José Rafael Albrecht (23 August 1941 – 3 May 2021) was an Argentine 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 defender. He represented

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

at the

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 ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

Career

Albrecht was born in Tucumán. He started his career with

Club Atlético Tucumán Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

in 1957. In 1960, he was signed by Estudiantes, where he excelled and, thus, was called to play for the Argentina national team in 1961. In 1962 he was transferred to

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

for 10 million pesos, a huge amount for those days. In San Lorenzo, he was part of two famous teams, the 'Carsucias' in 1964 and the 'Matadores' in 1968. The 'Matadores' team won the 1968

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

Championship without losing a single game. He played 229 games for the club, scoring 56 goals. Most of them were by way of penalties. In 1970 Albrecht moved to Mexico. He first played with

Club León Club León Fútbol Club, also known as León, is a Mexican professional football club based in León, Guanajuato, that competes in the Liga MX, the top flight of Mexican football. León has won the Primera División de México/Liga MX title ...

, helping the team win two

Copa México The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona (beer), Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican association football, football cup competition that was established in 1907 in association ...

and two

Campeón de Campeones ''Campeón de Campeones'' ( es, Champion of Champions) is an annual Mexican football competition established in 1942. In its current form, the winner of the Apertura season faces the winner of the Clausura season, for both Liga MX and Liga MX Feme ...

super cups. He then played for

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, where he retired from football in 1975. Albrecht played a total of 506 top flight games in his career, scoring a total of 95 goals, putting him in 7th place on 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 ...

list of top scoring defenders.

Death

Albrecht died on 3 May 2021, aged 79, after two weeks of hospitalisation with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, amid the

COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina The COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 3 March 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Argentina. As of , a t ...

Honours

Atlético Tucumán *

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 ...

: Torneo República 1960 San Lorenzo * Argentine Primera División:

1968 Club León *

: 1970–71, 1971–72 *

: 1970–71, 1971–72

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albrecht, Rafael 1941 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from San Miguel de Tucumán Argentina international footballers Association football defenders Estudiantes de La Plata footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Club León footballers Atlas F.C. footballers Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine footballers Expatriate footballers in Mexico 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Argentine people of German descent 1967 South American Championship players Atlas F.C. managers Argentine football managers Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina