Roque Santa Cruz

(Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero)

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15%

Born
1981 (45 years old)
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Asunción, Paraguay

Position
Centre-Forward

Status
Active

Ethnicity

Team Number
24

Height
193 cm

Weight
174 lbs

Outfitter

Kit

Wage Year

Player Manager ID
120550

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Sport

Soccer

Team
Club Libertad

League
Paraguayan Primera Division

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No

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Description

Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (locally ; born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Paraguayan Primera División club Libertad. He is the record goal scorer and has earned over 100 caps for the Paraguay national team, thus he is regarded as one of the best players in the nation's history. Santa Cruz has scored goals at a professional level in each of the last four decades.

Santa Cruz started his career with Olimpia, progressing through their youth system to the first-team squad where he made his debut at the age of 15 in 1997. He finished his career with the club having scored 13 goals in 24 Primera División appearances where Olimpia claimed the 1997, 1998 and 1999 Primera División titles. Santa Cruz scored three goals in four appearances for Paraguay at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship before debuting for the Paraguay national team at the 1999 Copa América, where he scored three goals in four appearances. He immediately joined Bundesliga club Bayern Munich in August 1999 for a fee of €5 million, which was the highest transfer fee in Paraguayan football until 2019. where he scored five goals in 28 league appearances in his first season. He faced a series of injuries and heavy competition from teammates Giovane Élber, Roy Makaay and Claudio Pizarro which limited his impact and restricted his appearances for the club.

Santa Cruz was part of a successful team for Bayern, winning numerous Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal and DFB-Ligapokal titles. He also won the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League and the 2001 Intercontinental Cup. He left Bayern Munich in July 2007 to join Blackburn Rovers for a transfer fee of €5 million, where he scored 19 goals in the 2007–08 Premier League season. In June 2009, he joined Manchester City for a fee of £17.5 million on a four-year deal. Since his transfer, he was loaned out to Blackburn and Real Betis.

He represented Paraguay at the 2002, 2006 and 2010 FIFA World Cup tournaments, and at the 1999, 2007, 2011 (where Paraguay finished runners-up) and 2015 Copa América tournaments. He retired from international football in 2016, but reversed his decision in May 2019.

0 goals scored in the current 2026 Season

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Trophies

German DFB-Pokal	Bayern Munich	2005-2006
German Bundesliga	Bayern Munich	2005-2006
German DFB-Pokal	Bayern Munich	2004-2005
German Bundesliga	Bayern Munich	2004-2005
German DFL-Supercup	Bayern Munich	2004
German DFB-Pokal	Bayern Munich	2002-2003
German Bundesliga	Bayern Munich	2002-2003
FIFA Club World Cup	Bayern Munich	2001
UEFA Champions League	Bayern Munich	2000-2001
German Bundesliga	Bayern Munich	2000-2001
German DFL-Supercup	Bayern Munich	2000
German DFB-Pokal	Bayern Munich	1999-2000
German Bundesliga	Bayern Munich	1999-2000

Milestones

No records found

Former Youth Teams

No records found

Former Senior Teams

Club Olimpia	1997-1999	Permanent	-	-
Bayern Munich	1999-2007	Permanent	-	-
Blackburn	2007-2009	Permanent	-	-
Manchester City	2009-2013	Permanent	-	-
Blackburn	2011	Permanent	-	-
Betis	2011-2012	Permanent	-	-
Malaga	2012-2013	Permanent	-	-
Malaga	2013-2014	Permanent	-	-
Cruz Azul	2015-2016	Permanent	-	-
Malaga	2015-2016	Permanent	-	-