Víctor Aristizábal

Víctor Aristizábal ( born December 9, 1971 in Medellín ) is a former Colombian football player. The striker was recently in the highest Colombian Copa Mustang League with Atlético Nacional under contract. Due to a knee injury he incurred in November 2007, however, he announced his retirement from professional football.

• 2.1 club
• 2.2 national team
• 2.3 Custom

Career

Association

Aristizábals professional career started in 1990 when Atlético Nacional in Colombia. After four years he moved abroad for the first time in 1994 and was hired for a six-month stint at the Spanish giants Valencia. There, however, he could not prevail, and soon returned in the Copa Mustang. He stayed two more seasons at Atletico Nacional, with whom he won the championship twice.

He then moved for two years to Brazil to Sao Paulo. In 1998, he signed a contract with the league rivals FC Santos. After he was not happy there, he moved in 1999 back to his home country and hired at Deportivo Cali, but could not convince even there and opted for the second time to Brazil to change.

His new employer was in the year 2002, the EC Vitória. But this club he remained only a year faithfully and in the next two years, he moved twice within the Brazilian League: 2003 Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte and 2004 Coritiba FC.

After 3 years, Brazil has moved Aristizábal turn to Colombia; he signed for his hometown club, the Atlético Nacional, and was able to win with this the third time in the Copa Mustang.

After a knee problem, he finished in November 2007 finally his active career. Already on 12 July of the same year he made his farewell game. ( see below)

In his last year for Nacional he won his fourth championship title with the Greens.

National

1992 played Aristizábel with an Olympic selection at the Summer Games in 1992. The striker managed with his team no victory, so this already eliminated after the group stage. Between 1993 and 2006 Aristizábel was a key player in the Colombian national football team. During this time he completed 66 caps and scored 15 goals. His first tournament he played with Colombia in 1993, when he was nominated for the Copa América 1993. There you reached third place in the tournament. A year later the striker was in the squad of Colombians to the World Cup 1994 in the USA, but just sat on the bench and went as a spectator with. At the World Cup in France in 1998, he played himself in the starting lineup and was used in all games of his team, but in none over the full season. Already last year was the striker in the squad by coach Hernan Gomez at the Copa América 1997.

In the 2001 Copa America in his homeland, he was able to celebrate with the Colombian selection of the first international title. He also became the top scorer of the tournament with 6 goals. Aristizábal were replaced in the six games of his team five times and came only once over the full ninety minutes used. The 1-0 final win against Mexico, the attacker had to be replaced already the 32nd minute against Jairo Castillo. As Copa winner, people traveled in 2003 for the Confederations Cup. There Colombia moved into third place match, which it lost against Turkey 1-2. Aristizábal missed a single minute in the tournament, but could not place a goal for his team.

When it came between Aristizábel and his coach Francisco Maturana during qualifying for the Football World Cup 2006 in Germany to battle, he announced his retirement from international football. Reason for this was that Maturana was sitting on the bench the striker against the Brazilian national football team.

Farewell

On 12 July 2008, the Colombian star striker gave a farewell match for his fans. More than 45,000 spectators watched the match between the national team and Atlético Nacional, again scored two goals in the Aristizábal. It was played at the Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellin. Carlos Valderrama, Enzo Francescoli, Álex Aguinaga, Iván Hurtado, René Higuita, Juan Pablo Ángel, Faryd Mondragón, Jorge Bermudez, Leonel Álvarez, Freddy Grisales, Sergio Galván Rey, Mario Yepes, John Jairo Trellez, Mauricio Serna, Gerardo Bedoya and many other famous current and former football players came to this event. The match ended 2-2 draw.

Achievements

Association

• Copa Mustang winner ( Colombian Championship) Atletico Nacional with: 1991, 1994, 2005, 2007
• Copa Interamericana with Atlético Nacional: 1990, 1995
• Campeonato Mineiro Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte: 2003
• Copa do Brasil (Brazilian Cup ) with Cruzeiro Belo Horizonte: 2003

National

• 3rd place at the Copa America with Colombia: 1993
• Copa America winners with Colombia: 2001

Individually

• Scorer in the Colombian League: 2005
• Scorer at the Copa América: 2001

Others

• From his former coach Francisco Maturana Aristizábal was designated as the best football player without the ball in the world.
• 2010, at the farewell match of Rene Higuita, Aristizábal was appointed to his squad. Next to him were also players like Carlos Valderrama, Faustino Asprilla, Leonel Alvarez, Oscar Cordoba and Mauricio Serna.
• With a total of 15 goals for the national team of Colombia Aristizábal is currently in fourth place in the list of the best shooters of the country selection. Only Arnoldo Iguarán ( 25 goals ), Faustino Asprilla (20 goals) and Freddy Rincón (17 goals) are better. In the list of players with the most appearances for Colombia, the attacker is not among the first ten.