Hugo Orlando Gatti (born 19 August 1944) is an Argentine former professional
football goalkeeper
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 ...
who played in the
Argentine Primera División for 26 seasons
[Hugo Orlando Gatti bio](_blank)
– Redargentina.com – educar.org and set a record of 765 league and 52 international appearances, totaling 817 games played. Gatti is the player with most appearances in the Argentine league ever.
[El abuelo y tapicero que se convertirá en el jugador con más partidos en el fútbol argentino]
''La Nación'', 5 Nov 2014[A 30 AÑOS DEL RÉCORD INALCANZABLE DE HUGO GATTI]
, Deportea
During his career, Gatti won three Primera División titles, two
Copa Libertadores tournaments, and one
Intercontinental Cup, all with
Boca Juniors, and played professionally until the age of 44.
Gatti, nicknamed ''El Loco (The Madman)'' was recognized for his charisma, his innovative playing style for his position and his eccentricity. He developed himself into a goalkeeper who relied on positional play rather than on his reflexes. He would frequently leave the
penalty area
The penalty area or 18-yard box (also known less formally as the penalty box or simply box) is an area of an association football pitch. It is rectangular and extends 16.5m (18 yd) to each side of the goal and 16.5m (18 yd) in front of it.
With ...
to function as an additional field player, and join his teammates in defense – and many times in attack. Unlike most goalkeepers of his era, he made extensive use of his feet, head, and chest to control or strike the ball. He was one of the pioneers of the ''achique'', the goalkeeping technique of running out to challenge an oncoming opposing player.
["Revolution between the Latin American Goalposts"](_blank)
– fifa.com – FIFA, 10 January 2000. He was also notable at facing
penalty kicks,
saving
Saving is income not spent, or deferred consumption. Methods of saving include putting money aside in, for example, a deposit account, a pension account, an investment fund, or as cash. Saving also involves reducing expenditures, such as recur ...
26 of them throughout his career, tied for the most ever in ''
Primera División'' with contemporary goalkeeper
Ubaldo Fillol.
Gatti was voted
Player of the Year of Argentina
The Footballer of the Year of Argentina (in Spanish: ''Olimpia de Plata al Mejor Futbolista'', that literally translates to "Silver Olimpia to the Best Footballer) is a yearly award given by the Argentine Sports Journalists' Circle (''Círculo de ...
in 1982, and was ranked as the third best Argentine goalkeeper of the 20th Century in a poll 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 ...
.
Biography
Early life and career
Born in
Carlos Tejedor,
Province of Buenos Aires
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 ...
, Gatti was the youngest of siblings.
During his youth he was adept at playing as a
striker, which according to him was the best way of knowing how forwards tend to think and behave.
Club career
In 1960, at the age of 16, he attended a
C.A. River Plate match and saw
Amadeo Carrizo
Amadeo Raúl Carrizo (12 June 1926 – 20 March 2020), popularly known by his first name "Amadeo", was an Argentine football goalkeeper and manager. Carrizo is considered a pioneer of the position, helping to innovate techniques and strategies f ...
play, who would become one of his
role models as a goalkeeper.
He then started playing for
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in the Argentine sixth division. His ''Primera División'' debut came in 1962 against
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 Gimnasia ...
.
Gatti played 38 matches for Atlanta, and after that he was acquired by River Plate. He played 77 matches for River between 1964 and 1968, alternating as the first choice goalkeeper with
Amadeo Carrizo
Amadeo Raúl Carrizo (12 June 1926 – 20 March 2020), popularly known by his first name "Amadeo", was an Argentine football goalkeeper and manager. Carrizo is considered a pioneer of the position, helping to innovate techniques and strategies f ...
, until he was transferred to Gimnasia y Esgrima, for which he appeared in 244 league matches between 1969 and 1974. In 1975, he joined
Unión de Santa Fe
Club Atlético Unión (; mostly known as Unión de Santa Fe ) is a sports club from Santa Fe, the capital city of the Santa Fe Province, in Argentina. The club was founded on April 15, 1907 and plays in the Argentine Primera División.
Althou ...
, which put on an impressive season with coach
Juan Carlos Lorenzo
Juan Carlos "Toto" Lorenzo (; 27 October 1922 – 14 November 2001) was an Argentine football player and coach. He became an icon for Boca Juniors fans after he coached the club to its first two Copa Libertadores titles.
