Luis Héctor Cristaldo Ruiz Díaz (born August 31, 1969 in Formosa, Argentina) is a retired Argentine-Bolivian football midfielder. He holds the record for the most appearances for the Bolivian national team with 93 international matches and 5 goals between 1989 and 2005, including two appearances in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.^[1]

Born in Argentina, he relocated to Santa Cruz, Bolivia at the age of 15. Cristaldo then began attending the prestigious Tahuichi football academy, and by the time he was 18 years-old he made his official debut in first division. He played for Bolivian teams Oriente Petrolero (1990-92) and Bolívar (1993-98), winning 4 national titles combined during those years.

In 1998, he went abroad to play for Sporting de Gijón in Spain and later with Cerro Porteño and Sol de América in Paraguay, not to mention a previous spell he had during 1994 with Argentine club Mandiyú de Corrientes and legendary Diego Maradona as the manager.

In 2001, Cristaldo returned to Bolivia and played with The Strongest for the next six years. In 2007, while making his second spell with Oriente Petrolero he called it quit, laying his football career to rest permanently after seventeen years of professional football.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club

• Oriente Petrolero (1)
  • Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano: 1990
• Bolívar (3)
  • Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano: 1994, 1996, 1997
• The Strongest (3)
  • Liga de Fútbol Profesional Boliviano: 2003 (A), 2003 (C), 2004 (C)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• FIFA (English)
• International statistics RSSSF (English)
• BDFA profile (Spanish)
• comunidadboliviana article (Spanish)
• Argentine Primera statistics (Spanish)

Luis Héctor Cristaldo international tournaments v • d • e Bolivia squad – 1993 Copa América 1 Rojas • 2 J. Peña • 3 Sandy • 4 Rimba • 5 Quinteros • 6 Borja • 7 Villarroel • 8 Melgar • 9 Á. Peña • 10 Etcheverry • 11 Moreno • 12 Torrico • 13 Soruco • 14 Ríos • 15 Pérez • 16 Cristaldo • 17 Ramallo • 18 Noro • 19 I. Castillo • 20 R. Castillo • 21 Sánchez • 22 Baldivieso • Coach: Azkargorta v • d • e Bolivia squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Trucco • 2 J. Peña • 3 Sandy • 4 Rimba • 5 Quinteros • 6 Borja • 7 Pinedo • 8 Melgar • 9 A. Peña • 10 Etcheverry • 11 Moreno • 12 Rojas • 13 Soruco • 14 Ramos • 15 Soria • 16 Cristaldo • 17 O. Sánchez • 18 Ramallo • 19 Torrico • 20 Castillo • 21 E. Sánchez • 22 Baldivieso • Coach: Azkargorta v • d • e Bolivia squad – 1995 Copa América 1 Trucco • 2 Castillo • 3 Sandy • 4 Rimba • 5 J. Peña • 6 Cristaldo • 7 Angola • 8 Melgar • 9 A. Peña • 10 Etcheverry • 11 Mercado • 12 Torrico • 13 Sánchez • 14 Ramos • 15 Quinteros • 16 Ruiz • 17 Suárez • 18 Borja • 19 Arteaga • 20 Baldivieso • 21 Medeiros • 22 Soria • Coach: López Habas v • d • e Bolivia squad – 1997 Copa América Runners-up 1 Trucco • 2 Peña • 3 Sandy • 4 Rimba • 5 Ó. Sánchez • 6 V. Soria • 7 S. Castillo • 8 Melgar • 9 Moreno • 10 Etcheverry • 11 Gutiérrez • 12 M. Soria • 13 Jiguchi • 14 Tufiño • 15 Blanco • 16 Cristaldo • 17 Méndez • 18 Coimbra • 19 I. Castillo • 20 R. Castillo • 21 E. Sánchez • 22 Baldivieso • Coach: López Habas v • d • e Bolivia squad – 1999 Copa América 1 Fernández • 2 J. Peña • 3 Sandy • 4 Rimba • 5 Ó. Sánchez • 6 Ochoaizpur • 7 Gutiérrez • 8 Tufiño • 9 Moreno • 10 Etcheverry • 11 Coimbra • 12 Galarza • 13 Liendo • 14 Lozano • 15 Cristaldo • 16 Soria • 17 Justiniano • 18 Quinteros • 19 Castillo • 20 Ribera • 21 E. Sánchez • 22 Antelo • Coach: Veira v • d • e Bolivia squad – 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Fernández • 2 Peña • 3 Arana • 4 Álvarez • 5 O.Sánchez • 6 Cristaldo • 7 Gutiérrez • 8 Tufiño • 9 Moreno • 10 Etcheverry • 11 Galindo • 12 Galarza • 13 Botero • 14 E.Sánchez • 15 Menacho • 16 Soria • 17 Justiniano • 18 Quinteros • 19 Castillo • 20 Ribera • Coach: Veira v • d • e Bolivia squad – 2004 Copa América 1 J.C. Fernández • 2 Hoyos • 3 Jáuregui • 4 Álvarez • 5 Arana • 6 Rojas • 7 Cristaldo • 8 Tufiño • 9 Mercado • 10 Gutiérrez • 11 Suárez • 12 Flores • 13 Galarza • 14 Solíz • 15 Pizarro • 16 Raldes • 17 Arce • 18 Vaca Diez • 19 Galindo • 20 Botero • 21 L. Fernández • 22 Sánchez • Coach: Blacut

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