Roque Santa Cruz

Olimpia Asunción

1990–1999

Santa Cruz joined Primera División Paraguaya club Olimpia Asunción's youth academy at the age of nine, where he became the top scorer during several seasons. The club's first-team coach, Luis Cubilla, invited Santa Cruz to train with the team aged 15, and the player eventually made his first-team appearance in the 1997 Primera División Paraguaya at the age of 15, during the Torneo Clausura on 27 July when he entered the field in the 80th minute for Alfredo Mendoza in the Paraguayan derby against Cerro Porteño.

1998 season

During the group stages of the 1998 Copa Mercosur, Santa Cruz scored his first goal of the competition in the 11th minute of Olimpia Asunción's 4–2 away victory against Argentine side Racing Club on 14 October 1998. The club finished in second position of their group with ten points, and advanced to the quarter-finals to face José Luís Chilavert's Vélez Sársfield. During the first-leg of the quarter-final match on 27 October, Santa Cruz scored in the 65th minute of Olimpia's 4–3 away victory. One week later, Santa Cruz scored a brace for Olimpia as they claimed a 2–1 home victory in the second leg on 4 November 1998. His goals came in the 24th and 40th minutes of the first half. All of his three goals were scored against his international teammate Chilavert. Bayern Munich's eyes looked at Santa Cruz for the first time after he scored his double past José Luís Chilavert. The club was later…

Since he already debuted in Paraguay's domestic league, national team coach Paulo César Carpegiani contemplated taking a then 16-year-old Santa Cruz to the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France. In 1999, Santa Cruz represented Paraguay's under-20 team before receiving a call up to the senior team when he made his debut aged 17 in a friendly match against Mexico on 28 April 1999. Santa Cruz scored his first goal for Paraguay in a 3–2 loss against Uruguay on 17 June 1999. He had scored a total of ten goals at international level for Paraguay (including U-20) in 1999. Due to his performances and involvement in three major tournaments of that same year (1999 South American Youth Championship, 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship and the 1999 Copa América), Santa Cruz was awarded as the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year by Diario ABC Color and the Paraguayan Football Association. In 2000, Santa Cruz was selected to represent the under-23 at the 2000 CONMEBOL Men Pre-Olympic Tournament in Brazil, which saw Paraguay fail to qualify for the 2000 Summer Olympics. He appeared in four matches at the tournament, against Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, and Peru, scoring a double against the latter. During the qualification campaign for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Santa Cruz had scored a total of three goals. His first goal came in round nine, when Santa Cruz had scored Paraguay's first goal in the third minute of a 2–0 away victory against Colombia on 7 October 2000. His second goal came in a 5–1 home…

Santa Cruz was described in his 2010 World Cup profile as having "long caused problems for opposing defences with his natural flair for goalscoring and surging runs into the penalty box".

Santa Cruz, who is a naturalised Spanish citizen, married Giselle Tavarelli, the sister of his former national team and Olimpia teammate Ricardo Tavarelli, in 2003. They have a son named Tobías (born 17 December 2003), a daughter named Fiorella (born 11 November 2005), a son named Benjamín (born 2010) and a daughter named Alaia (born in Spain in July 2014). Santa Cruz is a practising Roman Catholic. His father, Aproniano Santa Cruz, is also his agent, and his mother is Celina. Santa Cruz has a younger brother named Julio who played for Asunción-based club Nacional, a second brother named Diego who was also a professional football player, and another brother named Oscar who died in 2005. Santa Cruz is a friend of long-time Bayern Munich teammate Owen Hargreaves, who taught him the English language. Hargreaves and Santa Cruz lived nearby to each other in the city of Manchester while Santa Cruz was playing for Blackburn in 2007. In 2004, Santa Cruz was the subject of the song "Ich, Roque" by the German band Sportfreunde Stiller. Santa Cruz was chosen by the German newspaper Die Welt as the sexiest footballer of the 2006 World Cup. He has appeared on the cover of the German version of Pro Evolution Soccer 6.