Juan Carlos Muñoz Navarro (born 4 April 1968) is a Chilean former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a winger.

Career

Born in

Peralillo Peralillo is a Chilean town and commune in Colchagua Province, O'Higgins Region. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the National Statistics Institute, Peralillo spans an area of and has 9,729 inhabitants (5,007 men and 4,722 women). ...

, specifically in the area, he began his career with

Unión Santa Cruz Club de Deportes Santa Cruz is a football club based in Santa Cruz, Chile. The club currently plays in the Chilean Primera Division B, the second tier of Chilean football. The club was founded on May 25, 1913 as Unión Comercio. In 1983 the ...

in the Chilean Segunda División at the end of the 1980s. After having few chances to play, he played for Juventud Ferro from

Chimbarongo Chimbarongo, Chile, is a city and commune located south of Santiago in the Colchagua Province of the O'Higgins Region. Many of the people of Chimbarongo make their living weaving wickerwork, ''mimbre'', baskets. Demographics According to the 2 ...

and Unión Veterana from

Peumo Peumo is a Chilean city and commune in Cachapoal Province, O'Higgins Region. It is believed that Peumo was named for the vast amount of Cryptocarya alba, or Peumo trees, that grow there. Demographics According to the 2002 census of the Nation ...

in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. In 1991 he moved to Colchagua along with his brother Osvaldo, who played as a defender. With Colchagua, they almost got promotion to the Primera División in the 1994 Segunda División de Chile. The Muñoz brothers also played for Everton in 1996, and

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

in 1997, winning the 1997 Apertura of the Primera B. In second half 1997, he moved to the

Chilean Primera División The Chilean Primera División (English: First Division) is the top-tier league of the Chilean football league system. It is organized by the ''Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional, ANFP''. The league is known as the Campeonato AFP PlanVital ...

side Deportes La Serena, making 15 appearances and scoring 3 goals in his first stint. With Deportes La Serena, he played in the , a friendly international tournament in January, which competed Croatia Zagreb and

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

from Croatia, Ferencváros from Hungary,

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

from Poland and Colo-Colo. At the end of the match between Deportes La Serena and Croatia Zagreb, where Muñoz scored a goal, he took a picture alongside

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles and ...

,El Hijo del Viento (II): Juan Carlos Muñoz, el socio de Prosinecki
Pelotudos Chile on Facebook who recommended his signing for Croatia Zagreb, becoming the first Chilean in the Croatian football, aged 29. For Croatia Zagreb, he made his debut scoring a goal against Hajduk Split and won both the

1997–98 Croatian First Football League The 1997–98 Croatian First Football League was the seventh season of the Croatian top-level football league since its establishment. Teams Stadia and personnel * 1 On final match day of the season, played on 10 May 1998. First stage Rounds ...

and the

1997–98 Croatian Football Cup The 1997–98 Croatian Football Cup was the seventh edition of Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Hom ...

, but after his daughter became seriously ill, he returned to Deportes La Serena, where he retired in 2001. As curiosities, the President of Everton in 1996, Jorge "Loco" Castillo, confused the Muñoz brothers with truck driver's mates and requested them to move some chairs. In addition, when he joined Deportes La Serena, Raúl Aredes mistook him for a club fan looking for an autograph.

Personal life

His brother, Osvaldo, is a former football defender with whom he coincided in Colchagua, Everton and

. As a player of Colchagua, he was nicknamed ''El Hijo del Viento'' (The Wind's Son) due to his speed, as the footballer Franz Arancibia. After his retirement, he worked in the mining industry, and for Nestlé Chile. He was honored as an important person from

by the municipality of the town.

Honours

Rangers * Primera B: 1997 Apertura Croatia Zagreb *

Croatian First Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football (soccer), football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, i ...

: 1997–98 *

Croatian Football Cup The Hrvatski nogometni kup ( eng, Croatian football cup), also colloquially known as Rabuzinovo sunce (), is an annually held football tournament for Croatian football clubs and is the second most important competition in Croatian football after th ...

: 1997–98

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muñoz, Juan Carlos 1968 births Living people People from Colchagua Province Footballers from O'Higgins Region Chilean men's footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Deportes Santa Cruz footballers CD Colchagua footballers Everton de Viña del Mar footballers Rangers de Talca footballers Deportes La Serena footballers GNK Dinamo Zagreb players Primera B de Chile players Tercera División de Chile players Chilean Primera División players Croatian Football League players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Men's association football forwards