Mauricio Leonel Illesca Carreño (born 5 January 1972) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker for clubs in Chile and abroad.

Mauricio Illesca
Personal information
Full name Mauricio Leonel Illesca Carreño
Date of birth (1972-01-05) 5 January 1972 (age 52)
Place of birth Concepción, Chile
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
Escuela Barrabases
1984–1989 Universidad de Chile
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1990–1994 Universidad de Chile 11 (1)
1992Santiago Wanderers (loan) 20 (15)
1993Deportes La Serena (loan) 0 (0)
1994O'Higgins (loan) 18 (0)
1995 Colo-Colo 8 (6)
1996 Audax Italiano 25 (12)
1997 Las Palmas 5 (0)
1997 Audax Italiano 9 (5)
1998 Santiago Wanderers 8 (2)
1999 Deportes Concepción 6 (4)
2000 Ferro Carril Oeste 0 (0)
2000 Coquimbo Unido 7 (1)
2000 Santa Fe 2 (0)
Total 119 (46)
International career
1991 Chile U20
1997 Chile 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Born in Concepción, Chile, as a child, Illesca was with Escuela Barrabases from San Eugenio neighborhood [es], Estación Central, Santiago.[1] Then he joined Universidad de Chile youth system at the age of 12 and made his professional debut in a 1990 Copa Chile match versus Soinca Bata [es], scoring a goal in the 2–1 win.[2] In 1992, he and his fellow Rodrigo Goldberg were loaned to Santiago Wanderers in the Chilean Segunda División. He is well remembered by the club fans due to the fact that he became the team goalscorer with 15 goals.[3] In Chile, he also played for Deportes La Serena, O'Higgins, Colo-Colo,[4][5] Audax Italiano, Deportes Concepción and Coquimbo Unido.[2]

After a good season with Audax Italiano,[6] in 1997 he had a brief step with Spanish club UD Las Palmas, making five appearances.[7]

His last club was Independiente Santa Fe in Colombia, playing the last match in December 2000 versus América de Cali,[8] becoming the four Chilean to play for the club after Carlos Molina, Juan Ramón Garrido and Luis Ceballos.[9]

International career

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Illesca represented Chile at under-20 level in the 1991 South American Championship.[10]

At senior level, he was a substitute in the World Cup qualification matches versus Peru[11] and Bolivia[12] in 1997. In addition, he took part in the friendly match versus Millonarios in October 1997.[13]

Personal life

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Since he was a child, Illesca is nicknamed Bototo (Boot), like a comics character from Chilean magazine Barrabases [es], whose name coincides with the Escuela Barrabases where he began his career.[2]

As a curiosity, the news about the arrest of a drug trafficker nicknamed Bototo Illesca, like Mauricio, was shown in a Chilean TV program from Mega channel in 2011. His former fellow footballer Tincho Gálvez thought that it was about Mauricio and called him, realizing that their nicknames matched.[2]

Post-retirement

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He graduated as football manager at the INAF [es] (National Football Institute).[14]

He has studied and spent time in sport management and sport event organization. He is the executive director of Juventus Academy in Santiago, Chile, a franchise of Italian club Juventus, organizing sport events such as Bianconero Cup.[7] Through his enterprise and football academy Futuro Azul (Blue Future), he has organized youth championships such as Coquimbo Cup, Santiago Kids and Santiago Cup Inter.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Mauricio ILLESCA". Memoria Wanderers (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e Araujo, Adela (12 September 2013). "Entrevista con Mauricio Illesca: "El jugador-hincha es una especie en extinción"". Publimetro Chile (in Spanish). Publimetro. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  3. ^ "Campeonato de 2° Division 1992". www.solofutbol.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  4. ^ "GOLEADORES CAMPEONATO NACIONAL 1995". www.solofutbol.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  5. ^ Ortega, Pablo (3 July 2024). ""Para mí fue maravilloso haber llegado a Colo Colo desde la U"". AS Chile (in Spanish). Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  6. ^ "GOLEADORES CAMPEONATO NACIONAL 1996". www.solofutbol.cl (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Bototo Illesca, los ojos de la Juve en Chile". www.tintaamarilla.es (in Spanish). 5 July 2019. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  8. ^ "¿Se acuerda de...? El "Bototo" Illesca" (in Spanish). CDF. 5 March 2016. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  9. ^ "Santa Fe y su historia con clubes y jugadores chilenos". El Cinco Cero (in Spanish). 26 February 2015. Retrieved 24 November 2022.
  10. ^ "Nóminas de Chile para Campeonatos Sudamericanos Sub-20". Partidos de La Roja (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  11. ^ "[12/10/1997] Chile-Perú 4:0". Partidos de La Roja (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  12. ^ "[16/11/1997] Chile-Bolivia 3:0". Partidos de La Roja (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  13. ^ "CHILE PICANTE PARA MILLONARIOS". El Tiempo (in Spanish). 2 October 1997. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
  14. ^ Mauricio Illesca on Twitter
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