Oreste Omar Corbatta Fernández (11 March 1936 – 5 December 1991) was an Argentine

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 right winger. Corbatta is regarded as the greatest idol in the history of Racing Club. Dubbed '' Arlequín''El que se fue solo (The departed alone)
'' La Gaceta'', 5 December 2008 and ''El dueño de la raya'' (The chairman of the sideline), he played for five clubs in his country –six in total– mainly

Racing Club Racing Club may refer to: Football * Racing Club Abidjan, Ivory Coast * K.R.C. Genk, Belgium * Racing Club Bafoussam, Cameroon * Racing Club Beirut, Lebanon * Racing Club de Avellaneda, Argentina * Racing Club Haïtien, Haiti * Racing Club Port ...

and

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, winning four major titles and scoring 86 official goals with both teams combined. An accomplished penalty kick taker and widely regarded as the best Argentine right winger of all time, Corbatta earned more than 40 caps for the national side in the 50s/60s, and represented the country at the

1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

Club career

Born in

Daireaux Daireaux () is a town in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the administrative seat An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a com ...

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

to an Italian immigrant from Recanati and an Argentine mother, Corbatta gave his first steps in football playing 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 ...

at 14 years old. In 1953 he joined Club Juverlandia of

Chascomús Chascomús is the principal city in Chascomús Partido in eastern Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, located south of the capital Buenos Aires. In 2001, the city had a population of 30,670. History The city was founded as a fort (the ''Fortí ...

to play the Liga Platense regional championship. His performances on the field called the attention of Racing Club de Avellaneda, who hired him on loan for one year. Corbatta started his professional career on April 30, 1955, making his debut in

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

in a 0–1 loss against Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. Corbatta was one of the ''La Academía'' key players that helped the team to win the

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

league titles. In 1963, Corbatta joined

for 12 million

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

, with which Racing was able to improve the conditions in its stadium and build new sporting facilities. On 19 May 1963, he scored all the goals in a 3–0 home win against Vélez Sarsfield, and also featured in that year's

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 ...

final loss against

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

's Santos FC; in his final two years in '' La Bombonera'', he added a further two national championships. Corbatta joined

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at Estadio Atanasio Girardo ...

in 1965, remaining in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

for three years. He returned to his country for spells with lower league sides San Telmo, Italia Unidos and Tiro Federal, retiring from football at the age of 38. During his professional career, he only missed four of 68

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

International career

Corbatta played a total of 43 games for Argentina in which he scored 18 goals, at one time ranking in joint-13th place with Domingo Tarasconi. He was part of the South American Championship-winning team in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

, when he formed a legendary attacking line with Humberto Maschio,

Antonio Angelillo Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

, Omar Sívori and

Osvaldo Héctor Cruz Osvaldo Héctor Cruz (29 May 1931 – 20 March 2023) was an Argentine footballer who played as a forward for clubs in Argentina, Brazil and Chile; and in the Argentina national team in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden. Cruz died on 20 March 2 ...

. They were nicknamed the ''Carasucias'', and that was the first Argentine achievement with a great repercusion on the media.La primera delantera mediática
by Roberto Martínez on ESPN, 7 May 2016 Because of his great performance in the tournament, a Chilean journalist defined Corbatta as "the animated cartoon player". With Corbatta in the team, Argentina would repeat the feat in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. Corbatta also appeared in the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

in Sweden, contributing with three goals in three games in an eventual group stage exit.

Personal life / Tribute

Corbatta struggled heavily with alcoholism, playing several games in a state of full inebriation. Illiterate, he never learned to read. Poor and alone – he married and divorced four times – Corbatta died of

larynx cancer Laryngeal cancers are mostly squamous-cell carcinomas, reflecting their origin from the epithelium of the larynx. Cancer can develop in any part of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tumour. For the purposes of staging, ...

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 ...

in 1991, aged 55. In 2006, to mark the 15th anniversary of his death, he was inaugurated into the Racing Club Hall of Fame, and a bronze statue by Daniel Zimermann was unveiled. The Avellaneda municipality renamed the stadium's backstreet to "Pasaje Corbatta" in his honor. "Don't pass me the ball because I can't see it", from Corbatta to teammate Raúl Belén before a Racing v

match. Corbatta had arrived in Racing Club Stadium so heavily drunk that he needed to be reanimated by club employees. Although he could not be completely recovered, he jumped to the field and scored two goals.El dueño de la raya
by Damián Didonato on ''Un Caño''

Honours

Club

Racing *

Primera División 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 ...

Boca Juniors *

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lyndo ...

International

Argentina * South American Championship:

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbatta, Omar Oreste 1936 births 1991 deaths Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine people of Marchesan descent Argentine footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Boca Juniors footballers Tiro Federal footballers Categoría Primera A players Independiente Medellín footballers Argentina international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia