Alberto "''Cuqui''" López Oliva (born 10 March 1944) is a

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former defender. He is one of three Guatemalan footballers to win the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

championship with both national team and club. He played the entirety of his career for

CSD Municipal Club Social y Deportivo Municipal, also known as Municipal or ''Los Rojos'' (the Reds), are a Guatemalan professional football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football, and play their h ...

in the Guatemalan top division, and was a part of the squad that won the

1974 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 1974 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 10th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It determined that year's clu ...

. He scored over 40 goals in his career, a relatively high number for a full back. Also a member of the Guatemala national team, he was a part of the squad that won the

1967 CONCACAF Championship The 1967 CONCACAF Championship was the third edition of the CONCACAF Championship. The final tournament took place from 5 to 19 March in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Mexico qualified automatically as defending champions, while Honduras did it as the ...

, and also competed in two World Cup qualifying campaigns and at the 1968 Olympic Games.

Club career

López Oliva, a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

skilled both in defense and attack, and an outstanding

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

taker, made his professional debut in 1963 with

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

, the only club he would represent. He played for Municipal from 1963 to 1980, and along players such as

Benjamín Monterroso Benjamín Eduardo ("''Mincho''") Monterroso Díaz (born 1 January 1952) is a Guatemalan professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He was most recently the manager of the Guatemala women's national team. Playi ...

, Julio César Anderson, and

José Emilio Mitrovich José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , ...

, led the team on to win back-to-back league titles in 1973 and 1974, the

1974 Copa Fraternidad The 1974 Copa Fraternidad was the fourth Central American club championship played between 6 clubs. C.S.D. Municipal won the tournament. Teams 1 Juventud Olímpica were the 1973 Primera División champion and were originally slated to com ...

, and the CONCACAF Champions' Cup in 1974 going on to play the

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

against

CA Independiente CA most often refers to: * Canada, a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code * California, U.S. state by postal abbreviation CA or ca may also refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U ...

of Argentina. During his club career, he won four league titles, one domestic cup, two Central American cup (''Fraternidad''), and the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, and scored 42 goals with Municipal, being the highest scoring defender in the history of the league. He retired from playing in the late 1970s, later becoming a coach.

National team

López Oliva became a starter for the Guatemala national team by the age of 21, and as such he played at the II CONCACAF Championship in 1965, where Guatemala finished in second place, and at the 1967 edition of the tournament, where they were crowned champions over favorites

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, whom they beat 1–0 in a hard-fought match on López Oliva's 23rd birthday. During Olympic qualification in 1968, after Guatemala had beaten

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

1–0 in the first leg of the series, López Oliva assisted in both goals of a 2–3 loss in the second leg in San José, which tied both teams in points and goal difference; after extra time, the qualified team was decided by a coin toss, with Guatemala winning the right to participate at the 1968 Olympic Tournament in Mexico, where López Oliva was a starter in all four of his team's matches and scored a goal in a 4–1 win against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and another one in a 1–2 loss against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

. He played in four matches during 1970 World Cup qualifying, and after helping Guatemala finish in the top two of the region for the third consecutive tournament at the 1969 CONCACAF Championship, he was called up again for the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, where he played two matches.

Coaching career

Among other teams, López Oliva has coached

Aurora F.C. Aurora Fútbol Club is a Guatemalan professional Association football, football club. They are based in Guatemala City and play their home matches in the ''Estadio Cementos Progreso''. Once one of the most powerful teams in the country and a tra ...

and the lower divisions of Universidad.

Honours

;With CSD Municipal * Guatemala '' Liga Mayor'' winner (4): 1969–70, 1973, 1974, 1976 * Guatemala '' Domestic Cup'' winner (1): 1967 * '' Copa Fraternidad'' winner (2):

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; ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. *

CONCACAF Champions' Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

winner:

;With the Guatemala national team *

CONCACAF Championship The CONCACAF Championship, also known as CONCACAF Nations Championship, was an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the C ...

winner (1): 1967

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez, Alberto 1944 births Living people Guatemalan men's footballers Guatemala men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Guatemala Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics CONCACAF Championship–winning players C.S.D. Municipal players Guatemalan football managers Men's association football defenders 20th-century Guatemalan sportsmen