José Francisco Jovel Cruz (born 26 May 1951 in

Usulután Usulután () is the fifth largest city in El Salvador, and capital of the Usulután Department in the south-east of El Salvador. As of 2006, it is estimated to have population of 71,636 people. Usulután rests in a rich agricultural valley and ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

) is a former professional

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 ...

player from

, who represented his country at the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Club career

''Paco'' Jovel started playing football with the ''Calaveras'' football team in the Salvadoran Second Division when only 14 years old and joined hometown

Primera División de Fútbol de El Salvador The Primera División de Fútbol Profesional de El Salvador (First Division of Professional Football of El Salvador), more commonly known as La Liga Mayor or La Primera, also known as Liga Pepsi for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional ...

side Luis Ángel Firpo in 1972. He formed a formidable partnership with the Brazilian Luis Nelson De Moraes but won his only league title during a couple of seasons with Águila, before finishing his career back at Luis Ángel Firpo after spending 15 years at the highest level. He was nicknamed ''el Káiser'' because his playing style resembling that of West Germany legend

Franz Beckenbauer Franz Anton Beckenbauer (; 11 September 1945 – 7 January 2024) was a German professional football player, manager, and official. Nicknamed ("the Emperor"), he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, and is one of nine p ...

International career

Jovel made his senior debut for

in 1976 and played for his country in 22

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and all three matches at the 1982 World Cup Finals. In total, he played 110 matches for the ''Cuscatlecos'' (including unofficial) matches. Jovel also played for El Salvador at the

1975 Pan American Games The 1975 Pan American Games, officially known as the VII Pan American Games () and commonly known as Mexico 1975 (), were held in Mexico City, Mexico, from October 12 to October 26, 1975, exactly twenty years after the second Pan American Games ...

Retirement and personal life

Jovel works as a social worker in San Miguel. He is married and has three children. His son Carlos Francisco Jovel Navas played for Luis Ángel Firpo.

Honours

: 1 :: 1983

References

External links

Palabra de “el Kaiser”
– El Gráfico 1951 births Living people Sportspeople from Usulután Department Men's association football central defenders Salvadoran men's footballers El Salvador men's international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players Pan American Games competitors for El Salvador Footballers at the 1975 Pan American Games C.D. Águila footballers C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo footballers {{ElSalvador-footy-bio-stub