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Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer who is the manager of Deportivo Saprissa.
As a player he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Derby County, West Ham United and Manchester City. He also had spells in La Liga and Major League Soccer for Málaga and Chicago Fire as well as Herediano, Al-Gharafa Doha, Rosario Central and FC Tokyo. He was capped 73 times by Costa Rica, scoring 45 goals. Wanchope is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of the Costa Rica national football team, behind Rolando Fonseca, with 45 goals in 73 international matches. Goalscoring for Costa Rica National Team - Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Having scored against Brazil in 2002 and a brace against Germany in 2006, Wanchope is the top goalscorer for Costa Rica in the FIFA World Cup, a record he shares with Rónald Gómez.
As he is the former head coach of the Costa Rica national football team with a spell in charge between 2014 and 2015. He has also managed Herediano, Uruguay Coronado, CS Cartaginés and Pérez Zeledón.
Wanchope marked his debut for Derby on 5 April 1997 with a memorable goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford, beating four United players before slotting past Peter Schmeichel during a 3–2 win – the goal was later voted the greatest in the club's history by the Derby fans as part of the club's 125th Anniversary Celebrations.
He scored 13 league goals in 1997–98 as Derby finished ninth – their highest finish since 1989 – and helped them go one better in 1998–99 when his nine goals that season helped the Rams finish eighth.
After scoring 28 goals in 83 games within two seasons for Derby, Wanchope was sold to West Ham United for Pound sterling3.5 million on 16 July 1999.
The following season was a mixed one for Wanchope. Despite missing large chunks of it through injury, he still managed 12 goals in just 15 games and often showed his best form. After City's return to the top flight as Division One champions he played almost no part, with injury once again keeping him on the sidelines – he missed the entire 2002–03 season.
However, he returned to play a vital part at the end of 2003–04 and scored some vital goals to help avoid relegation, including the winning goal against Newcastle United, which effectively made City safe. He managed six goals from 22 league games that campaign.
In 2005, ESPN declared Wanchope's goal against CD Numancia the best of the entire 2004–05 La Liga. In 2006, following the World Cup in Germany and short but successful stints with Al-Gharafa in Qatar and Herediano in his native Costa Rica, he signed with Argentina club Rosario Central, scoring five goals in 14 games.
On 29 December 2006, J1 League club FC Tokyo announced the acquisition of Wanchope on a transfer from Rosario Central. Along with local prospect Sota Hirayama, Wanchope allowed FC Tokyo to utilise a pair of large (190 cm+) strikers. He was released by FC Tokyo and subsequently signed a one-year deal with MLS team Chicago Fire.
Wanchope would become hugely important to the senior Costa Rica national team, after making his debut in an October 1996 friendly match against Venezuela Historial de Paulo César Wanchope - Nación and playing for the team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and several Gold Cups. On 8 October 2005, Wanchope became the all-time leading goal scorer for Los Ticos when he scored the first goal in a home win over the USA in the qualifying match that sent Los Ticos to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Wanchope has twenty plus World Cup qualifier goals to his name.
On 9 June 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, a 4–2 loss to Germany. These two goals made Wanchope the inaugural Costa Rican to score twice in one World Cup match, and put him alongside Rónald Gómez as the sole Costa Ricans ever to score more than one World Cup goal. After the defeat to Germany, Costa Rica were defeated by both Ecuador and Poland. Thus Costa Rica finished last in their group and failed to qualify for the second round. Wanchope played his last game for his country in January 2008 against Sweden. He played 25 minutes before being substituted.
Wanchope became an assistant to the Costa Rica national team coach, Jorge Luis Pinto. Upon Pinto's departure after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Wanchope took over as interim national team coach.
In September 2014, he won the Copa Centroamericana with the Costa Rica national football team. On 31 January 2015, he was officially named as national team coach.
On 12 August 2015, Wanchope resigned as manager of Costa Rica's national team following a post-match brawl with a steward.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Derby County | 1996–97 | Premier League | 1 |
| 1997–98 | 17 | ||
| 1998–99 | 10 | ||
| West Ham United | 1999–2000 | Premier League | 15 |
| Manchester City | 2000–01 | Premier League | 10 |
| 2001–02 | First Division | 13 | |
| 2002–03 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2003–04 | 6 | ||
| Málaga | 2004–05 | La Liga | 6 |
| Al-Gharafa | 2005–06 | Qatar Stars League | 1 |
| Herediano | 2005–06 | Liga FPD | 3 |
| Rosario Central | 2006–07 | Primera División | 5 |
| FC Tokyo | 2007 | J1 League | 3 |
| Chicago Fire | 2007 | Major League Soccer | 2 |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Costa Rica | 3 |
| 6 | |
| 4 | |
| 2 | |
| 7 | |
| 10 | |
| 3 | |
| 0 | |
| 5 | |
| 3 | |
| 2 | |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
| + List of international goals scored by Paulo Wanchope | |||||||
| 1 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 2 | Estadio José Rafael Fello Meza Ivankovich, Cartago, Costa Rica | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 3 | 2–1 | ||||||
| 4 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 5–0 | Friendly | |||
| 5 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 6 | 3–0 | ||||||
| 7 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 8 | 2–1 | ||||||
| 9 | Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico | 3–3 | 3–3 | 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 10 | Oakland Coliseum, Oakland, California | 2–0 | 7–2 | 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup | |||
| 11 | 4–0 | ||||||
| 12 | 6–1 | ||||||
| 13 | 7–1 | ||||||
| 14 | Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 7–0 | 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup | |||
| 15 | Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica | 4–0 | 4–0 | 1999 UNCAF Nations Cup | |||
| 16 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup | |||
| 17 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica | 5–1 | 5–1 | Friendly | |||
| 18 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 7–1 | Friendly | |||
| 19 | 5–1 | ||||||
| 20 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 21 | 2–0 | ||||||
| 22 | Miami Orange Bowl, Miami, United States | 1–1 | 5–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 23 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 24 | 3–0 | ||||||
| 25 | Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 26 | Estadio Nacional Chelato Uclés, Tegucigalpa, Honduras | 1–0 | 3–2 | 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 27 | Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín, Colombia | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2001 Copa América | |||
| 28 | Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín, Colombia | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2001 Copa América | |||
| 29 | Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellín, Colombia | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2001 Copa América | |||
| 30 | 3–0 | ||||||
| 31 | Estadio Centenario, Armenia, Colombia | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2001 Copa América | |||
| 32 | Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup | |||
| 33 | 3–1 | ||||||
| 34 | Suwon World Cup Stadium, Suwon, South Korea | 1–3 | 2–5 | 2002 FIFA World Cup | |||
| 35 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 36 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 2–0 | 5–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 37 | 3–0 | ||||||
| 38 | 4–0 | ||||||
| 39 | Swangard Stadium, Burnaby, Canada | 1–1 | 3–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 40 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 41 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 42 | Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San Juan de Tibás, Costa Rica | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification | |||
| 43 | Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany | 1–1 | 2–4 | 2006 FIFA World Cup | |||
| 44 | 2–3 |
| + Managerial record by team and tenure | |||
| Herediano | 1 April 2008 | 10 March 2009 | |
| Costa Rica | 25 July 2014 | 12 August 2015 | |
| C.S. Cartaginés | 1 July 2018 | 14 September 2018 | |
| Herediano | 14 September 2018 | 21 October 2018 | |
| Pérez Zeledón | 2 February 2021 | 18 August 2021 | |
| C.S. Cartaginés | 26 October 2022 | 6 October 2023 | |
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