Hugo Pérez (soccer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Hugo Ernesto Pérez Granados | ||
| Date of birth | November 8, 1963 | ||
| Place of birth | Morazán, El Salvador | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
Current team | El Salvador (head coach) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1982 | Los Angeles Aztecs | 0 | (0) |
| 1982–1983 | Tampa Bay Rowdies | 20 | (0) |
| 1983–1984 | San Diego Sockers | 29 | (7) |
| 1984–1990 | San Diego Sockers (indoor) | 125 | (107) |
| 1986, 1989 | Los Angeles Heat | ||
| 1990 | Red Star Paris | ||
| 1990–1991 | Örgryte IS | 2 | (0) |
| 1992 | Al-Ittihad | ||
| 1994 | Los Angeles Salsa | ||
| 1994–1996 | CD FAS | ||
| National team | |||
| 1984–1994 | United States | 73 | (13) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2002–2005 | San Francisco Dons (assistant) | ||
| 2007 | California Victory (assistant) | ||
| 2012–2013 | United States U14 | ||
| 2012–2014 | United States U15 | ||
| 2015 | El Salvador (assistant) | ||
| 2016 | El Salvador (assistant) | ||
| 2021 | El Salvador U23 | ||
| 2021– | El Salvador | ||
show
Honours | |||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only | |||
Hugo Ernesto Pérez Granados (born November 8, 1963) is a professional footballer and current manager of the El Salvador national team. Born in El Salvador, he represented the United States national team.
During his fourteen-year career, he played professionally in the United States, France, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and his native El Salvador. Although born in El Salvador, he gained his U.S. citizenship as a youth and earned 73 caps, scoring sixteen goals, with the U.S. national team between 1984 and 1994. He was a member of the U.S. team at both the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He was the 1991 U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year and was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2008.
Early life[]
Pérez was born in El Salvador, where both his grandfather and father both played professionally for C.D. FAS, the club with which Pérez would finish his career. He migrated with his family to the United States when he was 11 and gained his U.S. citizenship in the mid-1980s.[1] He chose to forego college.
Club career[]
In 1982, Pérez signed with the Los Angeles Aztecs of the NASL. He also spent time with the Tampa Bay Rowdies before ending up with the San Diego Sockers. In 1988, he was the championship MVP when the Sockers won the MISL championship. That summer he joined Ajax during the team's pre-season. Ajax manager Johan Cruyff expressed an interest in signing him, but the Sockers refused to release Pérez. In 1989, he played for the Los Angeles Heat of the Western Soccer Alliance.[2]
Cruyff then attempted to work a transfer for Pérez to Italian club Parma in 1990, but Parma needed Pérez to play in the World Cup in order to get him a work permit. Pérez was part of the 1990 World Cup Roster, but when U.S. coach Gansler left Pérez off the U.S. team that traveled, due to a question of match fitness due to injury, this nixed the move to Italy. Instead, Pérez moved to France where he played with Red Star Paris. From France, Pérez moved to Swedish First Division club Örgryte IS then Saudi Arabian First Division club Al-Ittihad.
In 1994, he returned to the United States and played in the 1994 World Cup and after played for the Los Angeles Salsa of the American Professional Soccer League. Hugo played with the Salsa while negotiating a contract with C.D FAS. The Salsa folded at the end of the 1994 season and Pérez made his last move, to Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador club C.D. FAS, commonly known as C.D. FAS. In both of Pérez' years with the club, 1994–1995 and 1995–1996, C.D. FAS won the El Salvador championship. He retired in 1996 from professional soccer.
International career[]
Pérez was a member of the American squad that competed at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship and 1984 Summer Olympics.[3] He also helped the USA qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which he missed when he tore ligaments in his leg playing for Red Star Paris, a French Second Division club.[4] He was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1991. He played 73 international matches for the US between 1984 and 1994, in which he scored thirteen goals. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Pérez played in the second round game against Brazil.
