Víctor Aristizábal

Víctor Hugo Aristizábal Posada (born 9 December 1971) is a Colombian retired professional footballer who played as a striker.

At the 2001 Copa América in his home country, he won the country's first international title with the Colombian selection and was the tournament's top scorer with 6 goals.

Club career Aristizábal was born in Medellín, Antioquia. He started his career in Atlético Nacional, and played there from 1990 to 1996 only interrupted by a short spell with Valencia CF in 1994. Winning the Colombian league twice with Nacional, he eventually moved to play in Brazil. He played for São Paulo and Santos before spending two seasons at Nacional and Deportivo Cali. In 2002, he once again moved to Brazil, and played for EC Vitória, Cruzeiro and Coritiba. Aristizábal is the all-time top foreign goalscorer in the Brazilian league. He is also the all-time Colombian goalscorer with 348 goals, of which about 200 goals were scored with Atlético Nacional, club which he is also the top goalscorer. He is the only player that has won six championship with Atlético Nacional. He announced his retirement from football in November 2007 after suffering an awkward knee injury.

International career Between 1993 and 2003, Aristizábal played 66 international matches and scored 15 goals for the Colombia national team. He was an unused substitute for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, but played all three matches at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Aristizábal finished as top scorer with six goals in the 2001 Copa América held in Colombia, as Los Cafeteros won the title for the first time. He was also a member of the nation's squad for the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup, where they finished in fourth place.

During the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, Aristizábal announced he was retiring from international soccer after being dropped for a match against Brazil.

Personal life Aristizábal's son, Emilio, is also a professional footballer, and currently plays for Atlético Nacional.

Career statistics

Club

International Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Aristizábal goal.

Honours Atlético Nacional Fútbol Profesional Colombiano: 1991, 1994, 1999, 2005-I, 2007-I, 2007-II Copa Interamericana: 1990, 1995 Copa Merconorte: 2000

São Paulo Campeonato Paulista: 1998

Santos Copa CONMEBOL: 1998

Vitória Campeonato Baiano: 2002

Cruzeiro Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2003 Copa do Brasil: 2003 Campeonato Mineiro: 2003

Coritiba Campeonato Paranaense: 2004

Colombia Copa América: 2001

Individual Copa América top scorer: 2001 Colombian League top scorer: 2005-I