Hugo Eduardo Rubio Montecinos (born 5 July 1960) is a former Chilean football forward. Rubio's nickname is "Pájaro," which in Spanish is "bird." He was known for his speed and finishing. He played in

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 ...

, Spain, Italy, and Switzerland. Today he is an agent for Pass Ball Sports Management and represents many young Chilean talents such as Luis Jiménez and Matías Fernández.

Club career

At the age of 16, Rubio joined amateur club Club Internacional Atlético Comercio. The club is from

Talca Talca () is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the city had a population of 201,142. The city is an importan ...

and was founded by Rubio's grandfather Aurelio Mortecinos Carrasco. The club paid him $100 per goal he scored. In 1978, he joined the youth system of

Rangers de Talca Club Social de Deportes Rangers is a Chilean football club based in the city of Talca. The club was founded November 2, 1902 and plays in the second level of the Chilean football system. Their home games are played at the Fiscal stadium, which h ...

. He also spent time on loan with San Javier, another youth squad. In 1979, Rubio had an offer to sign with Chilean club San Luis Quillota, an established team. However, he decided to stay with Rangers since he was studying at the time at Universidad Católica de Talca (1978–1981). His first two professional goals came on 6 August 1979 in the '63 and '80 minutes. In 1981, he helped Rangers gain promotion to Chilean First Division. He became very popular among the Rangers supporters during his time with the club. His good form piqued the interest of Chilean club Cobreloa, who would be playing in the Copa Libertadores. Cobreloa signed Rubio in 1982 and went on to place as runner-up in 1982 Copa Libertadores. In 1982, he won the Chilean national title. He stayed with the club until 1985. During his time with Cobreloa he made a name for himself in all of Chile. Rubio's good form led him to be loaned to Spanish club CD Málaga, where he would score seven goals in the season of 1985–1986. He was then sold to Chilean club

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has pla ...

. He immediately showed his good football once again. In 1988, he was sold for, at the time, a record amount to Italian side

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. The profits Colo-Colo received for Rubio helped finish the construction of their current stadium,

Estadio Monumental David Arellano The Estadio Monumental is a football Stadium in Macul, south-east of the centre of the Chilean capital Santiago. It serves as the home ground of Colo-Colo, and on occasions also for other clubs and the national football team. The stadium has a cu ...

. He scored two goals in five games played in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. He played in 20

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

games before devastatingly injuring himself against

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, which kept him out of football for five months. In 1989, he was loaned to

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

, where fellow Chilean Ivan Zamorano played. He would stay in Switzerland until 1991. Rubio returned to Chile to play for

, where he would win the Recopa Sudamericana and

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana ( en, Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition contested between a representative from North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACA ...

in 1991. His second stay would last until 1994 when he moved to

Unión Española Club Unión Española S.A.D.P. is a professional football club based in the Independencia neighborhood, commune of Santiago, Chile. They currently participate in the Primera División de Chile. It has a branch of women's football, and competes ...

. He scored seven goals in the lone season he played for Unión. His third stop with Colo-Colo would lead to his retirement in 1997.

International career

His international career began in 1983 and lasted until 1991. His two biggest accomplishments with ''La Roja'' were the second place in the 1987 Copa América in Argentina and the third place in 1991 Copa América in Chile. He played 36 games and scored 12 goals for ''La Roja.''

Personal life

Rubio is the son of Ildefonso Rubio,Ildefonso Rubio
at CeroaCero a historical goalkeeper of

. His sons,

Eduardo Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footba ...

, Matias and

Diego Diego is a Spanish masculine given name. The Portuguese equivalent is Diogo. The name also has several patronymic derivations, listed below. The etymology of Diego is disputed, with two major origin hypotheses: ''Tiago'' and ''Didacus''. ...

are or were professional footballers. Eduardo and Diego have been internationals with

, while Matías was a Chile international at under-20 level.

Honours

Club

;Cobreloa * Copa Libertadores (1): Runner-up 1982 *

Primera División de Chile 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 Alí Rafael Primera Rosel ...

(2): 1982,

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

;Colo-Colo *

(4): 1986,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

, 1996 * Recopa Sudamericana (1): 1992 *

(1): 1992 *

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

(1): 1996

References

External links

Pass Ball Sports Management
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubio, Hugo 1960 births Living people People from Talca Chilean footballers Chilean expatriate footballers Chile international footballers 1987 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players Rangers de Talca footballers Cobreloa footballers CD Málaga footballers Colo-Colo footballers Bologna F.C. 1909 players FC St. Gallen players Unión Española footballers Chilean Primera División players Primera B de Chile players Segunda División players Serie A players Swiss Super League players Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Association football forwards