Juan Bautista Esquivel
Costa Rican footballer (born 1980)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Juan Bautista Esquivel Lobo (born 12 August 1980) is a retired Costa Rican professional footballer who played his entire career for Saprissa.[2]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Juan Bautista Esquivel Lobo | ||
| Date of birth | 12 August 1980 | ||
| Place of birth | San Ramón, Costa Rica | ||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Winger | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1998–2005 | Saprissa | ||
| International career | |||
| 2002–2003 | Costa Rica | 4 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
Born in San Ramón, Esquivel made his professional debut for Saprissa against Limonense.[3] With Saprissa, Esquivel won three national championships, as well as a UNCAF Cup title and a CONCACAF Champions Cup title.
He participated in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship with his team, who ended up in third place, behind São Paulo and Liverpool[4] After his sudden retirement, he was offered a coaching job at Saprissa´s minor league system.
Forced retirement
Better known as Juanbau, he used to play as a left winger, before a heart condition cut his promising career short in 2005.[5] He was forced to leave professional football at the short age of 25, despite being considered as a future star for his team and the Costa Rica national football team. His father Santiago had died from the same heart disease.[6]
In June 2009, Bautista Esquivel was named assistant to manager Luis Torres at second division side Barrio México.[7]
International career
Esquivel played at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Egypt,[4] and the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship held in Nigeria.[4]
Esquivel then made four appearances for the senior Costa Rica national football team, his debut coming in a friendly against Morocco on March 27, 2002.[8] His final international was a November 2003 friendly match against Finland.
