Óscar Pérez (footballer, born 1973)

This article is about the Mexican football player. For other similarly named persons, see Oscar Perez (disambiguation).

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Pérez and the second or maternal family name is Rojas.

Óscar Pérez Rojas (born 1 February 1973) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.^[3][4] Nicknamed El Conejo (The Rabbit), he is regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Mexican football history.^[5]

Óscar Pérez

Pérez with San Luis in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Óscar Pérez Rojas[1]
Date of birth	(1973-02-01) 1 February 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth	Mexico City, Mexico
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)[2]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–2013	Cruz Azul	416	(1)
2008–2009	→ Tigres UANL (loan)	30	(0)
2009–2010	→ Chiapas (loan)	30	(0)
2010–2011	→ Necaxa (loan)	34	(0)
2011–2012	→ San Luis (loan)	64	(0)
2013–2019	Pachuca	171	(1)
Total		745	(2)
International career
1995–1996	Mexico U23	3	(1)
1997–2010	Mexico	55	(0)
Managerial career
2019–2023	Cruz Azul (goalkeeping coach)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Mexico FIFA Confederations Cup Winner 1999 Mexico CONCACAF Gold Cup Winner 1998 United States Winner 2003 United States–Mexico Winner 2009 United States Copa América Runner-up 2001 Colombia 1999 Paraguay Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

With a club career spanning 26 seasons in Mexico's top flight, most notably with Cruz Azul and Pachuca, Pérez won the CONCACAF Champions League on three occasions, as well as two league titles and one domestic cup. He holds the national record for most league appearances, with 740.^[6][7]

Pérez earned 55 caps for the Mexico national team between 1997 and 2010, winning three CONCACAF Gold Cup titles and the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. He also featured in the 1998, 2002 and 2010 editions of the FIFA World Cup, in the two latter as first choice goalkeeper.

Club career

He was the starting goalkeeper for Cruz Azul since 1997 with the team winning the championship in the 1997 Winter Season. Pérez debuted for the team in 1993, facing Atlas which ended in a 0–0 draw. He quickly became the starting goalkeeper for Cruz Azul and won the 1997 Invierno Final, where Cruz Azul defeated Club León by a score of 2–1.

In 2001, he helped steer Cruz Azul all the way to the final of the Copa Libertadores, a historic run for a Mexican club in the competition. With Pérez in goal, Cruz Azul was able to eliminate teams like Cerro Porteño, River Plate and Rosario Central, before playing Boca Juniors in the two-legged final.^[8] In the final, they lost at home, and won in Buenos Aires to take the final to a penalty-shootout but lost 1–3.^[9]

In a league game away to Estudiantes Tecos in 2006, Pérez scored by a header in stoppage time to equalise 1–1.^[10] In 2007, he was given an award for a record-making 400 appearances at Cruz Azul.

He moved to Tigres UANL, starting 4 games in the Apertura 2008. Pérez's first game with Tigres was on 13 July 2008 in a friendly against his former team, Cruz Azul which ended in a draw 1–1. He was a great addition to Tigres as he maintained the least goal approaches of the Apertura 2008 tournament.

After a year with Tigres, he moved to Chiapas on loan where he played in the 2009–10 season.

For the Apertura 2010, Pérez moved to Club Necaxa. After leaving Club Necaxa Pérez joined with San Luis on loan.

On 16 May 2013, For the Apertura 2013, Pérez was loaned to Pachuca after finishing a spell with San Luis. He was given the number 21.

On 29 May 2016, Pérez won the Liga MX final with Pachuca. This broke his personal 19-year drought as well, making him the oldest champion in the league's history at 43-years-old and three months.^[11] After the season, Pachuca extended his loan for another year.^[4]

On 29 April 2017, Pérez scored a header on the last minute of a match against Cruz Azul to salvage a 2–2 draw. He became the oldest player to score a goal in the Liga MX.^[12]

After winning the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League with Pachuca, Pérez postponed his retirement until after Pachuca's participation at the 2017 FIFA Club World Cup.^[13] Following the tournament, Pérez announced he planned on playing professionally for six more months, effectively postponing his retirement until after the 2017–18 Liga MX season.

On 23 July 2019, Pérez returned to his first club, Cruz Azul.^[14] On 27 July, at the age of 46, he announced his retirement from football effective immediately after Cruz Azul's second round match of the Torneo Apertura 2019 against Toluca.^[15][8]

International career

Pérez scored his first and only international goal for the under-23 team in a friendly against South Korea under-23,^[16][17] scoring in injury time when Mexico were losing 1–0.^[18]

Pérez was considered to be one of the best goalkeepers in Mexico and took over the spot for starting goalie during the 2002 World Cup Qualifiers, going on to play in the 2002 World Cup as the first-choice goalkeeper.^[19] Once Javier Aguirre left the national team, Ricardo La Volpe became coach, and Oswaldo Sánchez took over his spot.

