Juan Ramón Verón (; born 17 March 1944) is 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 ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former professional player. He 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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

most notably for Estudiantes, where he won three consecutive

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 ...

titles. He is the father of former player

Juan Sebastián Verón Juan Sebastián Verón (; born 9 March 1975) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current chairman of Estudiantes de La Plata, where he had served as Director of Sports. A former midfielder, Verón's career started in Estudiantes, c ...

Career

Estudiantes

Nicknamed ''La Bruja'' ( en, The Witch), Juan Ramón Verón was born in

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

. He was capable of playing both as a

and as a striker, and was renowned for his technical skills, ability with the ball at his feet and his goal-scoring prowess. He played for

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

, who were a dominant force in Argentine football during the late 1960s. Among the memorable goals he scored are his "

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...

" goal against Racing Club, his header in the Intercontinental Cup championship against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and, most famously, his glorious

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Brazil's

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

in the finals of the

1968 Copa Libertadores The 1968 Copa Libertadores was the ninth edition of the Copa Libertadores, South America's premier association football competition. It was played between January 27 and May 16. A record 21 teams participated in this edition. This edition brought ...

Later years

Known as one of Estudiantes' all-time great players, he moved on to play for

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

F.C. of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, Greece in 1972. After a successful seasons he returned to his beloved Estudiantes in 1975. In 1976, he moved to Colombia where he played for

Atlético Junior Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior, or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, that currently plays in the Categoría ...

where he helped the team to win the 1977 Colombian title and then

Cúcuta Deportivo Cúcuta Deportivo Fútbol Club S. A. is a professional Colombian football club based in Cúcuta, which plays in the Categoria Primera B. The club was officially founded on 10 September 1924, and its first appearance in a professional league wa ...

before returning to his home club in 1980.

After retirement

After retiring, he had a brief career as coach in Central America and is now working as a special advisor for Estudiantes.

Personal life

His son, nicknamed ''La Brujita'' (The Little Witch),

, is also a footballer, who played for Estudiantes before moving to European football. In 2006, he returned to Estudiantes to captain them to their first title in 23 years in the Apertura 2006 tournament. In 2017, he came out of retirement to play for Estudiantes once again.La Brujita nació en un clásico

Honours

Estudiantes *

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 ...

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

1967 *

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

Atlético Junior * Colombian League: 1977

References

External links

futbolpasion.com
* *
Veron playing for Argentina national team
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veron, Juan Ramon 1944 births Living people Footballers from La Plata Argentine footballers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Argentina international footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Argentine Primera División players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Atlético Junior footballers Cúcuta Deportivo footballers Argentine football managers Guatemala national football team managers Comunicaciones F.C. managers Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Expatriate footballers in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Verón/Verde family Atlético Junior managers