Luis Gabelo Conejo Jiménez (born 1 January 1960) is a Costa Rican former 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 ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He played mainly for Ramonense and

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, the ...

, during a 17-year professional career. In 2009, the

International Federation of Football History & Statistics 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 ...

named him the 34th best goalkeeper of the world for the period 1987–2008, and the seventh in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

. Conejo appeared for Costa Rica at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

Club career

Born in San Ramón,

Alajuela Province Alajuela () is a province of Costa Rica. It is located in the north-central part of the country, bordering Nicaragua to the north. It also borders the provinces of Heredia to the east, San José to the south, Puntarenas to the southwest and ...

, Conejo made his professional debut for Asociación Deportiva Ramonense, playing his first game in the Primera División on 27 November 1981 against C.S. HeredianoBuzón de Rodrigo – Carrera deportiva de Gabelo Conejo (Rodrigo's mailbox – Sporting career of Gabelo Conejo)

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Na ...

, 30 June 2008 and managing to score five league goals during his eight-year spell. He left in 1989 to sign for C.S. Cartaginés, and subsequently joined Spanish club

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

, quickly becoming an idol as the Castile-La Mancha side reached

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

for the first time ever in 1991; he made his debut in the competition on 1 September 1991 in a 2–0 away loss against

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

, and finished the season with 33 appearances for a final seventh place. After one year as a backup at Albacete, Conejo returned to Costa Rica with C.S. Herediano in 1996, retiring the following year after one season with Ramonense, aged 37. He had retired two times earlier, not playing in the 1992–93 and 1994–95 campaigns,Luis Gabelo Conejo Jiménez
La Nación, 26 September 1999 and his final league match occurred on 2 April 1997 against Puntarenas FC.

International career

Conejo made his debut for Costa Rica in a 1987

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

with

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

, and earned a total of 29

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

. He appeared for his country in ten FIFA World Cup qualification matches, and represented it at the

1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the first edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the eleventh overall CONCACAF tournament. The last time the CONCACAF Championship was he ...

. Conejo received international recognition during the 1990 FIFA World Cup: featuring in three matches and conceding only twice, his heroic saves against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and Sweden helped the nation reach the second round. He was replaced by Hermidio Barrantes in the round-of-16 encounter against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

because of an injury, and his team was eliminated; he still managed to be selected as one of the two best goalkeepers in the tournament, the other being

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 ...

Sergio Goycochea Sergio Javier Goycochea (; born 17 October 1963) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best known for helping his country reach the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final with his penalty kick saves. Career Goyco ...

. Conejo's final international was a 1991 Gold Cup match against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Subsequently, he worked with the national team as goalkeepers' coach.Luis Gabelo Conejo confiaba en que Keylor Navas sería el mejor de la Liga Española (Luis Gabelo Conejo had confidence that Keylor Navas would be the best in Spanish League)
La Nación, 26 February 2014

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Conejo, Gabelo 1960 births Living people People from San Ramón, Costa Rica Sportspeople from Alajuela Province Costa Rican men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers A.D. Ramonense players C.S. Cartaginés players C.S. Herediano footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Albacete Balompié players Costa Rica men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Championship-winning players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Spain