Luis Suárez is a Uruguayan professional footballer who formerly represented the Uruguay national team as a striker. He made his debut for his country in a 3–1 friendly victory over Colombia in Cúcuta on 7 February 2007. His final international appearance was a 0–0 World Cup qualifying draw against Paraguay in Montevideo on 6 September 2024. In total, Suárez recorded 69 international goals in 143 appearances, making him the nation's all-time top scorer.
Suárez's first goal came in his third appearance for Uruguay, scoring the opener in a 5–0 FIFA World Cup qualification win against Bolivia in October 2007. He became his country's top scorer at the age of 26, when he scored twice against Tahiti in a FIFA Confederations Cup group match in June 2013. Suárez scored eleven goals during Uruguay's qualification campaign for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, making him joint top scorer with Robin van Persie during qualification. Following an incident in which he was adjudged to have bitten Italy's Giorgio Chiellini during the finals, Suárez was banned for nine international games and did not feature for Uruguay in 2015. His goal in the 1–0 victory over Saudi Arabia in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup made Suárez the only Uruguayan to score in three World Cup final tournaments (a feat matched later on by teammate Edinson Cavani).
Suárez scored three or more goals (a hat-trick) for Uruguay on two occasions: he scored three times against Indonesia in a 7–1 friendly win in October 2010, and all four goals in a 4–0 World Cup qualification victory against Chile in November 2011. Suárez scored 29 goals in FIFA World Cup qualifiers, making him the second highest all-time top scorer of qualification in CONMEBOL, behind only club teammate Lionel Messi. Suárez scored seven times in World Cup finals, eight times in the Copa América, and three times in the FIFA Confederations Cup. The remainder of his goals, 22, came in friendly matches.
Suárez scored more times (eight) against Chile than any other opponent. 21 of his goals were scored at the Estadio Centenario, with the remainder coming at overseas venues. His final international goal came on 13 July 2024, when he scored the late equaliser in Uruguay's 2–2 Copa América draw against Canada.
International goals Uruguay score listed first, score column indicates score after each Suárez goal. + Key Indicates goal was scored from a penalty kick + International goals by cap, date, venue, opponent, score, result and competitionCapDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition 1 3 13 October 2007 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 2 5 18 November 2007 3 7 6 February 2008 Friendly 4 8 25 May 2008 Ruhrstadion, Bochum, Germany 3–2 5 6 9 28 May 2008 Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway 7 21 10 June 2009 Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification 8 24 9 September 2009 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 9 25 10 October 2009 Estadio Olímpico Atahualpa, Quito, Ecuador 10 29 3 March 2010 AFG Arena, St. Gallen, Switzerland Friendly 11 33 22 June 2010 Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, South Africa 2010 FIFA World Cup 12 34 26 June 2010 Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth, South Africa 2–1 2010 FIFA World Cup 13 14 37 8 October 2010 Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia 7–1 Friendly 15 16 17 41 8 June 2011 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 18 43 4 July 2011 Estadio del Bicentenario, San Juan, Argentina 2011 Copa América 19 47 19 July 2011 Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata, Argentina 2–0 2011 Copa América 20 21 48 24 July 2011 Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires, Argentina 2011 Copa América final 22 50 7 October 2011 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 23 52 11 November 2011 4–0 24 25 26 27 54 25 May 2012 Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia Friendly 28 56 10 June 2012 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 29 59 16 October 2012 Estadio Hernando Siles, La Paz, Bolivia 30 60 14 November 2012 PGE Arena Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland Friendly 31 62 22 March 2013 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 32 64 5 June 2013 Friendly 33 65 16 June 2013 Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup 34 67 23 June 2013 8–0 35 36 70 14 August 2013 Miyagi Stadium, Rifu, Japan Friendly 37 71 6 September 2013 Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru 2–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 38 39 74 15 October 2013 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 40 78 19 June 2014 Arena Corinthians, São Paulo, Brazil 2–1 2014 FIFA World Cup 41 42 81 13 October 2014 Al-Buraimi Stadium, Al-Buraimi, Oman 3–0 Friendly 43 44 82 13 November 2014 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 45 83 25 March 2016 Arena Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 46 86 6 September 2016 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 47 88 11 October 2016 Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla, Colombia 48 95 10 October 2017 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 4–2 49 50 96 23 March 2018 Guangxi Sports Center, Nanning, China 2018 China Cup 51 98 7 June 2018 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Friendly 52 100 20 June 2018 Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup 53 101 25 June 2018 Cosmos Arena, Samara, Russia 54 104 7 September 2018 NRG Stadium, Houston, United States 4–1 Friendly 55 56 107 7 June 2019 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 57 108 16 June 2019 Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 3–0 4–0 2019 Copa América 58 109 20 June 2019 Arena do Grêmio, Porto Alegre, Brazil 1–1 2–2 59 113 18 November 2019 Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel 2–1 2–2 Friendly 60 114 8 October 2020 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 1–0 2–1 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 61 115 13 October 2020 Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, Quito, Ecuador 1–4 2–4 62 63 116 13 November 2020 Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez, Barranquilla, Colombia 2–0 3–0 64 120 21 June 2021 Arena Pantanal, Cuiabá, Brazil 1–1 1–1 2021 Copa América 65 126 14 October 2021 Arena da Amazônia, Manaus, Brazil 1–3 1–4 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification 66 129 27 January 2022 Estadio General Pablo Rojas, Asunción, Paraguay 1–0 1–0 67 130 1 February 2022 Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay 4–1 68 132 29 March 2022 Estadio San Carlos de Apoquindo, Santiago, Chile 2–0 69 142 13 July 2024 Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, United States 2–2 2024 Copa América
Note: In a World Cup qualifier on 10 June 2012 where Uruguay defeated Peru 4–2, FIFA's match summary lists Suárez as the scorer of the opening goal. FIFA has also published reports where they credit the goal to Sebastián Coates. Other notable sources also credit the goal to Coates. Suárez himself also insisted that Coates scored the goal, therefore it is not listed in his tally above.
Statistics
+ Appearances and goals by yearYearAppsGoals20076220081042009123201011720111310201284201316920146520150020168320175220181162019742020342021122202293202310202451Total14369
+ Goals by competition Competition Goals FIFA World Cup qualification 29 Friendlies 22 Copa América 8 FIFA World Cup7 FIFA Confederations Cup3Total69
+ Goals by opponentOpponentGoals865444332222222222111111111111Total69
References