Juan Carlos Cárdenas (25 July 1945 – 30 March 2022) was an Argentine

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 coach. He played for a number of clubs in Argentina and Mexico as well as playing for the Argentina national team. He was known by the nickname "El Chango" which was a common name for people from the north of Argentina.

Club career

Cárdenas was spotted in 1962 by

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...

playing as a teenager for Unión Santiago. He spent one year on loan in the Argentine 2nd Division with Nueva Chicago before returning to Racing Club in 1964. He was part of the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

winning team of 1966. In 1967, he helped the club to win the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

and later that year he scored the decisive goal against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in the

Copa Intercontinental The European/South American Cup, more commonly known as the Intercontinental Cup and from 1980 to 2004 as the Toyota European/South American Cup (abbreviated as Toyota Cup) for sponsorship reasons, was an international football competition endo ...

to make Racing Club the first Argentine club to become club champions of the world. In 1972 Cárdenas moved to Mexico where he played for Camoteros de

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

and Tiburones Rojos de

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 ...

returning to Racing Club in 1977. Cárdenas also held the record of the youngest player to score in a

match for nearly 60 years, as he scored Racing's second in a 2–2 home draw against

Nacional Montevideo Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mo ...

on 26 February 1962 at the age of 16 years, 7 months and 2 days. His record was broken by Ângelo Gabriel only in 2021.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player Cárdenas became the manager of several lower league teams in Argentina, including

All Boys Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known by its football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league s ...

Deportivo Armenio Club Deportivo Armenio is a football club from Ingeniero Maschwitz, Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. The team currently plays in the Primera B Metropolitana, which is the regionalised third division of the Argentine football league system. Hi ...

and

General Lamadrid General Lamadrid is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative seat of General Lamadrid Partido General La Madrid is a partido in the central region of Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. The provincial subdivision ha ...

(being champion in this last one in 1977).

Honours

Racing Club *

: 1967 *

Primera División Argentina Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

: 1961, 1966

References

External links

* 1945 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Santiago del Estero Argentine men's footballers Men's association football forwards Argentina men's international footballers Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Club Atlético Nueva Chicago footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Club Puebla players C.D. Veracruz footballers Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico {{Argentina-footy-forward-stub