Alfredo Hugo Rojas Delinge, nicknamed ''El Tanque'' (born 20 February 1937 in

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The city has a population of 212,152 (), and the Partido de Lan� ...

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

) is a former professional

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player.

Biography

Rojas started playing with

Club Atlético Lanús Club Atlético Lanús () is an Argentina, Argentine sports club from the Lanús district of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1915, the club's main sports are association football, football and basketball. In both sports, Lanús plays in Argentin ...

in 1958, but his participation in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

opened him a door to Europe. He joined

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

in mid-1959, but the club was

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

, Rojas moved on to play for

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in 1959. Alfredo Rojas returned to Argentina after signing for River Plate, but he spent most of the time sitting on the bench. It was not until 1962, when he move to

Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (; ''La Plata Gymnastics and Fencing Club''), also known simply as Gimnasia, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1887 as "Club de Gimnasi ...

, that ''El Tanque'' gained some importance in the Argentine football, scoring 17 goals. After another season with the team from

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

, Rojas was transferred to

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

Nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

d ''El Tanque'' ("the tank") Rojas played four seasons with Boca Juniors, winning the 1965 Argentine Championship, and becoming one of the most important and beloved Boca players of the 1960s.El Tanque Rojas, en primera persona
''El Gráfico'', 29 Sep 2009 From 1964 to 1968 he played 102 league matches, scoring 46 goals. In 1968 Boca Juniors gave Rojas a free transfer to move to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

an Universidad Católica, where he ended his career. With the Argentina national team, Rojas played in the

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, and won the 1964

Taça das Nações The Taça das Nações (Portuguese for "Nations' Cup") or "Little World Cup" was a football tournament played in Brazil in 1964 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Brazilian Football Confederation. Three international teams ...

(Nations Cup).

Titles

;Boca Juniors * Primera División (1):

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

;Argentina *

(1): 1964

References

External links

*
Alfredo Rojas with Boca Juniors
(Spanish) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Alfredo 1937 births Living people Argentine footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Argentina international footballers Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Lanús footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Boca Juniors footballers Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Real Betis players Peñarol players O'Higgins F.C. footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Sportspeople from Lanús Association football forwards