Claudio Pizarro

Deportivo Pesquero

Pizarro started his professional career playing with Deportivo Pesquero, a small provincial team in the city of Chimbote in the north of Peru, at the age of 17. His first professional match was in 1996 against Alianza Lima. He scored his first two goals two weeks later against Atletico Torino in the 2–1 victory of Deportivo Pesquero. He finished the 1996 season with three goals in 16 appearances.

Alianza Lima

Pizarro scored 25 goals over two seasons with Alianza Lima and was part of the team that ended in second position in the Torneo Apertura of Peru in 1999. He also made seven appearances in Copa Libertadores. Shortly after his success at Alianza, Pizarro was sold to Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga. Later that year, he earned his first call-up for the Peru national football team.

Werder Bremen

Pizarro joined Werder Bremen for the first time in the summer of 1999 when he was only 20 years old. His first match in the Bundesliga was on 28 August of that year, a 1–1 draw against Hertha BSC, joining as a second-half substitute. In his second appearance on 12 September, Pizarro scored his first Bundesliga goal in the 5–0 victory over 1. FC Kaiserslautern at home. One week later, Pizarro made his first hat-trick in the 7–2 victory over VfL Wolfsburg, establishing himself as one of the most promising talents. He ended his first Bundesliga season scoring 10 goals in 25 matches. In that season, Pizarro also made his UEFA Cup…

Pizarro has been a regular for Peru since scoring in a 2–1 defeat against Ecuador on his debut in February 1999. In the same year, he was part of the Peruvian team at the 1999 Copa América in Paraguay, starting all three of the group matches and coming on as a substitute in the quarter-final match, which ended with a penalty shootout loss against Mexico. Pizarro has gone on to be a starting player at the 2004, 2007 and 2015 Copa América tournaments, as well as the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns for the 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018. On 23 August 2003, Pizarro scored the fastest ever goal in the history of the Peruvian national team, at 18 seconds of the match's start for a 3–1 win over Mexico at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. He was later shown a red card along with teammate John Galliquio and Mexicans Jared Borgetti and Omar Briceño. At the 2004 Copa América, Pizarro suffered a fractured skull when he took an elbow to the side of his head in an on-field collision with the opponent's goalkeeper during a 3–1 win over Venezuela. The injury forced him out of the rest of the tournament and required extensive surgery in Germany. Under the management of Julio César Uribe, Pizarro captained Peru to the quarter-finals of the 2007 Copa América, scoring the two goals in the 2–2 draw against Bolivia in the final match of the group in Mérida. On 18 June 2015, Pizarro scored the only goal of Peru's 1–0 win against Venezuela in the group stage of the 2015 Copa América. He won his…

Club

International

Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pizarro goal.

Pizarro has a sister, Patricia, and a younger brother, Diego. Diego is also a professional footballer and played for Bayern Munich as a youth. Pizarro is married to his teenage sweetheart, Karla Salcedo, having two sons and a daughter. All three were born in Germany. Pizarro co-owns a race horse called 'Crying Lightning' with fellow professional footballer Joey Barton. In January 2011, the horse competed at the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai. On 15 September 2020, Pizarro became an ambassador for Bayern Munich.