Pablo Daniel Escobar Olivetti (, born 23 February 1979) is a

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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former player who played as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

. He is the current head coach of the Bolivia national under-20 team. Born in Paraguay, Escobar represented Bolivia at international level.

Club career

Escobar started his career in the youth divisions of Olimpia, and eventually made his way to the first team although he spent more time playing for the reserves. In 2000, he was signed by the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

side

Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy Club Atlético Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy , (usually known as Gimnasia de Jujuy or just GEJ) is an Argentine sports club based in San Salvador de Jujuy, Jujuy Province. The club was founded in 1931 and is best known for its football team, whic ...

, and after three years with the club, he relocated to Bolivia to play for San José in 2004. His good conditions rewarded him with a transfer to

The Strongest Club The Strongest is a Bolivian professional football club based in La Paz, that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1908, their team colours are yellow and black. Although they have a home ground, Estadio Rafael Me ...

the following season. He also had a brief stint at

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan Association football, football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero (Asunción), Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Paraguayan Primera División, Primera División titles ...

in 2006 before returning to The Strongest for a second spell. On 28 August 2008, Escobar joined Brazilian club

Ipatinga Ipatinga is a Municipalities of Brazil, Brazilian municipality located in the interior of the Federative units of Brazil, state of Minas Gerais, in the Southeast Region, Brazil, Southeast Region of Brazil. Situated in the Vale do Rio Doce (meso ...

. Escobar joined

Santo André Santo ('saint' in various languages) may refer to: People * Santo (given name) * Santo (surname) * El Santo, Rodolfo Guzmán Huerta (1917–1984), Mexican wrestler and actor * Bob Santo or Santo, stage name of Ghanaian comedian John Evans Kwad ...

of Brazil on 5 January 2009. He joined

Mirassol Mirassol is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city is located in the northern part of the state, 453 km from the city of São Paulo and 15 km from São José do Rio Preto. Mirassol has 60,303 inhabitants (IBGE/2020). ...

in January 2010. After about a year, he signed a 3-year contract with Paulista (Brazilian) side

Botafogo-SP Botafogo Futebol Clube, commonly referred to as Botafogo-SP or Botafogo de Ribeirão Preto is a Brazilian association football club in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo. They currently play in the Série B, the second tier of Brazilian football, as ...

. On 23 February 2017, Escobar scored a second-half hat-trick against

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile currently participating in the Primera División de Chile. History Foundation, Amateur Era and First seasons ...

in the second leg of the final stage of the 2017 Copa Libertadores qualifying stages, becoming, at the age of 38 years and 226 days, the oldest hat-trick scorer in the competition's history. In December 2018, he scored two four-goal hauls in trashings of

Sport Boys Warnes Club Sport Boys Warnes was a Bolivian professional football team based in Warnes, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, that competes in the Bolivian Primera División. History The club was founded on 17 August 1954. The club reached in 2013 second place ...

(6–0) and

Club Blooming Club Social, Cultural y Deportivo de Blooming, commonly known as Blooming, is a Bolivian professional football club from Santa Cruz de la Sierra that currently plays in the Bolivian Primera División. Founded in 1946, its home colours are sky bl ...

(8–0), becoming, at the age of 39 years and 299 days, the oldest player to score a poker in the 21st century (a record since surpassed by

Óscar Cardozo Óscar René Cardozo Marín (; born 20 May 1983), best known as Tacuara (Guarani language, Guarani for Guadua), is a Paraguayan professional association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for Club Liberta ...

in 2023), as well as the second in history, only behind

Josef Bican Josef "Pepi" Bican (25 September 1913 – 12 December 2001) was an Austrians, Austrian-Czechs, Czech professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He is regarded by some to be the ...

in 1955, aged 41. He also became the first player to score two pokers in top-tier matches after turning 38 since

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; né Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian footballer and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward and an attacking ...

in 1965.

International career

In August 2008, Escobar received Bolivian citizenship in order to play for the

Bolivia national football team The Bolivia national football team (), nicknamed ''La Verde'', has represented Bolivia in men's international Association football, football since 1926. Organized by the Bolivian Football Federation, Federación Boliviana de Fútbol (), it is o ...

. Between 2008 and 2017 Escobar made 25 appearances for Bolivia, netting 6 goals. 19 of his appearances were in

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.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Bolivia's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Escobar, Pablo 1978 births Living people Footballers from Asunción Bolivian men's footballers Bolivia men's international footballers Paraguayan men's footballers Paraguayan people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Bolivian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Paraguayan descent Paraguayan emigrants to Bolivia Naturalized citizens of Bolivia Men's association football midfielders Club Olimpia footballers Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy footballers Club San José players Cerro Porteño players The Strongest players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Ipatinga Futebol Clube players Esporte Clube Santo André players Mirassol Futebol Clube players Associação Atlética Ponte Preta players Botafogo Futebol Clube (SP) players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Bolivia Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina 2015 Copa América players The Strongest managers Bolivian football managers Paraguayan football managers Bolivia national football team managers Club Sol de América managers Bolivian expatriate football managers Paraguayan expatriate football managers