José Luis Calderon

After a promising spell in the youth system of Defensores de Cambaceres, he was transferred to Estudiantes de La Plata, the team he supported as a child, in 1992. His scoring helped the team return from relegation in 1994. Later, he played for Independiente for a year and Italian side S.S.C. Napoli during the 1997–98 season. He returned to Independiente for two years and then moved to Mexico to play with América and Atlas. Calderón has had multiple spells with Estudiantes, Independiente and Arsenal de Sarandí. He did not win any major honours until late in his career, winning the 2006 Apertura with Estudiantes and the 2007 Copa Sudamericana with Arsenal. In July 2008 he rejoined Estudiantes for the third time in his career. He was runner-up with the team in the 2008 Copa Sudamericana, and was part of the squad that won the 2009 Copa Libertadores, where he was used exclusively as a substitute. On 25 November 2009, Calderón announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 39. He explained that his decision came after coach Alejandro Sabella informed him that he was not being considered for the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup. Sabella denied that this was indeed the case. On 4 January 2010, Calderón announced that Argentinos Juniors coach Claudio Borghi convinced him to return to football, after a brief retirement from the game. In an article, Calderón stated, "El Bichi (Borghi) has given me the chance to retire from within a football field". He agreed to play for…

Calderón only had a brief interlude with the Argentina national team. He played in the 1999 Copa América, but a fight with the then coach Marcelo Bielsa diminished his chances of ever playing for the national team again.

Calderón's son Lucas is a professional footballer.

Estudiantes LP

Primera División: 2006 Apertura Copa Libertadores: 2009 Arsenal de Sarandí

Copa Sudamericana: 2007 Argentinos Juniors

Primera División: 2010 Clausura Individual

Argentine Primera División top scorer: 1995 Apertura, 1999 Clausura Copa Libertadores top scorer: 2006