Walter Centeno

Wálter Centeno Corea (born 6 October 1974) is a Costa Rican former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and current manager of Santos de Guapiles.

Wálter Centeno Corea

Centeno with Saprissa in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Wálter Centeno Corea[1]
Date of birth	(1974-10-06) 6 October 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth	Palmar Sur, Costa Rica
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[2]
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Guadalupe (manager)
Youth career
	Compañeros de Tibás
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1995–2002	Saprissa	152	(18)
1995–1996	→ Belén (loan)	52	(3)
2002–2003	AEK Athens	14	(2)
2003–2012	Saprissa	251	(47)
2013	Bayamón	11	(3)
Total		480	(72)
International career
1995–2009	Costa Rica	137	(24)
Managerial career
2015–2016	Puntarenas
2016–2019	Municipal Grecia
2019–2021	Saprissa
2021–	Guadalupe
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

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

He was a regular member of the Costa Rica national team and holds the record for appearances, having gained 137 caps (135 FIFA official caps) and scored 24 goals.

Club career

Saprissa

Nicknamed Paté, Centeno started his career at Saprissa, who loaned him out to Belén for whom he made his professional debut on 4 February 1995 against Alajuelense. He scored his first goal on 3 September 1995 for Belén against Turrialba.^[3] He earned his nickname in his childhood due to his love for eating pate's.^[4]

AEK Athens

After seven years at Saprissa Centeno had a short spell abroad when he moved to Greece to play for AEK Athens.^[5] While playing for AEK, he participated in the UEFA Champions League Group Stage managing to score in the team's away home draws against Real Madrid at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the 2–2 draw and Roma at Stadio Olimpico in 1–1 draw, as they achieved the record of drawing all the matches of the group stage.^[6] After one season, Centeno filed an appeal for debts of club to him and was released.^[7]

Back at Saprissa

He returned to Saprissa, where he was named the best player of the 2003–04 Costa Rican season by the Costa Rican sports media, after scoring nine goals while orchestrating Saprissa's offense, helping the team to win the league.

With Saprissa, he won 10 national championships and one CONCACAF Champions Cup, winning the title with a 3–2 aggregate win over Mexico's UNAM Pumas in the final. He was part of the team that played the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship,^[8] where Saprissa finished third behind São Paulo and Liverpool. His appearance at this tournament was considered as outstanding by FIFA experts.

He retired in 2012, his final league match was on 5 May 2012 for Saprissa against Santos de Guápiles.^[3] Saprissa retired the no. 8 shirt in his honour as well as definitely retiring the no. 10 shirt of Alonso Solís.^[9]

Puerto Rico

In April 2013, Centeno came out of retirement to join Puerto Rican side Bayamón.^[10]

International career

Centeno played his first game for the Costa Rica national football team on 27 September 1995 against Jamaica.^[11] He has been a fixture for the team for the last thirteen years, playing in the Pan American Games held in Mar del Plata, Argentina, in 1995; the Copa América tournaments of 1997,^[12] 2001^[13] and 2004;^[14] plus the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006.^[8] On 1 April 2009, he surpassed the record of caps for Costa Rica (held then by Luis Marín, 124 caps, 5 goals) as at 18 November 2009 he has 137 caps and 24 goals.^[15] He was the captain of Costa Rica national football team for the last part of 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifications. Rodrigo Kenton, the appointed manager replacing the fired Hernan Medford, chose him for covering this important role in the team because of his experience, hardening and leadership. Centeno played his last game on the national team on 18 November 2009, where they tied 1–1, in which he scored. The game meant that Costa Rica will not be in World Cup 2010. Centeno's goal was his last with as an International player, and it also marked the last goal of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying stage.

Shortly after that game, he announced his quitting from national team.

Personal life

Centeno is a son of Benigno Centeno and Lidieth Corea and he is married to Vivian Gutiérrez with whom he has three children.

Career statistics

Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Centeno goal.

List of international goals scored by Walter Centeno

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 February 1999	San José, Costa Rica	Jamaica		9–0	Friendly
2	25 November 1999	Alajuela, Costa Rica	Slovakia		4–0	Friendly
3	1 July 2000	Alajuela, Costa Rica	Panama		5–1	Friendly
4	30 May 2001	San Pedro Sula, Honduras	Panama		2–1	2001 UNCAF Nations Cup
5	3 June 2001	San Pedro Sula, Honduras	El Salvador		1–1	2001 UNCAF Nations Cup
6	26 January 2001	Miami, United States	Haiti		2–1	2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup
7	9 May 2002	San Salvador, El Salvador	Colombia		1–2	Friendly
8	13 February 2003	Panama City, Panama	Guatemala		1–1	2003 UNCAF Nations Cup
9	16 July 2003	Boston, United States	Cuba		3–0	2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
10	19 July 2003	Boston, United States	El Salvador		5–2	2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup
11
12
13	12 January 2005	San José, Costa Rica	Haiti		3–3	Friendly
14	3 September 2005	Panama City, Panama	Panama		3–1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
15	7 September 2005	San José, Costa Rica	Trinidad and Tobago		2–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
16	6 June 2007	Miami, United States	Canada		1–2	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
17	9 June 2007	Miami, United States	Haiti		1–1	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
18	11 June 2007	Miami, United States	Guadeloupe		1–0	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
19	17 October 2007	San José, Costa Rica	Haiti		1–1	Friendly
20	11 October 2008	Paramaribo, Suriname	Suriname		4–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
21	1 April 2009	San José, Costa Rica	El Salvador		1–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
22	10 July 2009	Florida, United States	Canada		2–2	2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
23	10 October 2009	San José, Costa Rica	Trinidad and Tobago		4–0	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)
24	18 November 2009	Montevideo, Uruguay	Uruguay		1–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONCACAF)

Honours

Deportivo Saprissa

• Primera División de Costa Rica (10): 1997–98, 1998–99, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007 Apertura, 2008 Clausura-Invierno, Verano-Apertura 2008, Campeonato de Verano-Clausura 2010
• CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 2005
• Copa Interclubes UNCAF: 1998, 2003
• FIFA Club World Cup third place: 2005

Costa Rica

• CONCACAF Gold Cup: runner-up 2002
• UNCAF Nations Cup: 1999, 2003, 2007; runner-up 2001

Individual

• CONCACAF Gold Cup All-Tournament team: 2007
• CONCACAF Gold Cup Top scorer: 2003
• CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 2003

See also

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps