goals between the Apertura 2002 and Clausura 2003 playing for Deportivo Toluca F.C.

Club career

Born in Nueva Italia in the

Central Department Central () is a Departments of Paraguay, department in Paraguay. The capital is Areguá. With 1,883,927 inhabitants, it is the most populated of the 17 departments of Paraguay. It is also the smallest department, with a total area of . Geogra ...

, Cardozo began his professional career in 1988, making his debut for River Plate of Paraguay. After four years in River, he moved to Swiss club FC St. Gallen, where he played from 1990 to 1992. He returned to South America in 1993, joining Universidad Católica de Chile helping the team reach the 1993

Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tourname ...

final. The following year he played for

Club Olimpia Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan professional sports club based in the city of Asunción. It promotes the practice of various sports, with most importance given to the football, rugby and basketball sides, football being the most successful. Fou ...

of Paraguay, from which he moved to

Club Toluca Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. is a Mexican professional football club based in Toluca, State of Mexico. The club plays in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football, from which they have never been relegated. The club was f ...

of Mexico. Cardozo made his debut for Toluca in the 1995 season, but only appeared in three games, scoring no goals. However, in the subsequent winter season, he scored 7 goals in 13 games. In his ten years with the team, he has scored a record 249 goals for the club, including 36 goals in 25 matches in the 2002 Apertura. Cardozo was top scorer of the league four times (Verano 1998, Verano 1999, Apertura 2002, and Clausura 2003). He moved to the 4th spot in the list of all-time top scorers in the Mexico Primera Division after Jared Borgetti scored his 250th goal with Monarcas Morelia. Due to his work at Toluca, Cardozo was elected as the

Paraguayan Footballer of the Year The Paraguayan Footballer of the Year is an award given to the best Paraguayan professional Association football, football player every year. The award began officially in 1997 and it is presented by Paraguayan newspaper ''ABC Color''. Players tha ...

in the years 2000, 2002 and 2003; and the South American Footballer of the Year in 2002. Despite the fact that he was fiercely opposed to the move, Cardozo was transferred to Argentine team

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Boedo neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football team, which plays in the Primera División, the first tier of the Argentine foot ...

in June 2005, and finished the season with only 4 goals due to injuries that kept him away from playing several games. However, many critics lambasted Cardozo for refusing to play through the pain. While playing for Toluca, Cardozo struggled through the 1997 campaign with hamstring problems and then played through much of the 2001 season despite suffering a broken wrist in the season opener. Cardozo is the all-time leading scorer for Toluca, with 249 goals in 332 appearances. In July 2006, Cardozo attempted to return to

to finish his career. He was unable to re-sign for the club because the Paraguayan league's transfer deadline had already passed. As a result of his inability to sign for Olimpia, he decided to retire from football. He scored 342 goals total in his career. In June 2008 a farewell match was organized in the city of

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

to honor his career and contributions to football. Cardozo scored two goals in the match which had a sellout crowd.

Paraguay national team

Cardozo was the all-time leading scorer for the Paraguay national team, with 25 goals, until 2013, with the record being broken by Roque Santa Cruz. He played for his country at the

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 ...

and 2002 World Cups and was named in the original

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 ...

squad but he was injured during training sessions and replaced by Dante López. Cardozo was also an over-age player at the

, when Paraguay finished second. On 4 August, before the Summer Olympics began, he played in a preparation game against the

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 ...

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

in the city of

Algarve The Algarve (, , ) is the southernmost NUTS statistical regions of Portugal, NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities (concelho, ''concelhos'' or ''município ...

, resulting in a 5–0 defeat. He scored a hat-trick against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification, with the final result being 4–1.

International goals

Paraguay U23

:''Score and Result list Paraguay's goal tally first.''

Paraguay

Goals in Deportivo Toluca F.C.

Goals per rival in Liga MX

Coaching career

Club Olimpia

In November 2006, Club Olimpia's coach Oscar Paulin was fired due to poor performances by the team and Cardozo was named as the interim coach of the Paraguayan club, this being his first experience as a coach. He coached for the remainder of the year and for the 2007 Apertura tournament.

