Ivan Luis Zamorano Zamora (born January 18, 1967) is a former Chilean football forward, one of the most successful footballers ever for Chile. He played for several clubs, notably Sevilla FC and Real Madrid in Spain and Internazionale of Italy. He won the Spanish League title and was the season's top scorer in the same season with Real Madrid, and won the UEFA Cup with Internazionale. He was a member of the Chilean national team, and played in the 1998 World Cup.

In 2004, Zamorano was selected among the FIFA 100, a list of the best living football players in the world compiled by Pele.

Club career

Zamorano started his career at the club Cobre Andino then he moved to Cobresal in Chile in 1985. in 1988 he moved to Europe to Swiss team FC St. Gallen, scoring 34 goals in 56 matches in three seasons. Web page dedicated to Ivan Zamorano - Numbers section - www.tvn.cl - TVN Deportes, Chile. In 1991 Zamorano debuted in the Spanish Primera Division with Sevilla FC, where he would play 59 matches and score 21 goals before he was sold to Real Madrid for $5 million.

With Real Madrid, between 1992 and 1996, Zamorano won one league, one Copa del Rey, and one Spanish Supercup titles. In 1995, under the coaching of Jorge Valdano, Zamorano helped Real Madrid win the Spanish League title, scoring 27 goals – including a hat-trick against FC Barcelona –, and received the Pichichi Trophy as the season's top scorer. That year, he formed a particularly effective attacking partnership with playmaker Michael Laudrup. In the 1992-93 and 1994-95 seasons, he won the EFE Trophy, which is awarded to the best Ibero-American player in La Liga every year by Spanish news agency EFE.Trofeo EFE winners - efe.com - Agencia EFE S.A., Spain. Retrieved October 17, 2006. In total, Zamorano appeared 137 times for Real Madrid, scoring 77 goals.

After five seasons in the Spanish league, Zamorano played 4 seasons in Serie A with Internazionale, from 1996 to 2000, where he was the teammate of Youri Djorkaeff, Diego Simeone, Javier Zanetti, and Ronaldo, among others. In May of 1998, Inter won the UEFA Cup after beating S.S. Lazio in the final 3-0, with Zamorano scoring the opening goal.

Zamorano would move to Mexico in 2001 to play for Club America for two seasons, winning the Torneo de Verano in the first season. He concluded his career playing in Colo-Colo, in late 2003, after a professional career spanning more than 16 years.

National team

For the Chile national team, Zamorano played 69 times, scoring 34 goals. His debut occurred on June 19, 1987, at age 20, in a friendly match against Peru, a 3-1 win.

On April 29, 1997, he scored five goals in a World Cup qualification match against Venezuela, a 6-0 win for Chile. He played all four of Chile's matches at the 1998 World Cup, setting up Marcelo Salas' goal against Austria.

In the 2000 Olympic Games, he won the bronze medal and was the top scorer with six goals.

His last international match, at age 34, was a farewell friendly match between Chile and France on September 1 2001, which Chile won 2-1.

Honours

Team titles

• 1987 - Copa Chile winner (Cobresal)
• 1993 - Copa del Rey winner (Real Madrid)
• 1993 - Spanish Supercup winner (Real Madrid)
• 1994 - European Supercup winner (Real Madrid)
• 1995 - Spanish League winner (Real Madrid)
• 1998 - UEFA Cup (Internazionale)
• 2002 - Torneo de Verano (America)

Individual awards

• 1993 - EFE Trophy winner (Real Madrid)
• 1995 - Pichichi Trophy winner (Real Madrid)
• 1995 - EFE Trophy winner (Real Madrid)*

Trivia

• Zamorano was nicknamed Bam Bam (for Bamm-Bamm, a character from The Flintstones), and Ivan el Terrible ("Ivan the Terrible").
• Zamorano wore the number 9 jersey for Internazionale until a sponsorship deal with Nike saw Ronaldo given the traditional strikers' number.
• Zamorano had a good laugh at Ronaldo, when he, mathematically, wore the number 18 with a plus sign inserted between the digits (1+8).
• The popstar singer Madonna, during the 1998 FIFA World Cup, called Zamorano "the World Cup sex symbol".
• Zamorano is the promotional face of the new Santiago, Chile transport system Transantiago, which has brought him criticism because of the system's starting failures; some even say his credibility may have been damaged Continuan los "coletazos" para el rostro de TranSantiago

- noticias.123.cl, retrieved March 20, 2007..

Current life

He is married to Argentine model Maria Albero and their first child, a baby girl (Mia Pascale), was born in January 28 of 2006.

Zamorano is currently working as an assistant coach with the Chilean Under-18 national football team; many speculate that he is being groomed to take charge of the Chile national football team at some point in the future. Polls have indicated that Zamorano would be a popular choice with the Chilean public.