Grimaldo González (22 September 1922 – 14 February 2007) was a 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 and manager who spend most of his career in the

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

Playing career

Club

Born in

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

, González played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. In 1946, he moved to Mexico to play for ADO de Orizaba. He joined

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

the following season, but would enjoy his greatest success with Tampico by winning the 1952–53 season championship. Tampico clinched the title in the penultimate round, winning 1–0 against

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

with González scoring the winning goal.

Managerial career

After he retired from playing, González became a football coach. He managed Tampico,

Torreón Torreón () is a city and seat of Torreón Municipality in the Mexican state of Coahuila. As of 2021, the city's population was 735,340. The metropolitan population as of 2015 was 1,497,734, making it the ninth-biggest metropolitan area in the ...

, Tigres de la UANL and

Ciudad Madero Ciudad Madero is a coastal city, located in southeast Tamaulipas in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the seventh most populous city in the state, with a census-estimated 2015 population of 209,175 within an area of 18.0 square miles (46.6 km2) the c ...

. He would lead Torreón, Tigres and Ciudad Madero to promotions to the Mexican Primera División.

Personal life

González died in

Gómez Palacio Gómez (frequently anglicized as Gomez) is a common Spanish patronymic surname meaning "son of Gome". The Portuguese and Old Galician version is Gomes, while the Catalan form is Gomis. The given name ''Gome'' is derived from the Visigothic word ...

at age 84.

References

1922 births 2007 deaths Footballers from Lima Association football forwards Peruvian footballers Peruvian expatriate footballers Liga MX players C.D. Veracruz footballers Expatriate footballers in Mexico Peruvian football managers Tigres UANL managers Peruvian expatriates in Mexico {{Peru-footy-bio-stub