Retirement[]
After retiring from playing, Pérez moved to the San Francisco area where he has served as the principal for the Living Hope Christian School. On March 10, 2008, Pérez was elected to the National Soccer Hall of Fame.[5]
He is the uncle of UD Ibiza and player, Joshua Pérez.[6][7]
Coaching career[]
In August 2002, he joined the University of San Francisco as an assistant coach to its men's soccer team.[8] On December 7, 2007, the California Victory, a USL First Division expansion franchise, announced that Pérez had joined its staff as an assistant coach.[9]
United States U-15[]
Pérez was coach of the U15s from August 7, 2012 to August 23, 2014. He resigned afterwards. He stated "Yes, this is my last camp, I don't know [what is next for me]; that is up to U.S. Soccer. Obviously, I'm employed by them and whatever they do I am open to it. It's been an honor to work with these kids and an honor to get to know them."[10]
El Salvador[]
After Albert Roca resigned as coach of El Salvador in July 2015, Perez once again expressed his interest in coaching El Salvador.[11][12] On August 21, 2015, it was announced that Perez has been hired as the new assistant coach of El Salvador to Jorge Rodríguez.[13] In April 2021, after having coached the El Salvador under-23 national team, Perez was named head coach of the senior team.[14] Under this tutelage, El Salvador began recruiting players born in the United States to El Salvadorian parents, who later made up a quarter of their World Cup qualifying roster in 2021.[1]
Personal life[]
His nephew Joshua Pérez is a professional soccer player who plays for Spanish side UD Ibiza.[6][7]
Career statistics[]
International[]
| National team | Year | Apps | Starts | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | 1984 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1985 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1988 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1991 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 2 | |
| 1992 | 17 | 17 | 3 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 12 | 12 | 3 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 17 | 16 | 3 | 3 | |
| Total | 73 | 66 | 13 | 8 | |
- Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pérez goal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | April 4, 1985 | Portland, Oregon |  Canada |
1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2 | August 13, 1988 | St. Louis, Missouri |  Jamaica |
2–1 | 5–1 | 1990 World Cup qualifying |
| 3 | September 17, 1989 | Tegucigalpa, Honduras |  El Salvador |
1–0 | 1–0 | 1990 World Cup qualifying |
| 4 | July 3, 1991 | Los Angeles, California |  Costa Rica |
2–2 | 3–2 | 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup |
| 5 | March 18, 1992 | Casablanca, Morocco |  Morocco |
1–2 | 1–3 | Friendly |
| 6 | April 4, 1992 | Palo Alto, California |  China PR |
1–0 | 5-0 | Friendly |
| 7 | 5–0 | |||||
| 8 | March 14, 1993 | Tokyo, Japan |  Japan |
1–0 | 1–3 | 1993 Kirin Cup |
| 9 | October 16, 1993 | High Point, North Carolina |  Ukraine |
1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly |
| 10 | December 5, 1993 | Los Angeles, California | El Salvador |
5–0 | 7–0 | Friendly |
| 11 | February 20, 1994 | Miami, Florida |  Sweden |
1–3 | 1–3 | Friendly |
| 12 | March 26, 1994 | Dallas, Texas |  Bolivia |
1–1 | 2–2 | Friendly |
Honors[]
San Diego Sockers
- North American Soccer League: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90
FAS
- Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador: 1994–95, 1995–96
United States
Individual
- U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 1991
- Fútbol de Primera Player of the Year: 1991
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b Baxter, Kevin (September 2, 2021). "Never fully American or Salvadoran, but finding acceptance in soccer". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
- ^ 1989 Los Angeles Heat roster Archived 2008-09-05 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hugo Pérez – FIFA competition record (archived)
- ^ NY Times mention of injury
- ^ "Pérez and Dorrance elected to Hall of Fame". Fox Sports. 2008-03-10. Archived from the original on 2008-03-14. Retrieved 2011-12-02.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Joshua Pérez, sobrino de Hugo Pérez, fue suplente con Fiorentina ante Empoli". Archived from the original on 2016-11-30.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "LAFC signs forward Joshua Perez on free transfer from Italian club Fiorentina". Los Angeles Times. 2018-08-09. Retrieved 2020-06-23.
- ^ Soccer America Warning Archived 2005-09-12 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ www.californiavictorysoccer.com Coming Soon Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ August camp ends Hugo Perez stint with U15s
- ^ Hugo Perez in El Salvador coach role after missing out as player
- ^ Former USMNT great, US U-15s coach Hugo Perez announces desire to coach El Salvador national team
- ^ Hugo Pérez se suma al cuerpo técnico
- ^ @LaSelecta_SLV (23 April 2021). "