Luis Alberto Cubilla Almeida (28 March 1940 – 3 March 2013) was a Uruguayan

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 and coach. He had a successful playing career winning 16 major titles. He then went on to become one of the most successful managers in South American football with 17 major titles.

Early career

Also known as "El Negro", Cubilla was born in Paysandú and started his playing career in the youth team of Colón de Paysandú. In 1957 he joined Peñarol where he was part of the team that won four Uruguayan league championships, two

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

and a Copa Intercontinental.

Career highlights

In 1962 he joined FC Barcelona of Spain, where he was part of the team that won the Copa del Rey in 1963. He played 49 games and scored 12 goals with Barça. Cubilla returned to South America in 1964 to play for River Plate of Argentina. In 1969, he returned to Uruguay joining

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

where he won 4 more Uruguayan league titles, another

, a Copa Interamericana and another Copa Intercontinental. In the last years of his career he played for Santiago Morning of Chile and

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievemen ...

of Uruguay where he helped the club to win their first league championship and break the complete dominance of the league by Peñarol and

. Between 1959 and 1974 Cubilla played 38 games for the Uruguay national team in which he scored 11 goals. He played in three World Cups in 1962, 1970 and 1974.

Managerial career

As a coach, Cubilla achieved enormous success with

Olimpia Asunción Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan sports club based in the city of Asunción. The club promotes the practice of various sports with most importance given to the football, rugby and basketball sides, the former being the highest priority and most su ...

of Paraguay, winning 7 international titles and several national championships. He also coached Nacional, Peñarol, Defensor Sporting,

Danubio Danubio Fútbol Club is a Uruguayan football club based in Jardines del Hipódromo, Montevideo that currently plays in the Uruguayan Primera División. Founded in 1932, the club's home stadium is Jardines del Hipódromo, which has a capacity o ...

(all of Uruguay), Atlético Nacional of Colombia, Newell's Old Boys and River Plate of Argentina and Cerro Porteño and

Club Libertad Club Libertad is a professional association football, football club based in Asunción, Paraguay that currently plays in the Paraguayan Primera División. The club plays its home games at Estadio Tigo La Huerta; which holds 10,100 people. Fo ...

, both from Paraguay. Between 1991–1993 Luis Cubilla was the head coach of the Uruguay National Team and worked together with his older brother

Pedro Cubilla Pedro Ramón Cubilla Almeida (25 August 1933 in Paysandú, Uruguay – 16 March 2007 in Montevideo, Uruguay) was a Uruguayan professional footballer and manager. Player career Pedro Cubilla started his career as a professional playing for Uru ...

as his assistant coach and Alejandro Riccino as the physical trainer. Uruguay national football team During 1994 he coached the famous Argentinean club Racing Club de Avellaneda. In February 2007, Cubilla signed with the Ecuadorian team

Barcelona de Guayaquil Barcelona Sporting Club () is an Ecuadorian sports club based in Guayaquil, known best for its professional football team. Internationally known as Barcelona de Ecuador, in Ecuador it is simply referred as Barcelona, El Idolo (BSC) or Barce. T ...

. In 2010, he returned once again as a coach for

of Paraguay. He died, aged 72, in Asunción.

Honours

As a player

; Peñarol * Uruguayan Primera División:

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

; Barcelona * Copa del Rey: 1962–63 ;

* Uruguayan Primera División:

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

* Copa Interamericana:

;

Defensor Defensor (Latin, 'one who defends') may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Defensor (comics), a character in ''Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions'' * Defensor (''Transformers''), a character in the media franchise People *Defensor, a ...

* Uruguayan Primera División:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

As a manager

;

* Paraguayan Primera División: 1979, 1982, 1988, 1989, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 *

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

* Copa Interamericana: 1979 * Intercontinental Cup:

* Supercopa Libertadores:

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana ( pt, CONMEBOL Recopa Sul-Americana), known also as the Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as the Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club association football, football compe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

; Peñarol * Uruguayan Primera División:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubilla, Luis 1940 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Paysandú Peñarol players FC Barcelona players Club Nacional de Football players La Liga players 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players Uruguayan footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Uruguay international footballers Defensor Sporting managers Uruguayan Primera División players Defensor Sporting players Chilean Primera División players Santiago Morning footballers Argentine Primera División players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Chile Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain 1991 Copa América managers 1993 Copa América managers Atlético Nacional managers Barcelona S.C. managers Peñarol managers Club Olimpia managers Danubio F.C. managers C.D. Olimpia managers Newell's Old Boys managers Racing Club de Avellaneda managers Club Atlético River Plate managers Talleres de Córdoba managers Comunicaciones F.C. managers Club Tacuary managers Uruguayan football managers Uruguay national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Argentina Expatriate football managers in Colombia Expatriate football managers in Ecuador Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Paraguay Expatriate football managers in Peru Association football forwards Club Guaraní managers