Álvaro Saborío

Club

As of 30 July 2021

International goals

Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Saborío goal.

Saborío is a product of C.F. Monterrey's youth system. He played with the club's reserve team in the Segunda División de México and with affiliate Coyotes de Saltillo in the Primera A.

Deportivo Saprissa

Saborio began his professional career with Saprissa in his native Costa Rica. He made his Costa Rican Primera División debut against Limonense on 8 August 2001. Saborío was the leading goal-scorer of the 2003–2004 Costa Rican season, finishing the year with 25 goals, five above Whayne Wilson. With Saprissa, he has won a league title and a CONCACAF Champions Cup and was part of the team that played the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, where Saprissa finished third behind São Paulo and Liverpool. At the tournament, he scored two goals and ended up tied with three other players for top scoring honors.

FC Sion

He moved to Swiss Super League outfit FC Sion after playing for Costa Rica at the 2006 World Cup. He formed a good partnership at FC Sion with Poland's Zbigniew Zakrzewski. His performances in Switzerland reportedly caught the eye of Stoke City's manager Tony Pulis who aimed to sign him in the summer of 2009, however he instead joined Bristol City on loan.

Bristol City

Saborío played his first game for Bristol City in a Championship match on 13 September against Coventry City making an impact by setting up fellow striker Nicky Maynard. Saborío also picked up his first yellow card in English football as the match ended in a 1–1 draw. Saborio…

Saborío was an important player for the Costa Rica national team at numerous levels. He represented the U-23 team at the 2004 Olympics, scoring the qualifying goal that took them there, and subsequently started three of four games for the team, scoring a goal against Portugal. Saborío made his senior debut for Costa Rica in an October 2002 friendly match against Ecuador and has, as of October 2021, earned a total of 112 caps, scoring 36 goals, placing him third at his country's all-time goalscorers list behind Rolando Fonseca and Paulo Wanchope. Saborío, better known as Pipe, has been notably recognized for his accomplishments with Deportivo Saprissa, and the high number of goals he scored in a short period. But after a year at the club his Costa Rican coach got a hold of him and he took part in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was mostly a substitute for the side, behind Rónald Gómez and former Manchestet City forward Paulo Wanchope. He also scored the first goal ever in the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, in the inaugural match against China. Saborío was at the centre of much controversy in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, criticized heavily for his misses, including two penalty kicks in the quarterfinals against Honduras, and for a training pitch incident where he allegedly kicked a ball at a child who was in the stands. Saborío scored eight times in Costa Rica's successful 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign, including a hat-trick in a 4–0 away win over Guyana on 12 June…

A son of former Costa Rica international Álvaro Grant MacDonald and Marlene Saborío, Saborío can speak four languages: Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. Saborío holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.