Juan Carlos Vera Rivera (born 5 July 1960) 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

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

for clubs in Chile, Mexico and the United States.

Club career

Born in

La Calera, Chile La Calera is a city and commune in the Quillota Province of central Chile's fifth region of Valparaíso. Geography La Calera is located northeast of Valparaíso, and northwest of Santiago, in the Aconcagua River Valley. Its area is . La Cal ...

, in 1975 Vera moved to Spain and joined

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

youth system at the age of 15. He returned to Chile and played for

Unión La Calera Unión La Calera is a Chilean football club based in La Calera and competes the Primera División de Chile. It was founded as Club de Deportes La Calera on 26 January 1954, after the merger of three teams from the city: ''Condor'', ''Calera Come ...

, where he made his professional debut,

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida. Founded in 1910, it plays in the Campeonato Nacional and has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. Audax has been national champions four t ...

and

Huachipato Club Deportivo Huachipato is a Chilean football club based in Talcahuano that is a current member of the Chilean Primera División. The club was founded 7 June 1947 and plays its home games at the Estadio CAP, which has a capacity of 10,500 ...

. In 1986 he moved to Mexico. He came to

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...

thanks of his former fellow in

Marco Antonio Figueroa Marco Antonio Figueroa Montero (; born 21 February 1962) is a Chilean former footballer, currently manager for Nicaragua. He is commonly known as "El Fantasma" ( Spanish word: "The phantom"). Figueroa played as a striker and spent the major ...

. In Morelia, he and his Chilean fellows Marco Antonio Figueroa and

Ángel Bustos Juan Ángel Bustos Pizarro (born 16 January 1961), known as Ángel Bustos, is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a winger for clubs in Chile and Mexico. Club career Born in Antofagasta, Chile, he represented the city team ...

are well remembered as a prolific attacking trident. Along with Pumas UNAM, he won the 1990–91 Primera División, which is remembered as ''El Tucazo''. In Mexico, he also played for

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

Tampico Madero Club Deportivo y Social Tampico Madero is a Mexican professional football club based in Tampico, Tamaulipas that plays in the Liga Premier de México. History CD Tampico The club was founded on July 8, 1945 soon after the club played a promot ...

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

and

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of whic ...

. After a step in the United States with DFW Toros, his last club was

in 1995, scoring one goal.

International career

He made an appearance for the Chile national team in a friendly match versus

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

on 9 April 1991.

Personal life

After the

1973 Chilean coup d'état The 1973 Chilean coup d'état Enciclopedia Virtual > Historia > Historia de Chile > Del gobierno militar a la democracia" on LaTercera.cl. Retrieved 22 September 2006. In October 1972, Chile suffered the first of many strikes. Among the par ...

, he went alone to Spain in 1975. His family was made up by his father, a railway worker, his mother, a housekeeper, and his five siblings. All of them stayed in Chile. When he was a player of

, he was nicknamed ''

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

''. His first son was born in Mexico when he was a player of

. Following his retirement, he started a women's clothing factory along with his wife and they also have a guesthouse in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, Chile, called The Fox Hostel. In addition, he has worked in football scouting, linking Chilean players with Mexican clubs.

Honours

Unión La Calera * Segunda División de Chile:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

UNAM *

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

: 1990–91

References

External links

*
Juan Carlos Vera
at playmakerstats.com (English version of ceroacero.es)

at PartidosdeLaRoja {{DEFAULTSORT:Vera, Juan Carlos 1960 births Living people People from Quillota Province Footballers from Valparaíso Region Chilean men's footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chile men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Unión La Calera footballers Audax Italiano footballers Huachipato FC footballers Cruz Azul footballers Atlético Morelia players C.D.S. Tampico Madero footballers Club Universidad Nacional footballers Atlas F.C. footballers C.F. Pachuca players DFW Tornados players Primera B de Chile players Chilean Primera División players Liga MX players Ascenso MX players USISL players USL Second Division players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States