Guillermo Ochoa was expected to be the starting keeper for Mexico at the 2010 World Cup but in a surprise move, Pérez was called up and played as the starting goalkeeper in the tournament.^[8][19] Following Mexico's loss in the Round of 16 to Argentina, Pérez announced his retirement from the national team on 14 July 2010.^[20]

Personal life

In October 2017, Pérez helped found Asociación Mexicana de Futbolistas (Mexican Footballers Association).^[21]

Career statistics

^[22]

Club	Div.	Season	League		Cup[a]		Continental[b]		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cruz Azul	Primera División de México
		1993–94	7	0	-	-	-	-	7	0
		1994–95	20	0	2	0	-	-	22	0
		1995–96	4	0	1	0	-	-	5	0
		1996–97	9	0	-	-	0	0	9	0
		1997–98	31	0	-	-	4	0	35	0
		1998–99	32	0	3	0	1	0	36	0
		1999–2000	39	0	3	0	-	-	43	0
		2000–01	32	0	3	0	18	0	53	0
		2001–02	33	0	3	0	-	-	36	0
		2002–03	39	0	2	0	11	0	52	0
		2003–04	46	0	-	-	-	-	46	0
		2004–05	28	0	-	-	-	-	27	0
		2005–06	28	0	3	0	-	-	30	0
		2006–07	39	1	1	0	-	-	40	1
		2007–08	31	0	3	0	-	-	34	0
		Total	418	1	24	0	34	0	476	1
Tigres UANL	Primera División de México
		2008–09	30	0	2	0	-	-	32	0
		Total	30	0	2	0	-	-	32	0
Chiapas	Primera División de México
		2009–10	30	0	2	0	-	-	32	0
		Total	30	0	2	0	-	-	32	0
Necaxa	Primera División de México
		2010–11	34	0	-	-	-	-	34	0
		Total	34	0	-	-	-	-	34	0
San Luis	Primera División de México
		2011–12	31	0	-	-	-	-	31	0
		2012–13	31	0	2	0	-	-	33	0
		Total	62	0	2	0	-	-	64	0
Pachuca	Primera División de México
		2013–14	39	0	1	0	-	-	40	0
		2014–15	30	0	0	0	4	0	34	0
		2015–16	37	0	0	0	-	-	37	0
		2016–17	36	1	1	0	4	0	39	1
		2017–18	12	0	2	0	2	0	16	0
		2018–19	2	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
		Total	166	1	4	0	10	0	177	1
Total career			740	2	35	0	44	0	820	2
Includes data from Copa Mexico (1994–1997, 2012–2019), Pre Pre Libertadores (1998–2002), and InterLiga (2006–2010) Includes data from Pre-Libertadores tournament (2001, 2003), Copa Libertadores (2001, 2003), Concacaf Champions League (1996, 1997, 1998, 2014-15, 2016–17) and FIFA World Club Cup (2017)

International

Mexico[23]
Year	Apps	Goals
1997	1	0
1998	6	0
1999	4	0
2000	6	0
2001	13	0
2002	10	0
2003	1	0
2004	1	0
2005	4	0
2009	2	0
2010	7	0
Total	55	0

Honours

Cruz Azul

• Primera División: Invierno 1997^[8]
• Copa México: 1996–97
• CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 1996,^[24] 1997^[25]
• Copa Libertadores runner-up: 2001

Pachuca^[8]

• Liga MX: Clausura 2016
• CONCACAF Champions League: 2016–17

Mexico^[8]

• FIFA Confederations Cup: 1999
• CONCACAF Gold Cup: 1998, 2003, 2009

Individual

• Liga MX Best XI: Clausura 2016

Records

• Most Liga MX appearances: 745

References

1. "FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2017: List of Players: CF Pachuca" (PDF). FIFA. 29 November 2017. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2017.
2. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Óscar Pérez (Player)". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 12 October 2022.
3. "Lo que dejó el Draft para el Apertura 2016". 9 June 2016.
4. CRUZ AZUL FC ® [@Cruz_Azul_FC] (9 June 2016). "Transferencia temporal del Jugador @Oscar_Conejo21 a los @Tuzos. ¡Dale Conejo!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
5. rhzunam80 (27 July 2019). "Oscar Perez, Mexican goalkeeping legend, retires from football". FMF State of Mind. Retrieved 18 May 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
6. admin (25 October 2017). "MEXICO : HISTORIC RECORD FOR OSCAR PEREZ ROJAS". IFFHS. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
7. FIFA.com. "FIFA Club World Cup 2017 - News - Oscar Perez, Pachuca's ageless Rabbit". www.fifa.com. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
8. "Oscar Perez, Mexican goalkeeping legend, retires from football". SB Nation. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
9. "Copa Libertadores de América 2001". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
10. "Soccer Teams, Scores, Stats, News, Fixtures, Results, Tables - ESPN".
11. "Oscar Perez, Jonathan Orozco to steal the spotlight in Liga MX's Gran Final". ESPN. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
12. "Pachuca keeper, Liga MX's oldest player, scores late winner". Dirty Tackle. 30 April 2017. Archived from the original on 9 December 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
13. "Óscar Pérez posterga su retiro para jugar el Mundial de Clubes | Goal.com".
14. "CONFIRMADO: Conejo Pérez regresa al Cruz Azul" (in Spanish). Los Pleyers. 24 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
15. "Oscar Perez of Cruz Azul gestures after retiring". Getty. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
16. "BBC Sport - World Cup 2010 - Oscar Perez". news.bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2010.
17. "South Korea U-23 Matches".
18. U23 Matches 1991 ^{[dead link‍]}
19. "Mexico's Oscar Perez Living Out Dream World Cup Scenario". Goal. 14 June 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
20. "World Cup 2010 Starter Oscar Perez Retires From Tricolor". Goal. 14 July 2010. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
21. https://fifpro.org/en/who-we-are/fifpro-members/mexican-union-amfpro-five-years-of-success-and-a-collective-agreement-in-its-sights/ ^{[bare URL]}
22. "Oscar Perez (Perez O.) - Perfil del jugador - FlashScore.es".
23. "Óscar Pérez". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 2 December 2020.
24. "Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF 1996". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 July 2019.
25. "Copa de Campeones y Subcampeones CONCACAF 1997". RSSSF. Retrieved 28 July 2019.

External links

• Óscar Pérez – Liga MX stats at MedioTiempo.com (archived) (in Spanish)
• Óscar Pérez at National-Football-Teams.com