Paulo César Wanchope Watson (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpawlo wanˈtʃope]; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer 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, Rosario Central and FC Tokyo.

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.

[3] 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.

Born in Heredia, Wanchope began his career with CS Herediano moving to England to play with Derby County along with fellow Costa Rican Mauricio Solís on 27 March 1997.

[5] 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 was eventually sold to Manchester City at the start of the 2000–01 season, following the arrivals of Davor Šuker and Frédéric Kanouté, for a fee of £3.65million.

[10] Wanchope earned a starting position at Manchester City, but was unable to help them avoid immediate relegation back to Division One at the end of the 2000–01 season, despite scoring nine league goals.

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.

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 Argentine club Rosario Central,[13] scoring five goals in 14 games.

Along with local prospect Sota Hirayama, Wanchope allowed FC Tokyo to utilise a pair of large (190 cm+) strikers.