Juan Ulises Koscina González (1 June 1946 – 2 March 2005) was a Chilean

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 who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Besides in Chile, he played in Guatemala.

Playing career

Koscina came to the Deportes La Serena youth system at the age of eleven. Considered a historical player, he spent three stints with them, mainly in the Chilean top division. He made his debut in 1966, scoring a goal against Colo-Colo. In the 1983 Segunda División, they earned the promotion to the top division after winning the mini-league alongside the classic rival, Coquimbo Unido. In the Chilean top level, he also played for Colo-Colo and Universidad de Chile, classic rivals. He spent three season with the first, winning league titles in 1970 and 1972. For Universidad de Chile, he played between 1976 and 1978, coinciding with players such as Jorge Socías,

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and

Jorge Spedaletti Américo Jorge Ramón Spedaletti González (24 September 1947 – 10 June 2022) was an Argentine naturalized Chilean football player and manager who played as a forward for various clubs in both Argentina and Chile. International career Born i ...

. In the Chilean Segunda División, he also played for

Trasandino Trasandino de Los Andes are a Chilean Football club, their home town is Los Andes in the V Región of Valparaíso in Chile. They currently play in the Segunda División. The club was founded on April 1, 1906. Between 1985 and 1992 the club was ...

in 1979. Abroad, he had a stint with Guatemalan Liga Nacional side Aurora FC in 1981–82. He retired after playing for Deportes La Serena in 1984.

Personal life

His father was a well-known sportsman from La Serena. At the beginning of his career, he was nicknamed ''

Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

'' due to his hairstyle and reputation. During his stint with Universidad de Chile, he was nicknamed ''Papillón'', however, he was mainly known as ''Mago'' (Magician). As an anecdote, it was said he didn't matter the money. According to the former leader of Deportes La Serena, Ottmar Rendic, he suggested him to trial with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, but he rejected the chance.

References

External links

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Juan Koscina
at PlaymakerStats {{DEFAULTSORT:Koscina, Juan 1946 births 2005 deaths People from Vallenar Chilean people of Croatian descent Sportspeople from Atacama Region Chilean men's footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers Chilean Primera División players Primera B de Chile players Deportes La Serena footballers Colo-Colo footballers Club Universidad de Chile footballers Trasandino de Los Andes footballers Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala players Aurora F.C. players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Expatriate men's footballers in Guatemala Men's association football midfielders