Luis de la Fuente y Hoyos (January 17, 1914 – May 28, 1972), nicknamed "The Pirate", was a Mexican 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 lea ...

, playing mostly on

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

position. De la Fuente is considered one of the finest

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

—and thus

North American North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the sou ...

—midfielders of all time, being named to the

IFFHS World Team The IFFHS World Team is a football award given annually since 2017. The award is given by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). Men's winners List of winners In 2017, IFFHS started to nominate a world team ...

for

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

in 2021.

Early life

Born in

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

in 1914, de la Fuente was the first of four children of a father from

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

and a mother from Santander Province,

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Shortly after he was born, de la Fuente's parents fled Veracruz after the United States seized the port city. The family would return to Veracruz but de la Fuente's father died when he was still young. His mother sent him to live with relatives in Santander for his primary education, but at age 10 he returned to his mother who sent him to study in

Tacubaya Tacubaya is a Poverty in Mexico, working-class area of Mexico City in the borough of Miguel Hidalgo, D.F., Miguel Hidalgo. The ''colonia (Mexico), colonia'' Tacubaya and adjacent areas in other colonias are collectively referred to as Tacubaya. ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

where he would first play organized football. The director of local side

C.F. Aurrerá Club de Fútbol Aurrerá was a football club based in Mexico City, that played in the Campeonato de Primera Fuerza from 1923 to 1929. History Aurrerá was founded in 1919, by a group of Spanish (Basque and Asturian) immigrants. In the 1920� ...

noticed de la Fuente's emerging football talent and eventually he dropped out of school to sign with the club.

Career

At the age of 15, De la Fuente made his competitive debut for Aurrerá in a 1929 cup match against

Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

. He played for the club in the

Primera Fuerza Campeonato de Primera Fuerza (), later known as Liga Mayor (), was an amateur association football league in Mexico. It was founded and organized by the Federación Mexicana de Football Asociación (), which was the first governing body of Mexic ...

for two seasons, then joined

Real Club España Real Club España, A.C., simply known as Real España or Club España, is a Mexican sports club based in Mexico City. The club hosted a large variety of sports and other activities such as aerobics, basque pelota, cue sports, billiards, canoein ...

for the 1932–33 season. The following season, De la Fuente helped España win the championship. De la Fuente's performances earned him a place on the Mexico national team at the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the 2nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, senior men's national teams. It took place in Kin ...

qualification rounds. The team was eliminated after losing to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the last round of qualifiers, after which it embarked on a European tour where de la Fuente started in a set of club friendlies. His performance with the national team attracted the interested of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

club

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, who ended up signing him in 1934. After the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

broke out, he returned to Mexico to play for RC España and then

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

. In 1939, the

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

an team

Atlético Corrales Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

embarked on a

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

tour and visited Mexico with a squad composed of great players and, during their exhibition games in Mexico, they decided to sign De La Fuente. He played for Atlético Corrales for over a year and then signed for

Vélez Sarsfield Velez may refer to: People * Vélez (name), a Spanish surname, including a list of people with the name Places * Vélez de Benaudalla, Spain * Vélez Sársfield (barrio), Buenos Aires, Argentina * Vélez-Blanco, Spain * Vélez-Málaga, Spain * Vé ...

from

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

before returning to Mexico to play for Marte. Finally, in 1943, he signed with his native state team ''Tiburones Rojos'' of

CD Veracruz Club Deportivo Veracruz, commonly known as Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz, was a Mexican professional football club based in the city of Veracruz. Founded in 1943, and played in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. In December 2019 ...

. At CD Veracruz he was part of the team that won two

Primera División de México Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

championships in 1945 and 1949. De la Fuente was the first Mexico-born person to play in four countries (Mexico, Spain, Paraguay and Argentina). De La Fuente retired on June 13, 1954.

International goals

Honours

Individual * IFFHS CONCACAF Men's Team of All Time: 2021 * IFFHS Men's All Time Mexico Dream Team

Personal life and death

De la Fuente died in 1972 of a heart attack and is buried in

, facing the Luis "Pirata" Fuente Stadium which carries his name.

References

External links

*
More about "The Pirate"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuente, Luis de la 1914 births 1972 deaths Men's association football midfielders Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's international footballers Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 1938 Central American and Caribbean Games Real Club España footballers Racing de Santander players Club América footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers C.D. Veracruz footballers La Liga players Mexican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Paraguay Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Spain Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in football Footballers from Veracruz (city) 20th-century Mexican sportsmen