Paolo Guerrero

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Guerrero and the second or maternal family name is Gonzáles.
Paolo Guerrero
Guerrero with Corinthians at the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup
Personal information
Full name José Paolo Guerrero Gonzáles[1]
Date of birth (1984-01-01) 1 January 1984 (age 40)
Place of birth Lima, Peru
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[2]
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Alianza Lima
Number 34
Youth career
1992–2002[3] Alianza Lima
2002–2003 Bayern Munich
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2006 Bayern Munich II 66 (45)
2004–2006 Bayern Munich 27 (10)
2006–2012 Hamburger SV 134 (37)
2012–2015 Corinthians 104 (40)
2015–2018 Flamengo 89 (37)
2018–2021 Internacional 40 (19)
2022–2023 Avaí 10 (0)
2023 Racing Club 15 (1)
2023–2024 LDU Quito 13 (5)
2024 Universidad César Vallejo 6 (3)
2024— Alianza Lima 8 (0)
International career‡
2000–2001 Peru U17 20 (9)
2004 Peru U23 4 (3)
2004– Peru 124 (39)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Peru
Copa América
Runner-up 2019 Brazil
Third place 2011 Argentina
Third place 2015 Chile
Bolivarian Games
Gold medal – first place 2001 Ambato Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2 November 2024
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2024

José Paolo Guerrero Gonzáles (Spanish pronunciation: [xoˈse paˈolo ɣeˈreɾo ɣonˈsales]; born 1 January 1984) is a Peruvian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Peruvian Primera División club Alianza Lima and the Peru national team.

"A legend in South American football" for the New York Times, he has been Peru's most important football player for two decades.[4] Forging his career in Germany, Guerrero started at giants Bayern Munich, before making his name at Hamburger SV, scoring 47 goals across eight Bundesliga seasons. His greatest successes came in Brazil, where he scored the winning goal of the 2012 FIFA Club World Cup final for Corinthians.

With 39 goals in 123 matches for Peru since debuting at 20, Guerrero holds the honour of being the highest goalscorer for his national team. He has represented them at six Copas América and one World Cup. He led them to third place in the 2011 and 2015 Copas, and to runners-up in 2019, finishing as top scorer in all three of these tournaments.[5] He is also the top scoring active player in the Copa América. He was one of 59 nominees for the 2015 FIFA Ballon d'Or, becoming the first Peruvian to receive that recognition.[6] He's also the oldest Peruvian player to appear in a World Cup, at the age of 34 and 177 days and the oldest to appear in the.

In 2021, the IFFHS included Guerrero in their best South American team of the last decade, being recognized as the best South American center forward between 2010 and 2020 (joining the podium with Neymar and Sergio Agüero).[7] In addition, he was voted the "best centre forward in America" in 2012 and 2017 by the newspaper El País, based on the opinion of some two hundred journalists from the region. He has also been named included by CONMEBOL in the teams of the tournament for the 2011, 2015 and 2019 Copas América.

  1. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2012 presented by Toyota: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 29 November 2012. p. 5. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 December 2012.
  2. ^ "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 4 June 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 June 2018. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
  3. ^ "Guerrero, José Paolo" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 16 May 2012.
  4. ^ Lang, Jack (June 21, 2024). Novel doping defense. The New York Times.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference NB-2019CA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Paolo Guerrero nominado al Balón de Oro 2015 de la FIFA". Depor.pe (in Spanish). 3 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  7. ^ IFFHS, ed. (30 January 2021). "IFFHS MAN TEAM - CONMEBOL - OF THE DECADE 2011-2020".