Oreste Omar Corbatta Fernández (11 March 1936 – 5 December 1991) was an Argentine

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

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Corbatta is regarded as the greatest idol in the history of Racing Club. Dubbed '' Arlequín''El que se fue solo (The departed alone)
'' La Gaceta'', 5 December 2008 and ''El dueño de la raya'' (The chairman of the sideline), he played for five clubs in his country –six in total– mainly Racing Club and Boca Juniors, winning four major titles and scoring 86 official goals with both teams combined. An accomplished

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

taker and widely regarded as the best Argentine right winger of all time, Corbatta earned more than 40

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 ...

for the national side in the 50s/60s, and represented the country at the

1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the sixth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Brazil be ...

Club career

Born in Daireaux, Buenos Aires Province to an Italian immigrant from

Recanati Recanati () is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Macerata, in the Marche region of Italy. Recanati was founded around 1150 AD from three pre-existing castles. In 1290 it proclaimed itself an independent republic and, in the 15th century, ...

and an Argentine mother, Corbatta gave his first steps in football playing for Estudiantes de La Plata at 14 years old. In 1953 he joined Club Juverlandia of

Chascomús Chascomús is the principal city in Chascomús Partido in eastern Buenos Aires Province of Argentina, located south of the capital Buenos Aires. In 2001, the city had a population of 30,670. History The city was founded as a fort (the ''Fortí ...

to play the Liga Platense regional championship. His performances on the field called the attention of

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...

, who hired him on loan for one year. Corbatta started his professional career on April 30, 1955, making his debut in Argentine Primera División in a 0–1 loss against

Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata Club de Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata (; ''La Plata Gymnastics and Fencing Club''), also known simply as Gimnasia, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the city of La Plata, Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1887 as "Club de Gimnasia ...

. Corbatta was one of the ''La Academía'' key players that helped the team to win the

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 ...

and

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 (K ...

league titles. In 1963, Corbatta joined Boca Juniors for 12 million

pesos The peso is the monetary unit of several countries in the Americas, and the Philippines. Originating in the Spanish Empire, the word translates to "weight". In most countries the peso uses the same sign, "$", as many currencies named "dollar" ...

, with which Racing was able to improve the conditions in its stadium and build new sporting facilities. On 19 May 1963, he scored all the goals in a 3–0 home win against Vélez Sarsfield, and also featured in that year's Copa Libertadores final loss against Pelé's

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

; in his final two years in ''

La Bombonera The Alberto José Armando Stadium is a football stadium located in La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Widely known as La Bombonera (; en, The chocolate box) due to its shape, with a "flat" stand on one side of the pitch and three steep stands ro ...

'', he added a further two national championships. Corbatta joined

Independiente Medellín Deportivo Independiente Medellín, also known as Independiente Medellín or DIM, is a Colombian professional football club based in Medellín that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at Estadio Atanasio Girardo ...

in 1965, remaining in Colombia for three years. He returned to his country for spells with lower league sides

San Telmo San Telmo ("Saint Pedro González Telmo") is the oldest ''barrio'' (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is a well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis and is characterized by its colonial buildings. Cafes, tango parlors and antiqu ...

, Italia Unidos and

Tiro Federal Club Atlético Tiro Federal Argentino (mostly known just as Tiro Federal or Tiro Federal de Rosario) is an Argentine football club from the city of Rosario, in Santa Fe Province. The team currently fun plays in Torneo Argentino A, the third divis ...

, retiring from football at the age of 38. During his professional career, he only missed four of 68 penalties.

International career

Corbatta played a total of 43 games for

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 ...

in which he scored 18 goals, at one time ranking in joint-13th place with

Domingo Tarasconi Domingo Alberto Tarasconi (20 December 1903 – 3 July 1991) was an Argentine football forward. Raising from Club Atlético Atlanta, he played most of his career for Boca Juniors where he won 9 official titles and became the all-time 4th. He was ...

. He was part of the

South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships * ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...

-winning team in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

, when he formed a legendary attacking line with

Humberto Maschio Humberto Dionisio Maschio (; born 20 February 1933) is an Italian-Argentine former football player and manager who played as a forward or midfielder. At international level, he represented both the Argentina national team, winning the 1957 C ...

, Antonio Angelillo,

Omar Sívori Enrique Omar Sívori (, ; 2 October 1935 – 17 February 2005) was an Italian-Argentine football player and manager who played as a forward. At club level, he is known for his successful time with Italian side Juventus during the late 1950s and ...

and

Osvaldo Héctor Cruz Osvaldo Héctor Cruz (29 May 1931 – 20 March 2023) was an Argentine footballer who played as a forward for clubs in Argentina, Brazil and Chile; and in the Argentina national team in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden. Cruz died on 20 March ...

. They were nicknamed the ''Carasucias'', and that was the first Argentine achievement with a great repercusion on the media.La primera delantera mediática
by Roberto Martínez on ESPN, 7 May 2016 Because of his great performance in the tournament, a Chilean journalist defined Corbatta as "the animated cartoon player". With Corbatta in the team, Argentina would repeat the feat in

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 ...

. Corbatta also appeared in the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden, contributing with three goals in three games in an eventual group stage exit.

Personal life / Tribute

Corbatta struggled heavily with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomi ...

, playing several games in a state of full inebriation.

Illiterate Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in written form in some specific context of use. In other words, hum ...

, he never learned to read. Poor and alone – he married and divorced four times – Corbatta died of larynx cancer in La Plata in 1991, aged 55. In 2006, to mark the 15th anniversary of his death, he was inaugurated into the Racing Club Hall of Fame, and a bronze statue by Daniel Zimermann was unveiled. The Avellaneda municipality renamed the stadium's backstreet to "Pasaje Corbatta" in his honor. "Don't pass me the ball because I can't see it", from Corbatta to teammate Raúl Belén before a Racing v Estudiantes de La Plata match. Corbatta had arrived in Racing Club Stadium so heavily drunk that he needed to be reanimated by club employees. Although he could not be completely recovered, he jumped to the field and scored two goals.El dueño de la raya
by Damián Didonato on ''Un Caño''

Honours

Club

Racing * Primera División:

Boca Juniors * Primera División:

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, 1965

International

Argentina *

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbatta, Omar Oreste 1936 births 1991 deaths Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine people of Marchesan descent Argentine footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Boca Juniors footballers Tiro Federal footballers Categoría Primera A players Independiente Medellín footballers Argentina international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Copa América-winning players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia