Osvaldo Castro Pelayo (born 14 April 1947) is a

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 ...

an former professional footballer who played league football for clubs in Chile and Mexico, as well as playing international football for

Career

Castro started his career Chilean club

Unión La Calera Unión La Calera is a Chilean football club based in La Calera and competes the Primera División de Chile. It was founded as Club de Deportes La Calera on 26 January 1954, after the merger of three teams from the city: ''Condor'', ''Calera Come ...

in 1965, before joining Deportes Concepción. After three seasons he transferred to Mexican side

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

. Castro joined

Club Jalisco Club Social y Deportivo Jalisco, A.C. is a Mexican Association football, football team. The team was founded on 1970 and returned on 2015. History In 1970 a group of sugar businessmen acquired C.D. Oro and renamed it as Club Jalisco. The team ...

for the 1975–76 season, scoring 26 goals in 32 league appearances. In all he scored 91 league goals for the club in his four seasons with them. Following Jalisco's removal from the Primera División, Castro returned to Chile and joined Universidad Católica for about a month. Next, he joined

Deportivo Neza Deportivo Neza also known as Coyotes is a Mexican football team. The club was founded in 1978 when the city of Ciudad Neza bought the Club de Fútbol Laguna franchise. The club has played in various leagues in Mexico. The club played from 1978 to ...

in 1979–80, before moving on to

Atlético Potosino Atletico Potosino was a Mexican football team that played most of their years in the Mexican First Division. Was last held in the city of San Luis Potosi, Mexico. They were known by the nickname of ''Cachorros'' and played with blue uniform wit ...

for 1981/82. He played his last Mexican seasons with Pumas de la UNAM, finishing with them in 1983/84. He played for the

Chile national football team 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 ...

on four occasions during the 1978 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.FIFA Profile
/ref> Following his retirement, he has worked as coach for the

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Fo ...

youth ranks.

Personal life

His nickname was ''Pata Bendita'' (Blessed Foot) since he was a young player, due to his strong shoots. Castro made his home in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

, working as a football coach, also founding the Escuela de Fútbol Colo-Colo (Colo-Colo Football Academy), where footballers such as

Pablo Barrera Pablo Edson Barrera Acosta (born 21 June 1987) is a Mexican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for Liga MX club Querétaro F.C., Querétaro. Barrera spent the early part of his career playing ...

and Luis Pérez began their career. In addition, Castro worked for the American football team

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

, helping players to develop strong shoots.

References

External links

Osvaldo Castro
at PlaymakerStats

at PartidosdeLaRoja 1948 births Living people People from Copiapó Chilean footballers Chilean expatriate footballers Chile international footballers Unión La Calera footballers Deportes Concepción (Chile) footballers Club América footballers Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers Atlético Potosino footballers Coyotes Neza footballers San Luis F.C. players Club Universidad Nacional footballers Chilean Primera División players Liga MX players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico 1974 FIFA World Cup players Association football forwards Chilean football managers Chilean expatriate football managers Chilean expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate football managers in Mexico Chilean emigrants to Mexico {{Chile-footy-forward-stub