Ubaldo Matildo Fillol (; born 21 July 1950), nicknamed ''el Pato'' (in English: "the Duck"), is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

football coach and former goalkeeper. He took part in the

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

(where he won the championship with his team and was voted Best Goalkeeper) and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

World Cups representing the Argentina national team. He also played in the South American qualifiers for the

1986 World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

, but he was finally not chosen for the final team that played (and won) in Mexico. He is usually considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers and usually regarded as the best Argentine goalkeeper ever.

Biography

Born in San Miguel del Monte, Fillol gave his first steps as goalkeeper in an amateur club of the city, where he spent four years. Former River Plate player and manager

Renato Cesarini Renato Cesarini (; 11 April 1906 – 24 March 1969) was an Italian-Argentine football player and coach who most notably played for Juventus in Italy as a midfielder or forward. He was a dual international footballer and played for both the Argen ...

would be his mentor, after seeing him play at the regional league. In 1965 Fillol arrived to Quilmes A.C. to play at club's youth divisions. At the age of 18, Fillol debuted in

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

(the Argentine top division) playing for Quilmes vs.

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 ...

, on 1 May 1969. He soon drew public attraction due to his agility and quick reflexes that allowed him to make acrobatic saves.El pato Fillol cumple 67
on El Primer Grande, 21 Jul 2017 In the 1970 Metropolitano championship Fillol stopped the first penalty shoot in his career to Gimnasia y Esgrima LP forward Delio Onnis. That same year Quilmes would be relegated to Primera B, where Fillol played 23 matches with the club. In 1972 Fillol was hired by Racing Club de Avellaneda, debuting in the 1972 Metropolitano. In that championship, Fillol set a record of 6 penalty shot stopped, the highest in Argentine football for a same season. Fillol river

In 1973 Fillol was traded to River Plate, where he would play the most part of his career. In River Plate, Fillol won seven titles, including the 1975 Metropolitano tournament that meant the first title for the club after 18 years with no championships. In 1977 Fillol was awarded the

footballer of the Year of Argentina The Footballer of the Year of Argentina (in Spanish: ''Olimpia de Plata al Mejor Futbolista'', that literally translates to "Silver Olimpia to the Best Footballer) is a yearly award given by the Argentine Sports Journalists' Circle (''Círculo de ...

, being the first goalkeeper ever to receive the distinction. He was called up for the Argentina national team, where he was part of the roster at the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

(the other goalkeepers were

Daniel Carnevali Daniel Alberto Carnevali (born 4 December 1946) is a former Argentine football goalkeeper who played for the Argentina national team in the 1970s. Club career During his club career he played for a number of clubs, most notably Rosario Centra ...

and

Miguel Ángel Santoro Miguel Ángel Santoro (born 27 February 1942) is a retired Argentine football goalkeeper. He played most of his career for Club Atlético Independiente and represented the Argentina national football team at the 1974 World Cup. Playing caree ...

). Fillol's most notable performance with Argentina was in

, when he won the first Cup with the squad apart from being chosen as the best goalkeeper of the competition. In 1983, after a conflict with the River Plate executives (during which he considered to retire from the activity) Fillol was transferred to Argentinos Juniors by request of Ángel Labruna (who was managing Argentinos Junior by then). Fillol played 17 matches there. In November that year, he moved to Brazil to play in

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football t ...

, where he won the Taça Guanabara with the club in 1984. Fillol's debut in European football was in 1985 when he was traded to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

at 35. With Fillol as goalkeeper, the club won the

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

. In 1986 Fillol returned to Racing, where he won the first edition of the

Supercopa Sudamericana The Supercopa Libertadores (English: ''Libertadores Supercup''), also known as the Supercopa Libertadores João Havelange, Supercopa João Havelange or simply Supercopa, was a football club competition contested annually between 1988 and 1997 by t ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, being also the first international title for the club after the

1967 Intercontinental Cup The 1967 Intercontinental Cup was a football tie held over three legs in 1967 between the winners of the 1966–67 European Cup, Celtic, and Racing Club, winners of the 1967 Copa Libertadores. The first leg was played at Hampden Park in Glasgo ...

At the age of 40, Fillol retired from football ending his career in Vélez Sarsfield in the last fixture of the 1990 Apertura championship, on 22 December 1990 at

Estadio Monumental There are a number of stadiums and venues known under the name of Estadio Monumental (''Monumental Stadium'') in different Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking countries: * Estadio Mâs Monumental in Buenos Aires, Argentina *Estadio Monumental David Ar ...

