José María Rivas Martínez (12 May 1958 – 9 January 2016) was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player from

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Club career

Nicknamed ''Mandingo'', Rivas played several years for Independiente De San Vicente and

Atlético Marte Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

, with whom he won a League Championship in 1985. In 1990, he joined San Pedro of Belize and after leaving them had short spells at the end of his career in the Salvadoran second division with

Huracán Huracan (; es, Huracán; myn, Hunraqan, "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ people, Kʼicheʼ Maya mythology, Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in ...

and Cojutepeque. He won the 1985 Top league goal scorer award and also won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball in that year.

International career

The moustached Rivas made his official debut for

in a March 1980 friendly match against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, played in 17

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and featured in all three of El Salvador's games at the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national foo ...

in Spain. He scored 19 goals for the

El Salvador national football team The El Salvador national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de El Salvador) represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT). In 1899, two teams from Santa Ana and San Sa ...

from 1980 to 1989. He scored 42 goals in 97 matches including non-official games. His final international game was a November 1989

match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in St. Louis.

Retirement and illness

After he retired, he was in charge of C.D. Árabe Marte and took the reins at FAS in 1999 along with

José Luis Rugamas José Luis Rugamas Portillo (born 5 June 1953 in San Salvador) is a Salvadoran football manager and former professional player. He was interim manager of the El Salvador national team. As a player, he represented his country at the 1982 FIFA ...

. During his playing career, he had obtained his medical diplomas to become a doctor and was part of the El Salvador national football team medical staff. In June 2011, it became clear Rivas was seriously ill and needed a marrow operation, for which funds would be raised with a benefit match. A lot of former players were reunited to help Rivas. Rivas died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

on 9 January 2016 at the age of 57.

References

External links

History
- Atletico Marte

- Atletico Marte {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, Jose Maria 1958 births 2016 deaths Sportspeople from San Salvador Association football forwards Salvadoran footballers El Salvador international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players C.D. Atlético Marte footballers Salvadoran expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belize Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in Belize Premier League of Belize players