Juan Jose "Cheche" Vidal Noya is a retired Venezuelan

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

defender who was a member of the Venezuelan Olympic soccer team at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

. He was the 1979 Venezuela Footballer of the Year and was the World Cup USA Vice President in charge of technology at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

College

Vidal attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, where he played on the men's soccer team from 1981 to 1983. Vidal was a 1981 Third-Team All-American, but lost the 1982 season to a knee injury. He came back in 1983 and was selected as a First-Team All-American. In 1984, he graduated with a master's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

and sports applied technology. In 1998, he was inducted into the Terriers Hall of Fame.

Professional

Vidal was the 1979 Venezuelan Footballer of the Year as a member of

Deportivo Italia Petare Fútbol Club (until summer 2010 called Deportivo Italia Fútbol Club and known as Deportivo Petare Fútbol Club until summer 2015) is a Venezuelan football club based in Caracas. Formed in 1948 as "Deportivo Italia F.C.", the club after ...

National team

Vidal played on both the Venezuelan national and Olympic teams. He was a member of the Venezuela national team at the

1979 Copa America Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

. He also played two games at the

Technology

1989 marked the decisive play in his career; he was recognized in the US for his technological skills. His then futuristic vision of implanting the first interactive multimedia network in a sporting event went from project to facts when being contracted by the organizing committee of World Cup USA 94 like vice-president of Technology and member of the Management Committee.The Game Plan
/ref> Among the responsibilities assigned to Vidal was planning and managing the telecommunication, computing and electronics functions of the World Cup USA 94. For this and other projects received several awards, such as the one granted by Var Business Magazine. Through En-Línea, a company that established in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, it marked a milestone in the sports world by creating the website of the

International Football Federation The International Football Federation was a proposed professional american football minor league. It had intended to launch in spring 2000, but folded while still in its preliminary stages. It is often considered to be one of the shortest-lived hi ...

(FIFA), which was followed by sites of regional confederations such as

Conmebol The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

. In Caracas he created DeRed, which develops technology for its international projects, and has partnered with the Spanish group Santa Mónica and the communications agency Beyond. He then formed Beyond En-Línea. In 1998, he founded Platinum with the Olympic medalist Rafael Vidal, a pioneer in the application of marketing in Venezuela. Then created Fútbol Mejor, an organization conceived for the rescue and optimization of that sport in Venezuela.

References

External links

Cheché Vidal: Pionero cibernético
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Cheche 1959 births All-American men's college soccer players Boston University Terriers men's soccer players Deportivo Italia players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Living people Venezuelan footballers Venezuela international footballers Venezuelan expatriate footballers Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Association football defenders Olympic footballers of Venezuela Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics