Roque Santa Cruz

Roque Santa Cruz (born 16 August 1981) is a Paraguayan football player. He plays for Club Libertad.

Roque Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz with Paraguay in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero[1]
Date of birth	(1981-08-16) 16 August 1981 (age 43)
Place of birth	Asunción, Paraguay
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)[2]
Position(s)	Striker
Club information
Current team	Libertad
Number	24
Youth career
1990–1997	Olimpia
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–1999	Olimpia	24	(13)
1999–2007	Bayern Munich	155	(31)
2005–2006	Bayern Munich II	6	(2)
2007–2009	Blackburn Rovers	57	(23)
2009–2013	Manchester City	20	(3)
2011	→ Blackburn Rovers (loan)	9	(0)
2011–2012	→ Betis (loan)	33	(7)
2012–2013	→ Málaga (loan)	31	(8)
2013–2014	Málaga	43	(9)
2015–2016	Cruz Azul	10	(4)
2015–2016	→ Málaga (loan)	17	(2)
2016–2021	Olimpia	148	(66)
2022–	Libertad	89	(16)
National team
1999	Paraguay U20	13	(6)
2000	Paraguay U23	4	(2)
1999–2016	Paraguay	112	(32)
Honours Representing  Paraguay Copa América Runner-up 2011 Argentina
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 8 May 2024

Career statistics

Club

As of 8 May 2024

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Other		Total		Ref.
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Olimpia Asunción	1997	Primera División	1	0	—		—		0	0	—		1	0
	1998		9	3	—		—		6	4	—		15	7	[3]>
	1999		14	10	—		—		5	2	—		19	12	[4][5][6][7][8]
	Total		24	13	—		—		11	6	—		35	19	—
Bayern Munich	1999–2000	Bundesliga	28	5	5	3	0	0	15[a]	1	—		48	9	[9]
	2000–01		19	5	1	0	2	1	6[a]	0	—		28	6	[10]
	2001–02		22	5	3	1	1	0	11[a]	3	1[b]	0	38	9	[11]
	2002–03		14	5	3	2	0	0	2[a]	1	—		19	8	[12]
	2003–04		29	5	4	4	0	0	8[a]	0	—		41	9	[13]
	2004–05		4	0	1	4	2	1	0	0	—		7	5	[14]
	2005–06		13	4	3	0	1	0	2[a]	0	—		19	4	[15]
	2006–07		26	2	3	0	2	1	7[a]	1	—		38	4	[16]
	Total		155	31	23	14	8	3	51	6	1	0	238	54	—
Bayern Munich II	2004–05	Regionalliga Süd	5	2	0	0	—		—		—		5	2	[14]
	2005–06		1	0	—		—		—		—		1	0	[15]
	Total		6	2	0	0	—		—		—		6	2	—
Blackburn Rovers	2007–08	Premier League	37	19	0	0	3	3	3[c]	1	—		43	23	[11]
	2008–09		20	4	4	1	3	1	—		—		27	6	[11]
	Total		57	23	4	1	6	4	3	1	—		70	29	—
Manchester City	2009–10	Premier League	19	3	2	0	1	1	—		—		22	4	[11]
	2010–11		1	0	0	0	1	0	—		—		2	0	[11]
	Total		20	3	2	0	2	1	—		—		24	4	—
Blackburn Rovers (loan)	2010–11	Premier League	9	0	1	0	—		—		—		10	0	[11]
Real Betis (loan)	2011–12	La Liga	33	7	2	0	—		—		—		35	7	[11]
Málaga	2012–13	La Liga	31	8	4	3	—		10[a]	1	—		45	12	[11]
	2013–14		31	6	1	0	—		—		—		32	6	[11]
	2014–15		12	3	1	2	—		—		—		13	5	[11]
	Total		74	17	6	5	—		10	1	—		90	23	—
Cruz Azul	2014–15	Liga MX	10	4			—		—		—		10	4	[11]
Málaga (loan)	2015–16	La Liga	17	2	2	1	—		—		—		19	3	[11]
Olimpia Asunción	2016	Primera División	16	5	—		—		—		—		16	5	[11]
	2017		26	3	—		—		6[d]	1	—		32	4	[11]
	2018		34	13	4	4	—		4[e]	1	—		42	18	[11]
	2019		34	26	—		—		8[e]	2	—		42	28	[11]
	2020		27	17	—		—		5[e]	0	—		32	17	[11]
	2021		25	4	—		—		6[e]	1	1[f]	1	32	6	[11]
Club Libertad	2022		39	12	—		—		4[e]	2	—		14	3	[11]
	2023		37	3	5	0	—		4[d]	0	—		46	3	[11]
	2024		13	1	—		—		3[e]	1	—		16	2	[11]
	Total		251	87	9	4	—		40	8	—		272	86	—
Career total			656	186	49	25	16	8	115	22	2	1	809	231	—

1. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
2. Appearance in UEFA Super Cup
3. Appearances in UEFA Cup
4. Appearances in Copa Sudamericana
5. Appearances in Copa Libertadores
6. Appearances in Supercopa Paraguay

International

^[17][18]

Paraguay
Year	Apps	Goals
1999	8	4
2000	9	2
2001	4	1
2002	7	2
2003	5	1
2004	4	0
2005	5	3
2006	3	0
2007	12	5
2008	7	2
2009	2	0
2010	13	3
2011	10	2
2012	2	0
2013	6	3
2014	7	2
2015	6	2
2016	2	0
Total	112	32

International goals

Paraguay U20

Scores and results list Paraguay U20's goal tally first

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 January 1999	Estadio San Martín, Tandil	Bolivia	1–1	2–1	1999 South American Youth Championship
2.	10 January 1999	Estadio San Martín, Tandil	Brazil	1–0	1–1	1999 South American Youth Championship
3.	21 January 1999	Estadio José María Minella, Mar del Plata	Chile	3–1	3–2	1999 South American Youth Championship
4.	7 April 1999	National Stadium, Lagos	Costa Rica	1–0	3–1	1999 World Youth Championship
5.	14 April 1999	National Stadium, Lagos	Uruguay	1–2	2–2 (9–10 penalties)	1999 World Youth Championship
6.				2–2

Paraguay U23

Scores and results list Paraguay U20's goal tally first

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	22 January 2000	Cascavel, Brazil	Peru	1–0	3–4	2000 CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament Championship
2.				2–2

Paraguay

Scores and results list Paraguay's goal tally first.

