Oswaldo Javier Sánchez Ibarra (; born 21 September 1973) is a Mexican former 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and a sports analyst for

Televisa Deportes TUDN (formerly Televisa Deportes) is a division of the Mexican television broadcaster Televisa that produces sports programming for Las Estrellas, Canal 5, Nueve, Foro TV and the TUDN TV channel. On July 20, 2019, Televisa Deportes was r ...

. He is highly regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Mexican football history. At the 2005 Confederations Cup, despite finishing in fourth place, Sánchez won the Golden Glove of the tournament, becoming the second Mexican to win a FIFA Confederations Cup Award.

Club career

Early career

Oswaldo Sánchez debuted as a substitute when the starting keeper was injured with

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

at the age of 20 on October 30, 1993, against

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

where the teams tied the game at 1–1. Two years after his debut, he was a starter on the team and led

to the Quarterfinals where they were eliminated by C.D. Veracruz. In the summer of 1996, Sánchez was transferred to Club América. The following season, Sánchez was benched and replaced as goalkeeper by Hugo Pineda. Sánchez played three out of 19 games, including the quarterfinals where América was eliminated by Monarcas Morelia. The following season, Sánchez went back into the starting line-up and led América. In the summer of 1999, Sánchez left América for rival Chivas de Guadalajara.

Guadalajara

At Guadalajara, Sánchez became the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Sánchez became a key player to Chivas along with other players. This was during the time when Guadalajara were at their best. Sánchez's extraordinary goalkeeping skills and leadership helped Guadalajara reach the finals of the Clausura 2004 season, but Chivas ultimately lost to UNAM via penalty-shootout. Eventually, Sánchez captured his long-awaited league title with Guadalajara during the Apertura 2006 season. After his 2006 championship with Chivas, Sanchez left the club after not being able to reach an agreement on his contract. He decided that the club directors did not want him there anymore and chose to play with Santos Laguna over

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

. Sánchez scored a goal in the 2000

Copa Merconorte The Copa Merconorte () was an international football competition organized by CONMEBOL from 1998 to 2001 by clubs from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela and starting in 2000 clubs from the CONCACAF confederation were invited in ...

match against

Club Deportivo El Nacional Club Deportivo El Nacional (until 2018 ''Club Especializado de Alto Rendimiento El Nacional'') is an Ecuadorian sports club from Quito, known best for their professional football team. The team currently plays in the Serie A, the first-tier fo ...

of Ecuador, a header from a set piece in injury time to make the final score 3-3.

Santos Laguna

In 2007, he signed a contract onto Santos Laguna and he has played against his ex-team and ex-team members Chivas de Guadalajara in a 3–2 loss. In the first season with Santos, Sanchez along with his teammates saved the team from relegation. He led them to the Quarterfinals of the Clausura 2007 tournament after coming back from an injury earlier that season. He also led his team to 2nd place in both the Apertura and the Clausura in 2010. Sánchez led the team to win the Clausura 2008 championship and Clausura 2012. After 21 years, Sánchez retired after the Apertura 2014 season winning the

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

in his final season.

International career

Sánchez was called up by

Juan de Dios Castillo Juan de Dios Castillo González (31 January 1951 – 1 May 2014) was a Mexican Association football, footballer and coach (sport), coach, last with F.C. Motagua of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras, the top tier of the Football in Hondur ...

to participate at the 1993

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

. He made his debut for the senior national team in 1996, against Bolivia. He has been part of three

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 ...

s, in France 1998, 2002 and 2006. Coach

Ricardo La Volpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was in ...

called up Sánchez once again on April 2, 2006, to be the starting goalkeeper for Mexico in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany. During preparation for the 2006 World Cup, Sánchez' father died of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

on June 7, age 56. Sánchez flew home to Guadalajara, but he returned to Germany in time for the team's first game against Iran, which they won by a score of 3–1. In 2007, he was called up by coach

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican ...

to play in the Gold Cup and 2007 Copa América. Sánchez was selected to represent Mexico in friendlies against Ghana national team and China national team, his first callup since the 2007 Copa América. Sánchez was not called up to the

World Cup 2010 , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and did not play a single match for the Mexico national team in 2010. He played his 99th and last international match for Mexico on October 11, 2011, in a 2–1 loss to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He was substituted by

Alfredo Talavera Alfredo Talavera Díaz (; born 18 September 1982) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga MX club Juárez and the Mexico national team. Starting his career with Guadalajara in 2003, it was during his final ye ...

in the 88th minute, marking his official national football retirement.

Honours

Guadalajara * Mexican Primera División: Apertura 2006 Santos Laguna * Mexican Primera División: Clausura 2008, Clausura 2012 *

: Apertura 2014 Mexico *

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

: 1996, 2003 Individual *Footballer with most penalty shots saved in the Mexican Primera División (25). * Mexican Primera División Golden Glove: 1995–96, 2000 Invierno, 2002 Apertura, 2003, 2003– 04, 2004– 05, 2005 Apertura * Mexican Primera División Golden Ball: 2003– 04, 2005 Apertura *

Golden Glove: 2003 *

Best XI: 2003 * FIFA Confederations Cup Golden Glove: 2005 *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

Golden Glove: 2012–2013

Personal life

Sánchez appeared on the front cover of the North American edition of the ''

FIFA Football 2005 ''FIFA Football 2005'', also known as ''FIFA Soccer 2005'' in North America or simply ''FIFA 2005'', is a football simulation video game released in 2004. It was developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts. It was released for the Pl ...

'' video game. In 2016,

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

erected a statue of Sánchez.

References

External links

* * * * *
Oswaldo Sánchez at FootballDatabase.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Oswaldo 1973 births Living people Footballers from Guadalajara, Jalisco Mexican footballers Association football goalkeepers Atlas F.C. footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Club América footballers Santos Laguna footballers Liga MX players Olympic footballers of Mexico Mexico under-20 international footballers Mexico international footballers 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 Copa América players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Pan American Games medalists in football Pan American Games silver medalists for Mexico Medalists at the 1995 Pan American Games Footballers at the 1995 Pan American Games