Biography
In his teens, ...
.
Boca Juniors
Although Gatti was already famous prior to his arrival to
Boca Juniors, it was in that club where he became legendary, and it is Boca Juniors the club he is historically most associated with. Gatti played a total 381 league matches and 47 ''
Copa Libertadores'' matches for the ''
Xeneizes'' from 1976 until his retirement in 1988. He is the goalkeeper with the most appearances in Boca Juniors history and the second overall player behind
Roberto Mouzo
Roberto Mouzo (born 8 January 1953 in Avellaneda) is a retired Argentine football defender. Raised from the Boca Juniors youth academy, and having played the vast majority of his career for Boca Juniors, Mouzo is considered one of the great ...
, who played in 396 league matches.
His debut with Boca occurred on 15 February 1976. In 1976, he won the
double
A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another.
Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to:
Film and television
* Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character
* ...
of the
Metropolitano
Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...
and the ''Copa Libertadores''. In the Copa Libertadores final, he saved a crucial penalty kick by
Cruzeiro player Vanderlei. The following year, Boca won the
Copa Libertadores again, and then beat
Borussia Mönchengladbach in the final of the
Intercontinental Cup. He won his third ''Metropolitano'' in 1981.
The 1980s were a difficult time for Boca, and Gatti had periods of inactivity during those years. His last match was on 11 September 1988, a day in which an error by him cost him and Boca the result. He was made a reserve after that, and he would never play an official match again.
On 24 January 1984, a friendly match between Boca Juniors and Gimnasia y Esgrima was played as a tribute to him.
International career
With the
Argentina national team, Gatti won 18
caps
Caps are flat headgear.
Caps or CAPS may also refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters
* Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...
.
between 1967 and 1977. His international debut was on 13 August 1967 against
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. He was part of the
1966 World Cup
The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...
squad, but did not play as the first choice keeper was
Antonio Roma. Argentina did not qualify for the
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...
, and for the
1974 tournament, he was not selected to the squad. He was a starter during many friendlies prior to the
1978 World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June.
The Cup was won by t ...
under coach
Cesar Menotti, but Gatti was left out of the Cup squad in favour of
Ubaldo Fillol,
Héctor Baley
Héctor Rodolfo Baley (born 16 November 1950 in Bahía Blanca) is an Argentine former professional football goalkeeper.
Baley was a goalkeeper in Argentina's 1978 FIFA World Cup winning squad and also in the 1982 tournament. Given goalkeeper Uba ...
and
Ricardo La Volpe
Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico.
As a coach, La Volpe was in ...
.
His last international match was on 5 June 1977.
Notable dates in Boca Juniors history
/ref>
Post-retirement
Gatti has continued to be involved in football since his retirement as a player, writing columns and opinions that have been controversial at times. As of 2010, he lives in Spain and collaborates with several media outlets, notably "Punto Pelota" now "El Chiringuito de Jugones". Additionally, as of 2012, he collaborates with several football shows in Argentina.
Rivalry
For his Boca Juniors career, he was the counterpart of Ubaldo Fillol, another great Argentine goalkeeper who played in the nemesis team, River Plate. Fillol was always the image of professionalism and seriousness; "Madman" Gatti, on the other hand, looked eccentric and unorthodox.
Honours
Club
Boca Juniors
* Argentine Primera División: 1976 Metropolitano, 1976 Nacional, 1981 Metropolitano,
* Copa Libertadores: 1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
, 1978
* Intercontinental Cup: 1977
Events January
* January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group.
* January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...
Individual
* Argentine Footballer of the Year: 1982
Records
* Argentine Primera División most appearances: 765
References and notes
External links
Hugo Orlando Gatti's biography
– informexeneize.com
"Hugo Orlando Gatti: El achique de Dios"
– mediapunta.es
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gatti, Hugo
1944 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province
Argentine people of Italian descent
Argentine footballers
Association football goalkeepers
Club Atlético Atlanta footballers
Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata footballers
Unión de Santa Fe footballers
Club Atlético River Plate footballers
Boca Juniors footballers
Copa Libertadores-winning players
1966 FIFA World Cup players
1975 Copa América players
Argentina international footballers
Argentine Primera División players