César Augusto Obando Villeda, nicknamed ''El Nene'', (born 26 October 1969) is a retired Honduran professional

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 who is considered one of the best players ever in Honduras but a serious injury cut his career early.

Club career

The diminutive Obando played in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras for

F.C. Motagua Club de Fútbol Motagua (), formerly Club Deportivo Motagua up to 2017, is an association football club, located in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. F.C. Motagua was founded as ''Club Deportivo Motagua'' on 29 August 1928. The club competes ...

C.D. Victoria Club Deportivo Victoria is a Honduran football club based in La Ceiba, Atlántida. They have enjoyed success in the past having won the Honduran first division once. They currently play in the Honduran first division. History Club Deportivo ...

and

Real C.D. España Real Club Deportivo España, Real España, or simply España is a Honduran professional football club, which plays in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras. With 12 championships, Real España is one of the most accomplished Honduran football ...

. He also played abroad with Mexican outfit

Correcaminos UAT Club de Fútbol Correcaminos de la Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, simply known as Correcaminos UAT, is a Mexican professional football club based in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas. It currently plays in the Liga de Expansión MX. The team wa ...

, with fellow Honduran

Eugenio Dolmo Flores Mario Eugenio Dolmo Flores (born 31 July 1965 in Puerto Cortés) is a retired Honduran footballer. Club career Born in Puerto Cortés, Flores began his footballing career at local side Platense. He soon arrived to renowned Olimpia, where he ...

at Peruvian side

Universitario Club Universitario de Deportes, popularly known as Universitario or simply as La "U", is a Peruvian football club located in Lima. The club was founded in 1924 under the name Federación Universitaria by students of the National University of S ...

and in Costa Rica with Cartaginés. At Cartaginés, he played alongside compatriots Arnold Cruz and

Christian Santamaría Christian Reniery Santamaría (born 20 December 1972) is a retired Honduran football player who made his name with Olimpia and the national team in the second half of the 1990s. Club career Santamaría started his career at Olimpia and remaine ...

but was released in February 2003. He played in the

1994 Copa Libertadores The 1994 Copa Libertadores was the 35th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's premier annual international competition. Vélez Sársfield won the tournament for their first title against São Paulo in a penalty shootout with a score of 5� ...

with Universitario, where the club were eliminated by

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at Estadio Atanasio Girardo ...

in the knock-out stages. In 1992, he was named World's Top Goal Scorer of the Year by the

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

. His last game as a professional player in the Honduran league was on 21 May 2002 with his team

defeating

C.D. Olimpia Club Deportivo Olimpia is a professional Honduran football club based in Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán. The club is the nation's most successful team both in the domestic league and in international club competitions. History Olimpia was f ...

2 - 1. He is known for his powerful right footed shot. He scored 23 league goals for Motagua.

International career

Obando made his debut for

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

in a May

1991 UNCAF Nations Cup The 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup was the inaugural UNCAF Nations Cup, the Central American championship for men's national association football teams. It was organized by the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' or UNCAF, and it took place in Costa Ri ...

match against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and has earned a total of 33 caps, scoring 15 goals. He has represented his country in 7

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at the

. His final international was a March 2002

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first.''

Managerial career

Obando was named Motagua's reserves coach in 2013.César Obando: “He vuelto a casa”
- El Heraldo He was then made coach of a bilingual school called International School of Tegucigalpa (IST) at the capital of Honduras.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obando, Cesar 1969 births Living people Footballers from Tegucigalpa Men's association football midfielders Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers F.C. Motagua players Club Universitario de Deportes footballers Correcaminos UAT footballers C.S. Cartaginés players C.D.S. Vida players C.D. Victoria players Real C.D. España players F.C. Motagua managers Honduran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Peru Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Peru Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Liga MX players