Wilmer Raynel Neal Velásquez (born April 28, 1972) is a retired Honduran footballer who played as a forward. He was regarded as one of the greatest footballers in Honduran soccer for Olimpia, and by foremost as the nation's greatest striker ever alongside Carlos Pavón.

Wilmer Velásquez
Personal information
Full name Wilmer Raynel Neal Velásquez
Date of birth (1972-04-28) April 28, 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth Tela, Honduras
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1995 Olimpia 35 (12)
1996 Concepción 19 (8)
1996–1998 Olimpia 78 (48)
1999 Sport-Recife 8 (1)
1999–2000 Olimpia 61 (32)
2001 Atlas 13 (1)
2001–2009 Olimpia 287 (120)
Total 489 (222)
International career
1994–2007 Honduras 47 (35)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 2007
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 June 2008

He is currently the all-time top goalscorer in the Honduran National Football League with 196 goals, and was the second player to reach 150 goals after Denilson Costa.

Club career

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Nicknamed El Matador, Velásquez started his professional career with Olimpia and he would not play for any other Honduran team during his career. He made his debut on 1 November 1990 against Platense and scored his first goal on 23 January 1992 against city rivals Motagua.[1] He did play for other teams though, with Concepción in Chile, Sport-Recife in Brazil and Atlas in Mexico but was not very successful with all of them.

In 2005, Velásquez was crowned one of the Top Goalscorers in the World by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. He made 15 goals with both the Honduras national football team and his club, Olimpia, finishing second only behind Brazilian player Adriano Leite Ribeiro, who scored 18 goals.[2]

He has won 12 titles of the Honduran League, all of them with Olimpia. In December 2008 he announced he would retire after the 2009 Clausura.[3] He has scored 318 goals in competitive games, 258 of them for Olimpia.[4]

International career

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Velásquez made his debut for Honduras in an April 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup match against Panama in which he famously scored four goals. He has earned a total of 47 caps, scoring 35 goals.[5] He has represented his country in only 2 FIFA World Cup qualification matches[6] and played at the 1997,[7] 2005[8] and 2007 UNCAF Nations Cups[9] as well as at the 1998,[10] 2003[11] and 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cups.[12] In 2009, he qualified with Honduras to the 2010 fifa world cup (an achievement not done by the Honduran Football team since 1982) scoring the tie-break goal against El Salvador that qualified his team to the world cup.

His final international was a June-July FIFA World cup 2010 match against Switzerland national football team.

Career statistics

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Club

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Club Season League Cup League Cup CONCACAF Other[nb 1] Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Olimpia 1990–91 2 0
1991–92 8 2
1992–93 4 1
1993–94 10 3
1994–95 11 6
1996–97 17 9
1997–98 A 24 19
1997–98 C 20 15
1998–99 4 4
1999–2000 A 19 12
1999–2000 C 19 12
2000–01 A 18 9
2001–02 A 12 7
2001–02 C 19 10
2002–03 A 19 6
2002–03 C 18 4
2003–04 A 18 6
2003–04 C 7 2
2004–05 A 19 9
2004–05 C 16 6
2005–06 A 16 5
2005–06 C 15 3
2006–07 A 17 9
2006–07 C 14 6
2007–08 A 11 2
2007–08 C 18 10
2008–09 A 15 5
2008–09 C 18 6
2009–10 A 17 8
Total 400 196

International goals

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# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. December 11, 1994 Fullerton, California, USA   United States 1–1 Draw Friendly
2. April 16, 1997 Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala   Panama 5–0 Win 1997 UNCAF Nations Cup
3. April 16, 1997 5–0 Win
4. April 16, 1997 5–0 Win
5. April 16, 1997 5–0 Win
6. April 18, 1997 Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala   El Salvador 3–0 Win
7. April 18, 1997 3–0
8. January 21, 1998 Estadio Chorotega de Nicoya, Nicoya, Costa Rica   Costa Rica 4–1 Win Friendly
9. January 21, 1998 4–1
10. January 29, 1998 San Salvador, El Salvador   El Salvador 1–1 Tie
11. November 17, 1999 Estadio Imperio del Sol Naciente, Tegucigalpa, Honduras   Trinidad and Tobago 3–2 Win
12. March 8, 2000 Estadio Casa Blanca, Quito, Ecuador   Ecuador 3–1 Win
13. November 14, 2000 Arnos Vale Stadium, Kingstown, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 7–0 Win World Cup 2002 Qualifier
14. April 25, 2003 Stade En Camée, Rivière-Pilote, Martinique   Trinidad and Tobago 2–0 Win 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifier
15. April 27, 2003 Stade d'Honneur de Dillon, Fort-de-France, Martinique   Martinique 4–2 Win
16. April 27, 2003 4–2 Win
17. June 7, 2003 Orange Bowl, Miami, United States   Venezuela 1–2 Loss Friendly
18. June 29, 2003 Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras   El Salvador 1–1 Tie Friendly
19. February 19, 2005 Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala   Nicaragua 5–1 Win 2005 UNCAF Nations Cup
20. February 19, 2005 5–1
21. February 19, 2005 5–1
22. February 21, 2005 Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala   Belize 4–0 Win
23. February 23, 2005 Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala   Guatemala 1–1 Win
24. February 25, 2005 Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala   Panama 1–0 Win
25. July 2, 2005 Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, Canada   Canada 2–1 Win Friendly
26. July 10, 2005 Orange Bowl, Miami, United States   Colombia 2–1 Win 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup
27. July 10, 2005 2–1
28. July 16, 2005 Gillette Stadium, Foxboro, United States   Costa Rica 3–2 Win
29. September 7, 2005 Miyagi Stadium, Miyagi, Japan   Japan 4–5 Loss Friendly
30. September 7, 2005 4–5
31. September 7, 2005 4–5
32. February 15, 2007 Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador   Nicaragua 2–0 9–1 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup
33. February 15, 2007 3–0
34. February 15, 2007 4–1
35. February 15, 2007 5–1


Honours and awards

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Club

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CD Olimpia

Individual

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Notes

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  1. ^ Includes other competitive competitions, including the FA Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup

References

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  1. ^ El primer y último grito de Wilmer Velásquez - El Heraldo (in Spanish)
  2. ^ "The World's Top Goal Scorer (2005)". IFFHS. 2005.
  3. ^ Wilmer Velásquez anuncia retiro[permanent dead link] - Diez (in Spanish)
  4. ^ Desafíe a Ismael[permanent dead link] - La Prensa (in Spanish)
  5. ^ Luis Fernando Passo Alpuin. "Wilmer Raynel Neal Velasquez - Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 2013-09-30.
  6. ^ Wilmer VelásquezFIFA competition record (archived)
  7. ^ UNCAF Tournament 1997 - RSSSF
  8. ^ Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup 2005 - Details - RSSSF
  9. ^ UNCAF (Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup) 2007 - Details - RSSSF
  10. ^ CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 1998 - Full Details - RSSSF
  11. ^ CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2003 - Full Details - RSSSF
  12. ^ CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2005 - Full Details - RSSSF
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