Juan José Gámez Rivera (8 July 1939 — 25 September 1997) was a

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

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.

Club career

Nicknamed ''La Hormiguita Manuda'',Maestro de muchos•Juan José Gámez, 50 años de puro futbol
- Nación Gámez played with the juniors of Unión Deportiva Tibaseña and spent his entire senior career playing for

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

, with whom he won 4 league titles. He played over 200 league matches for ''Liga'' and in 121 international matches.

International career

Gámez was capped by

, playing 45 games and scoring 7 goals. He represented his country in 7

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches.

Managerial career

After retiring, Gámez managed

, Cartaginés and the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Costa Rica) represents Costa Rica in men's international football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation (FEDEFUTBOL), the governing body fo ...

all on two occasions.

Personal life

A son of Juan Gámez Solano and Ernestina Rivera Montenegro, Gámez was married to Telly García Montiel and they had five children. He died in September 1997 of cardiac arrest.¡Adiós, campeón!•El futbol llora a Juan José Gámez
- Nación

References

External links

* 1939 births 1997 deaths People from Puntarenas Men's association football midfielders Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers Costa Rican football managers Liga Deportiva Alajuelense managers Costa Rica national football team managers Liga FPD players {{CostaRica-footy-bio-stub