Iván Luis Zamorano Zamora (Latin American Spanish:[iˈβansamoˈɾano]; born 18 January 1967) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Chile's most recognized footballers.
He first appeared as a member of the Chile national team in 1987, appearing on the team every year until 2001. During his tenure, he played in the 1998 World Cup, four Copa América tournaments, and the Olympics in 2000 with the u-23 team, where he won a bronze medal and was the top scorer of the tournament. He played for several clubs, notably Spanish clubs Sevilla and Real Madrid; Italian club Inter Milan as well as Liga MX club América. He won the 1994–95 La Liga title and was the season's top scorer with Real Madrid. He also won the UEFA Cup with Inter Milan in 1998, as well as the Liga MX title with America his first season with the club. A powerful and prolific goal-scorer, he was particularly renowned for his strength and ability in the air, with many of his goals coming from headers.[2]
In 2004, Zamorano was selected among the FIFA 100, a list of the best living football players in the world compiled by Pelé.
Zamorano started his career in Chile with Cobresal in December 1985. He was loaned out to Chilean Primera Division B club Trasandino (called Cobreandino between 1985 and 1992) for the 1985–86 season. He returned to the club shortly after and won the 1987 Copa Chile with Cobresal. In 1988, he moved to Europe to Swiss team St. Gallen, becoming the league's top scorer in the 1989–90 season, and scoring 37 goals in 61 matches across three seasons.[7] In 1990, Zamorano debuted in the Spanish Primera División with Sevilla, where he would play 63 matches and score 23 goals in all competitions before being sold to Real Madrid for $6 million.[8]
With Real Madrid, between 1992 and 1996, Zamorano won one league, one Copa del Rey and one Spanish Supercup title. In 1995, under manager Jorge Valdano, Zamorano helped Real Madrid win the Spanish League title, as he scored 28 goals – including a hat–trick against Barcelona – and received the Pichichi Trophy as the season's top scorer.[9] That year, he formed a particularly effective attacking partnership with playmakerMichael Laudrup.[10] In the 1992–93 and 1994–95 seasons, he won the EFE Trophy, which is awarded to the best Ibero-American player in La Liga every year by Spanish news agency EFE.[11] In total, Zamorano appeared 173 times for Real Madrid, scoring 101 goals.
Zamorano's Inter Milan jersey (one plus eight) next to Ronaldo (number 10) and Figo (seven) in the San Siro museum
After six seasons in the Spanish league, Zamorano played four seasons in Serie A with Inter Milan, from 1996 to 2000, where he was teammates with Youri Djorkaeff, Diego Simeone, Javier Zanetti and Ronaldo, among others. He was initially the club's premier striker, playing with the number nine shirt. However, after Roberto Baggio's arrival at the club, Ronaldo was forced to give up number ten, and wear number nine according to the terms of a Nike sponsorship.[12] Therefore Zamorano had to give up his number and chose number 18, adding a "+" to his shirt to create the equation '1+8', making him mathematically still a number 9 striker.[13][12] In May 1998, Inter won the UEFA Cup after beating Lazio in the final 3–0, with Zamorano scoring the opening goal.[14] He had also scored in the second leg of the previous year's final, with the game going to penalties.[15] However, Zamorano missed his penalty as Inter lost the shootout to Schalke 04 4–1.[15]
Zamorano would move to Mexico in 2001 to play for América for two seasons, winning the Torneo de Verano in the first season. He concluded his career playing for Colo-Colo in 2003, making a childhood dream come true. He announced his retirement in July of that year after a professional career spanning more than 16 years.[16][17]
International career
Zamorano made his debut at the age of 20 on 19 June 1987, scoring a goal in a 3–1 friendly win against Peru.[18] He scored five goals on 29 April 1997 in a 1998 World Cup qualifier against Venezuela, which ended in a 6–0 victory.[19] He played all four of Chile's matches at the 1998 World Cup; he was an instrumental part of the Chilean team despite failing to score, setting up Marcelo Salas' goal in a 1–1 draw against Austria.[20] In the 2000 Olympic Games, he won the bronze medal, scoring a brace in a 2–0 victory against United States,[21] and was the top scorer with six goals.[22] His last international match, at age 34, was a farewell friendly between Chile and France on 1 September 2001, which Chile won 2–1.[23] Zamorano was capped 69 times, scoring 34 goals.
Personal life
Zamorano was born in Santiago, Chile and was the only son of Luis Zamorano and Alicia Zamora.[24] The family moved to Maipu three years later.[24] When he was 13, his father who he inherited a love of football from died of fulminating appendicitis.[24]
He has a long-term close friendship with his former fellow footballer Fabián Estay, which was interrupted from 2001 to 2007 due to the fact that Estay stated that Zamorano didn't support him when he was isolated from the América first team by the club leaders.[25] In addition, Zamorano is the godfather of the Estay's daughter, Renata Ivana.[26]
In 2005, he married María Alberó, an Argentine model.[27] Since 2016, they have lived in Miami.[28]
Outside football
Zamorano was the promotional face of the new Santiago transport system, Transantiago, in 2007 which experienced operational difficulties at launch.[29]
In 2021, Zamorano became brand ambassador for Betsson as part of the Chilean National Team choosing the sports betting site as its official betting partner ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.[30]