, with the visitor team beating local River Plate by 2–1. Fillol made an outstanding performance, even stopping a penalty shoot to forward

Rubén da Silva Rubén Fernando da Silva Echeverrito (born 11 April 1968) is a retired Uruguayan footballer who played as a striker. He played for a number of clubs in Uruguay, Argentina, Spain, Italy and Mexico. Da Silva started his career in 1986 with Danub ...

. Fillol also held the record of 26 penalty stopped, the highest in Argentine football, sharing this record with Hugo Gatti. Ubaldo Fillol 2006

After his retirement, Fillol served as goalkeeping coach in the Argentina national team, before being Racing Club manager in 2003. After a short tenure as Racing manager, Fillol returned to his role as goalkeeping coach for Argentina, also working at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

. Nevertheless, Fillol left his charge when José Pekerman resigned as Argentina manager. Fillol continued his career coaching goalkeepers in River Plate, but he resigned after a match v.

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Lawrence of Rome, Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Monte San Lorenzo, a mountain on t ...

when

Juan Pablo Carrizo Juan Pablo Carrizo (born 6 May 1984) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He started his professional career with River Plate, where he played until 2008, winning the 2008 Clausura. His performances earne ...

refused to accept his gesture of support after a mistake that allowed rival team to score a goal. Fillol alleged he felt "humillated" by Carrizo and showed his desire to continue in the club but only working with youth players, as he had done before. Finally, Fillol would return to River Plate in 2014, serving as director of club's goalkeepers section.

Rivalry

For his River Plate career, he was the counterpart of

Hugo Orlando Gatti Hugo Orlando Gatti (born 19 August 1944) is an Argentine former professional Goalkeeper (association football), football goalkeeper who played in the Argentine Primera División for 26 seasons

, another great Argentine goalkeeper who played in the nemesis team,

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

. Fillol was always the image of professionalism and seriousness; "Madman" Gatti, on the other hand, looked eccentric, unorthodox.

Trivia

At the 1978 World Cup, Fillol wore the number 5 jersey, instead of 1 which is the standard for goalkeepers. This happened because Argentina, at that time, gave players their numbers alphabetically. The number 1 jersey was worn by offensive midfielder

Norberto Alonso Norberto Osvaldo Alonso (born 4 January 1953), known colloquially as "Beto" Alonso, is an Argentine former football midfielder, who played the majority of his career for the Argentine club River Plate, where he won 9 titles. He remains one of ...

. For the same reason, Fillol wore the number 7 jersey at the 1982 tournament while Osvaldo Ardiles (another midfielder) wore the number 1. This practice was last permitted in 1986, when FIFA stated that the number 1 shirt should only be worn by goalkeepers.

Honours

Club

River Plate *

(7): 1975 Metropolitano, 1975 Nacional, 1977 Metropolitano, 1979 Metropolitano, 1979 Nacional, 1980 Metropolitano, 1981 Nacional Flamengo * Taça Guanabara (1): 1984 *

Taça Rio Taça Rio, or Rio Trophy, is an annual Rio de Janeiro football tournament. It is the second stage competition of the Campeonato Carioca, the state football championship in Rio de Janeiro. It has been organized since 1982 by the Rio de Janeiro St ...

(1): 1985 Atlético Madrid *

(1):

Racing Club * Supercopa Libertadores (1):

International

Argentina * FIFA World Cup (1):

Individual

Footballer of the Year of Argentina The Footballer of the Year of Argentina (in Spanish: ''Olimpia de Plata al Mejor Futbolista'', that literally translates to "Silver Olimpia to the Best Footballer) is a yearly award given by the Argentine Sports Journalists' Circle (''Círculo de ...

: 1977 * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978 * Silver ball South American Player of the Year: 1978, 1983, 1984 * AFA Team of All Time (published 2015)

References

External links

* * *
Biography
at planetworldcup.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fillol, Ubaldo 1950 births Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine footballers Argentinos Juniors footballers Club Atlético River Plate footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Quilmes Atlético Club footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers CR Flamengo footballers La Liga players Atlético Madrid footballers Association football goalkeepers FIFA World Cup-winning players 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1983 Copa América players Argentina international footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Argentine beach soccer players Argentine football managers Racing Club de Avellaneda managers Argentine Primera División players Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine people of French descent Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain