Sebastián Botero

Juan Sebastián Botero (born July 4, 1986, in Ames, Iowa), is an American-born Colombian soccer manager and former midfielder. His parents moved from Colombia to the United States before he was born. He is the current coach of the youth squads of Colombian club Independiente Medellín.

Football career
Then, Botero and his family moved back to Colombia when he was one year old, and he joined the Independiente Medellín youth system at age 13. He made his professional first team debut for Medellín at age 17, on August 3, 2003, versus Atlético Huila. In his four years with the club, he went on to make 46 first team appearances, playing his final game in June 2007 against Cúcuta Deportivo.

In 2003, Botero played for the Colombia national under-17 football team in the South American U-17 Championship held in Bolivia, scoring a goal against Paraguay while also playing against Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, and Uruguay. This Colombian team was managed by coach Eduardo Lara.

Botero was on the development roster with FC Dallas during 2007, but was waived at the end of the year. He was later picked up to play for Atlético Huila to perform in the Copa Mustang in Colombia, and played for Once Caldas during the second half of 2009. Then, in 2012 he was hired by Cúcuta Deportivo.

Retirement and managerial career
In 2013 and after playing for Deportivo Rionegro and Atlético Huila again, Botero decided to retire from his activity as a professional soccer player in Colombia. From that moment on, he dedicated himself to coaching minor soccer divisions in the South American country, including the youth teams of Independiente Medellín and Fortaleza C.E.I.F. Likewise, in later years, he began to give sports conferences, narrating and teaching about the soccer sports career, starting in minor divisions, until reaching the professional soccer environment.

On May 9, 2023, he was appointed as the caretaker coach of Independiente Medellín.

Clubs
Most of his sports career was developed in Colombia, a country where he continued to live after retiring as a professional player.