Leonel Guillermo Sánchez Lineros (25 April 1936 – 2 April 2022) was a Chilean 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 striker on the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

. He is recognized as one of the Best South American Footballers of the 20th Century and one of the great forwards in the history of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. He was goalscorer of the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

where Chile achieved a historic third place in the largest global event for national teams, was part of the ideal eleven of the World Cup and was awarded the Golden Boot and the Bronze Ball from

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

. He was also included in the top 100 players of the history of the World Cups by FIFA. At the continental level he was part of the ideal eleven of the América Cup 1956, where together with the Chile national team he won a runner-up. In addition

Conmebol The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

included him among the best specialists of free kicks in the history of South America. Considered one of the best Chilean players in history —especially in the position of

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 ...

, which he held throughout his career— and one of the club's greatest idols namely

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile ( es, Universidad de Chile) is a public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

, where he was one of the leaders of the Blue Ballet era (1959–1969), is remembered for having been the leader of the Chil national team that placed third in the

, a tournament in which he was also one of the top scorers and one of the prominent participants in the infamous match against Italy. In ''La Roja'', Leonel Sánchez is the seventh all-time top scorer with a total of 24 goals and 13 assists. His performances both at the Universidad of Chile and in the national team made him position himself and be chosen by the

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

as the 40th Best South American Footballer of the 20th Century, surpassing several international references such as his compatriot

Iván Zamorano Iván Luis Zamorano Zamora (; born 18 January 1967) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of Chile's most recognized footballers, along with Marcelo Salas, Leonel Sánchez and Elias Figueroa ...

, the Brazilians

Domingos da Guia Domingos Antônio da Guia (born in Rio de Janeiro, November 19, 1912 – died in Rio, May 18, 2000) was a Brazilian footballer. He played in four matches for Brazil in the 1938 FIFA World Cup finals. He is regarded as one of the best Brazilian d ...

and

Ademir Marques de Menezes Ademir Marques de Menezes (; 8 November 1922 – 11 May 1996) was a Brazilian footballer, regarded as one of the best forwards in football history. His prominent underbite earned him the nickname "Queixada", which means "jaw". He was also the ...

, the Uruguayan

José Pedro Cea José Pedro Cea (1 September 1900 – 18 September 1970) was a Uruguayan football player as a striker and coach. Playing career Club career Cea was born in MontevideoMontevideo. At club level, he played for Nacional, where he won several Uru ...

and the Argentine

Raimundo Orsi Raimundo Bibiani "Mumo" Orsi (2 December 1901 – 6 April 1986) was an Italian Argentine footballer who played as a winger or as a forward. At the international level he represented both Argentina and Italy, winning the 1927 Copa América and t ...

Career

Leonel Sanchez was the son of a professional

boxer Boxer most commonly refers to: * Boxer (boxing), a competitor in the sport of boxing *Boxer (dog), a breed of dog Boxer or boxers may also refer to: Animal kingdom * Boxer crab * Boxer shrimp, a small group of decapod crustaceans * Boxer snipe ee ...

. Sanchez studied at República Argentina, a prestigious public primary school of Santiago; and at Manuel Barros Borgoño, a traditional public secondary school of the capital. He played at left midfield for over 20 years between 1953 and 1973. 17 of those 20 years were for

, where he was the icon of the

Ballet Azul The Ballet Azul (''Blue Ballet'') is a term coined in Colombia in the 1950s to describe the Millonarios football team, during its successful period from 1949–1964, because the blue color of their uniform, the large number of titles who had won the ...

(Blue Ballet), a team that won 6 national championships between 1959 and 1969. Four of his 24 international goals were at the 1962 World Cup on home soil, where he was the top scorer along with five other players as

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

finished the tournament in third place. In that World Cup he is also remembered for his disputes with several Italian players in the infamous Chile – Italy match in the first round: he knocked out the Italian player Mario David with a punch in an altercation after being fouled, and was subsequently kicked in the head by David a few minutes later, resulting in the Italian defender's sending off. Sánchez later also broke

Humberto Maschio Humberto Dionisio Maschio (; born 20 February 1933) is an Italian-Argentine former football player and manager who played as a forward or midfielder. At international level, he represented both the Argentina national team, winning the 1957 Co ...

's nose with a left hook; Chile won the match 2–0. Because of his role in the match, later dubbed the "Battle of Santiago", in 2007, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' placed Sánchez at number 6 in their list of the 50 hardest footballers in history. Sánchez remained at Universidad de Chile, although he received numerous offers from well known European clubs such as

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 ...

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

. In 1969, after a contract rule was settled, Universidad de Chile was forced to sell him. He finished his career playing for different Chilean clubs such as

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has played ...

Palestino Club Deportivo Palestino is a professional football club based in the city of Santiago, Chile. The club was founded in 1920 and plays in the Primera División de Chile. They play their home games at the Estadio Municipal de La Cisterna stadium ...

and Ferroviarios.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Chile's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sánchez goal.''

Honours

Universidad de Chile * Chilean League: 1959, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1969 *Metropolitan Tournament of Chile: 1968, 1969 *Copa Francisco Candelori: 1969 Colo-Colo * Chilean League: 1970 Individual * Golden Boot:

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

* All-Star Team:

South America best Player of the Century: N°40

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Leonel 1936 births 2022 deaths Chilean footballers Footballers from Santiago Association football forwards Chile international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Chilean Primera División players Universidad de Chile footballers Colo-Colo footballers Club Deportivo Palestino footballers Ferroviarios footballers Chilean football managers Universidad de Chile managers