Blas Pérez

Pérez began his career in his native Panama with Panamá Viejo. He made his debut with the club in 1998 and went on to score 27 goals in 56 matches. In 2001, he joined Árabe Unido and continued his goal scoring form. In 2002, he joined top Uruguayan side Nacional. The following season, he left for Colombia signing with Envigado, scoring a goal on his debut against Independiente Medellin in the process.[2] After one season at the club he joined Centauros and went on to score 29 goals in 37 matches, catching the attention of one of Colombia's top clubs Deportivo Cali. For the 2005 season he signed with Cali[3] and remained at the club for two years in which he continued with his goal scoring form. In 2006 Perez joined Cúcuta. With Cúcuta, Perez won the Copa Mustang in 2006 against Deportes Tolima. In 2007 Cúcuta and Blas Perez made their debut in Copa Libertadores, in which Blas scored eight goals, including two against Argentina's Boca Juniors. The eight goals were the second-most in the tournament.

On 29 May 2007 Spanish Segunda División team Hércules CF signed Super Ratón on a four-year contract in which they acquired 50% of the players rights.[4] It was valued at US$2.7 million, with Blas Perez earning 60 thousand dollars per month. Perez enjoyed a brief stay in Spain in which he scored four goals in 16 matches.

On 18 January 2008 he signed with UANL Tigres, his seventh club in his career and first in Mexico.[5] He played for Pachuca for the 2009 Clausura in a loan deal after Miguel Sabah's transfer to Pachuca did not work out.[6] He scored eight goals in 15 matches with Pachuca.

After his impressive display in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Al Wasl FC of Dubai was able to secure Blas Pérez services to play in the UAE League[7] based on Al Wasl's new coach Alexandre Guimarães recommendation. He stayed there only for the first half of the 2009–10 season before moving back to Mexico to play for San Luis.[8] After having played 17 games in the Torneo Bicentenario and 2 in the 2010 edition of the Copa Libertadores and having scored 5 goals in both tournaments, he was released at the end of the season.[9] He was later signed by Club León from the Liga de Ascenso in the 2010 edition of the Mexican draft.[10] he rediscovered his goal scoring form with Club León with 19 goals in 28 matches. For the second half of the 2011 season he was again sent on loan this time to Indios. For the 2012 Major League Soccer season, he signed with FC Dallas.[11] On 2 December 2015, it was announced that FC Dallas would not be renewing Perez's contract.[12]

On 16 February 2016, Perez was traded to Vancouver Whitecaps FC for Mauro Rosales.[13] At the conclusion of the 2016 season Perez's contract was not renewed. On 31 January 2017, Pérez signed with Panamanian club, C.D. Árabe Unido.

On 25 November 2018, Pérez retired from playing professional football.[14]

Pérez made his debut for Panama in a March 2001 friendly match against El Salvador and has, as of 6 June 2016, earned a total of 106 caps, scoring 41 goals.[15] He is Panama's third all-time record cap behind Gabriel Gómez and Jaime Penedo and second all-time leading goalscorer after Luis Tejada. He represented his country in 22 FIFA World Cup qualification matches[16] and played for Panama at the 2007 Gold Cup,[17] in which they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by the U.S. He ended up as Panama's top scorer, with three goals and one assist. Blas Perez was also named in the 2007 Gold Cup "Best XI". He also played at the 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 Gold Cups and Copa América Centenario.

In May 2018 he was named in Panama's preliminary 35 man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[18]

International goals

Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first.[19]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	24 April 2001	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Haiti	1–0	2–0	Friendly
2.	6 September 2006	Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City	Guatemala	2–0	2–1
3.	8 June 2007	Giants Stadium, East Rutherford	Honduras	2–1	3–2	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
4.	10 June 2007		Cuba	2–1	2–2
5.	16 June 2007	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough	United States	1–2	1–2
6.	31 March 2009	Estadio Agustín Sánchez, La Chorrera	Haiti	2–0	4–0	Friendly
7.				3–0
8.				4–0
9.	7 June 2009	National Stadium, Kingston	Jamaica	1–0	2–3
10.	9 July 2009	Reliant Stadium, Houston	Mexico	1–1	1–1	2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
11.	12 July 2009	University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale	Nicaragua	1–0	4–0
12.	18 July 2009	Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia	United States	1–0	1–2	2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup
13.	3 March 2010	Estadio José Pachencho Romero, Maracaibo	Venezuela	2–0	2–1	Friendly
14.	11 August 2010	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Venezuela	2–1	3–1
15.	8 October 2010		El Salvador	1–0	1–0
16.	21 January 2011		Costa Rica	1–1	1–1	2011 Copa Centroamericana
17.	7 June 2011	Ford Field, Detroit	Guadeloupe	1–0	3–2	2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup
18.	6 September 2011	Estadio Nacional de Fútbol, Managua	Nicaragua	2–1	2–1	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
19.	7 October 2011	Windsor Park, Roseau	Dominica	3–0	5–0
20.	11 October 2011	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Nicaragua	1–0	5–1
21.				2–0
22.				5–0
23.	11 November 2011		Costa Rica	1–0	2–0	Friendly
24.	15 November 2011		Dominica	3–0	3–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
25.	1 June 2012		Jamaica	1–0	2–1	Friendly
26.	8 June 2012	Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula	Honduras	1–0	2–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
27.				2–0
28.	11 September 2012	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Canada	2–0	2–0
29.	13 January 2013		Guatemala	2–0	2–0	Friendly
30.	25 January 2013	Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José	Guatemala	1–0	3–1	2013 Copa Centroamericana
31.	26 March 2013	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Honduras	2–0	2–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
32.	20 July 2013	Georgia Dome, Atlanta	Cuba	4–1	6–1	2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup
33.				6–1
34.	24 July 2013	Cowboys Stadium, Arlington	Mexico	1–0	2–1
35.	7 September 2014	Cotton Bowl, Dallas	Costa Rica	1–0	2–2	2014 Copa Centroamericana
36.	10 September 2014	BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston	Nicaragua	1–0	2–0
37.	31 March 2015	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Costa Rica	1–0	2–1	Friendly
38.	13 July 2015	Sporting Park, Kansas City	United States	1–0	1–1	2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup
39.	8 January 2016	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Cuba	4–0	4–0	Copa América Centenario qualification
40.	6 June 2016	Camping World Stadium, Orlando	Bolivia	1–0	2–1	Copa América Centenario
41.				2–1
42.	13 June 2017	Estadio Rommel Fernández, Panama City	Honduras	1–1	2–2	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

On 23 July 2009, two cars chased Perez's car early at the morning while he was travelling along the La Chorrera highway. The assaulting cars intercepted his Nissan 350z when one of them collided with it forcing it to stop. Perez managed to escape from the attackers and sustained no injuries but his car was heavily damaged.[20]

Pérez holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[13]

• Blas Pérez at Major League Soccer
• Blas Pérez at National-Football-Teams.com
• Profile - FC Dallas
• Blas Pérez at Soccerway