René Alejandro Pontoni (born May 18, 1920, in Santa Fe, Argentina, died May 14, 1983) was a footballer. He played club football in Argentina,

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 ...

and Brazil as well as representing the

Argentina national football team The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in men's international football and is administered by the Argentine Football Association, the governing body for football in Argentina. Nicknamed ''La Albiceleste'' ('The White and S ...

on 19 occasions.

Biography

Pontoni started his career with Gimnasia y Esgrima de Santa Fe before joining Newell's Old Boys in 1940. Pontoni made his debut for the Argentina national team in 1942. He went on to score 19 goals in 19 games for his country, helping them to become

South American champions South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*su ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

1946 Events January * January 6 - The 1946 North Vietnamese parliamentary election, first general election ever in Vietnam is held. * January 7 – The Allies recognize the Austrian republic with its 1937 borders, and divide the country into f ...

and

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...

. In 1944 Pontoni joined

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 ...

where he helped the team to win the

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 ...

in 1946. In 1948 he suffered a career threatening injury but he recovered, moving to Colombia in 1949 to play for

Independiente Santa Fe Club Independiente Santa Fe, known simply as Santa Fe, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bogotá, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the El Campín stadium. Santa Fe is one of the th ...

where he remained until 1952. In 1953 Pontoni moved to Brazil, where he spent one season with Portuguesa in São Paulo before returning to Argentina for one last season with

in 1954.

Titles

Later years

In 1963 former

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 ...

player

Mario Boyé Mario Emilio Heriberto Boyé Auterio (30 July 1922 – 21 July 1992) was an Argentine footballer. A powerful winger or striker, he played for Boca Juniors, Racing Club de Avellaneda and Huracán in Argentina, Genoa in Italy and Millonarios in Co ...

and former San Lorenzo de Almagro player René Pontoni, brothers-in-law who had both been members of Argentine national teams, set up a pizzería in

Belgrano, Buenos Aires Belgrano is a northern and leafy '' barrio'' or neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Location The barrio of Palermo is to the southeast; Núñez is to the northwest; Coghlan, Villa Urquiza, Villa Ortúzar and Colegiales are to the sout ...

, ''La Guitarrita'', still run by Pontoni's grandson .La Guitarrita Web page
Pontoni also had several spells as a football manager in the lower leagues of Argentine football.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontoni, Rene Footballers from Santa Fe, Argentina Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine footballers Association football forwards Argentina international footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Newell's Old Boys footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Independiente Santa Fe footballers Associação Portuguesa de Desportos players Argentine Primera División players Categoría Primera A players Expatriate footballers in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Colombia Argentine football managers San Lorenzo de Almagro managers Independiente Santa Fe managers 1920 births 1983 deaths Copa América-winning players