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 June 1999	Estadio Antonio Oddone Sarubbi, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay	Uruguay	1–3	2–3	Friendly
2.	2 July 1999	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Japan	2–0	4–0	1999 Copa América
3.				4–0
4.	5 July 1999	Monumental Río Parapití, Pedro Juan Caballero, Paraguay	Peru	1–0	1–0
5.	7 October 2000	Estadio El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia	Colombia	1–0	2–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.	15 November 2000	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Peru	1–0	5–1
7.	5 September 2001		Bolivia	4–1	5–1
8.	17 May 2002	Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden	Sweden	1–0	2–1	Friendly
9.	2 June 2002	Busan Asiad Main Stadium, Busan, South Korea	South Africa	1–0	2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup
10.	15 November 2003	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Ecuador	1–0	2–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
11.	5 June 2005	Estádio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre, Brazil	Brazil	1–3	1–4
12.	8 June 2005	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Bolivia	2–1	4–1
13.	3 September 2005		Argentina	1–0	1–0
14.	25 March 2007	Estadio Universitario, Monterrey, Mexico	Mexico	1–2	1–2	Friendly
15.	28 June 2007	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo, Venezuela	Colombia	1–0	5–0	2007 Copa América
16.				2–0
17.				3–0
18.	17 November 2007	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Ecuador	3–0	5–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
19.	15 June 2008		Brazil	1–0	2–0
20.	18 June 2008	Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia	Bolivia	1–2	2–4
21.	15 May 2010	Centre sportif de Colovray Nyon, Nyon, Switzerland	North Korea	1–0	1–0	Friendly
22.	17 November 2010	Hong Kong Stadium, Victoria, Hong Kong	Hong Kong	1–0	7–0
23.				3–0
24.	11 June 2011	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Romania	2–0	2–0
25.	9 July 2011	Estadio Mario Alberto Kempes, Córdoba, Argentina	Brazil	1–1	2–2	2011 Copa América
26.	7 June 2013	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	Chile	1–2	1–2	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
27.	6 September 2013		Bolivia	2–0	4–0
28.	10 September 2013		Argentina	2–4	2–5
29.	29 May 2014	Kufstein Arena, Kufstein, Austria	Cameroon	2–0	2–1	Friendly
30.	18 November 2014	Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru	Peru	1–0	1–2
31.	6 June 2015	Estadio Manuel Ferreira, Asunción, Paraguay	Honduras	1–1	2–2
32.				2–2

Honours

Club

Olimpia Asunción

• Paraguayan Primera División: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2018 Apertura, 2018 Clausura, 2019 Apertura, 2019 Clausura, 2020 Clausura
• Copa Paraguay: 2021
• Supercopa Paraguay: 2021

Bayern Munich

• Bundesliga: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
• DFB-Pokal: 1999–2000, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
• DFB-Ligapokal: 2000, 2004
• UEFA Champions League: 2000–01
• Intercontinental Cup: 2001

Libertad

• Paraguayan Primera División: 2022 Apertura, 2023 Apertura, 2023 Clausura
• Copa Paraguay: 2023
• Supercopa Paraguay: 2023

International

Paraguay

• Copa América runner-up: 2011

Individual

• Blackburn Rovers Player of the Season: 2007–08
• Paraguayan Footballer of the Year: 1999, 2018
• Premier League Player of the Month: December 2007^[19]

References

1. "2006 FIFA World Cup Germany: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 21 March 2014. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2019.
2. "Roque Santa Cruz". Club Olimpia (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 7 August 2020. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
3. Andrés, Juan Pablo; Zea, Anthony; Gonzalez, Miguel Alvim (19 September 2004). "Copa Mercosur 1998". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 15 February 2012. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
4. "Cerro Porteño – Olimpia". conmebol.com. 24 February 1999. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
5. "Olimpia – Palmeiras". conmebol.com. 5 March 1999. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
6. "Palmeiras – Olimpia". conmebol.com. 12 March 1999. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
7. "Olimpia – Cerro Porteño". conmebol.com. 17 March 1999. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
8. "Olimpia – Corinthians". conmebol.com. 26 March 1999. Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
9. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). kicker. Archived from the original on 25 May 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
10. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). Fussballdaten. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
11. "Roque Santa Cruz » Club matches". World Football. Archived from the original on 16 January 2017. Retrieved 13 January 2017.
12. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). Fussballdaten. Archived from the original on 15 February 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
13. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). Fussballdaten. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
14. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). Fussballdaten. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
15. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). Fussballdaten. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
16. "Roque Santa Cruz" (in German). Fussballdaten. Archived from the original on 28 April 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
17. Roque Santa Cruz at National-Football-Teams.com
18. "Roque Luis Santa Cruz – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 21 October 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2011.
19. "Roque Santa Cruz: Overview". Premier League. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2018.