Rafael Puente del Río or Rafael Puente Jr. (born 31 January 1979) is a Mexican former actor, 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 le ...

, and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Career

Born to soccer columnist and former

Mexico national team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified consec ...

goalkeeper

Rafael Puente Rafael Puente Suárez (born 5 February 1950) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager. He currently works as an analyst for ESPN Deportes and ESPN Mexico. Career Born in Mexico City, Puente began playing football with Mexican Pr ...

, Puente Jr. began playing football as a striker with

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

side

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded in 1916, Atlante were original members of the Mexican Primera División when it began in 1943. Atlante has won three national league championships, two ...

, making his professional debut in 2003. He transferred to

Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Company ...

in 2004. Then on May 22, 2006, he debuted as an actor in telenovelas in '' Codigo Postal'' as Hector Garza. He is now a sports commentator. He was appointed the chief operating officer for

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

in May 2014. He was let go in October 2014 by newly appointed chairman Néstor de la Torre. After being fired from Guadalajara, Puente Jr. joined his father as an analyst and commentator for ESPN Deportes in the United States and also for

ESPN Mexico ESPN Latin America (on-air as ESPN) is the Latin American division of ESPN Inc., and broadcasts sports-related programming for the region in Spanish. It was launched on 31 March 1989. Its programming is adapted to the likes of viewers, who tend ...

. At ESPN, Puente Jr. covered the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

in Chile, the

2016 UEFA Champions League Final The 2016 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, the 61st season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 24th season since it was renamed from the European Champion ...

in Milan, the

2016 UEFA Euro The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, and also appeared on the networks show like ''

Fútbol Picante ''Futbol Picante'' (translation: Spicy Football or Spicy Soccer) is a Mexican sports television show in Spanish which covers mostly Mexican football. The show is mostly hosted by David Faitelson and José Ramón Fernández; Heriberto Murrieta, Ci ...

'', ''Los Capitanes'', ''ESPN Radio Fórmula'' and ''ESPN Fútbol Center''. Although he had limited experience as a professional footballer, Puente became a football manager, drawing on his experiences playing for Enrique Meza, Miguel Herrera and José Guadalupe Cruz. On October 5, 2016, Puente Jr. was announced as the new manager for

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX was the second tier of professional football in Mexico of the Mexican football league system. The champion of the competition was promoted to Liga MX (top-flight tier). The bottom team was relegated to Liga Premier (the third tier). ...

club

Lobos BUAP Club de Fútbol Lobos de la Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla were a Mexican football club based in Puebla, Mexico. The club represented the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla. The club's history goes back to the early 1930s ...

. On May 20, 2017, Rafael Puente Jr. successfully managed Lobos BUAP into

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

promotion for the 2017–18 season. He signed a new one-year contract with Lobos in June 2017. On 2 April 2018, Puente Jr. was sacked after earning nine points in 13 games of the Clausura 2018 season. On January 30, 2020, Puente Jr. was appointed by Atlas. On August 10, 2020, Puente was sacked from Atlas after winning only one match of nine.

Honours

Manager

Lobos BUAP *

: Clausura 2017 * Campeón de Ascenso:

2016-17 16-17 is a band from Basel, Switzerland. Their music combines punk rock, hardcore punk, jazz and industrial music. Biography 16-17 was founded in 1983 by Alex Buess, Knut Remond and Markus Kneubühler. When the group played its first conc ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Puente, Rafael Jr. 1979 births Living people Mexican male actors Association football forwards Atlante F.C. footballers Club Necaxa footballers Querétaro F.C. managers Footballers from Mexico City Mexican footballers Male actors from Mexico City Mexican football managers Liga MX managers