Indios

In October 2009 he was hired to be an assistant coach for the team of Indios de Juarez for the Apertura 2009.

Club Olimpia (Return)

Cardozo returned to Olimpia Asunción in November 2009 following coach Carlos Kiese's resignation.

Querétaro FC

In 2011, he was hired as coach Querétaro FC where he led the team into their first liguilla and the team's all team highest place (8th) and points (26) in Primera División regular season. He managed to eliminate

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

in the Quarter Finals and advance to a surprising semi-final where they lost to champions

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

1–0. The following season however, Querétaro began the season with poor results, which once again emerged relegation problems against rivals

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

and

Estudiantes Tecos Tecos Fútbol Club, simply known as Tecos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco, and associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara (UAG). It competes in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican ...

(relegated) which led to Cardozo's resignation.

Club Olimpia (Return)

After spending the 2011 and 2012 seasons at Querétaro, he was appointed to manage Olimpia once again on 25 September 2012 after the departure of Gregorio Perez.

Toluca

On 7 May 2013, Cardozo was announced as the new manager for Club Deportivo Toluca of Mexico where he played for 10 years (1995–2005). On 1 May 2016, during the 2016 Clausura, Cardozo confirmed that he would no longer coach Toluca beyond the end of the season despite still having a year left on his contract. He stated that since he did not meet his objective of reaching the Liga MX playoffs with the club, he had nothing more to do with the club, citing that Toluca was a big club with directors and fans that expected a lot more of the team than he could continue to offer. He stated that when a team can no longer accomplish what is asked of it, that the first change that must come is the manager, no questions about it.

Chiapas

Cardozo had a turbulent season at Chiapas during the Apertura 2016, being sacked in September and then brought back due to the petition of the chiapas players. He was ultimately sacked one week later after two more defeats.

Puebla

Cardozo took over

Club Puebla Club Puebla is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Puebla (city), Puebla. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. Founded in 1944 as Puebla Fútbol Club, and ...

early in the Clausura 2017 season.

Guadalajara

On 12 June 2018, Cardozo was appointed manager of

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

club

Honours

Olimpia * Paraguayan League: 1993 Toluca *

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

: Verano 1998, Verano 1999, Verano 2000, Apertura 2002 *

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 ...

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 ...

Cruz Azul *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

runner-up:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Paraguay *

CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament The CONMEBOL Preolímpico () is an international association football event in the South America region organized by CONMEBOL. It is the qualification tournament for the football tournament at the Olympic Games. In 1960, teams from North and Cen ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

* Olympic Silver Medal:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Individual *

Golden Ball: Apertura 2002 *

Golden Boot: Verano 1998, Verano 1999, Apertura 2002, Clausura 2003 *

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

World Topscorer of the Year: 2003 (58 goals) *

: 2000, 2002, 2003 * South American Footballer of the Year: 2002 *South American Team of the Year: 2002, 2003, 2004 *All-time scorer for Deportivo Toluca (249 goals)

References

External links

International statistics
at

rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardozo, Jose 1971 births Living people Paraguayan men's footballers Men's association football forwards FC St. Gallen players Club River Plate (Asunción) footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Club Olimpia footballers Cruz Azul footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Chilean Primera División players Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Paraguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Chile Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate football managers in Mexico Paraguay men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Paraguay Olympic silver medalists for Paraguay Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Club Olimpia managers Querétaro F.C. managers Deportivo Toluca F.C. managers Jaguares F.C. managers C.D. Guadalajara managers 1991 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players South American Footballer of the Year winners Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Paraguayan football managers Liga MX managers Sportivo Luqueño managers Footballers from Central Department CONCACAF Champions Cup–winning players 21st-century Paraguayan sportsmen

Club career

Paraguay national team

International goals

Paraguay U23

Paraguay

Goals in Deportivo Toluca F.C.

Goals per rival in Liga MX

Coaching career

Club Olimpia

Indios

Club Olimpia (Return)

Querétaro FC

Club Olimpia (Return)

Toluca

Chiapas

Puebla

Guadalajara

Honours

See also

References

External links