José María Rivas Martínez (12 May 1958 – 9 January 2016) was a

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

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 ...

Club career

Nicknamed ''Mandingo'', Rivas played several years for Independiente De San Vicente and

Atlético Marte Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

, with whom he won a League Championship in 1985. In 1990, he joined San Pedro of Belize and after leaving them had short spells at the end of his career in the Salvadoran second division with

Huracán Huracán (; ; , "one legged"), often referred to as ''U Kʼux Kaj'', the "Heart of Sky", is a Kʼicheʼ Maya god of wind, storm, fire and one of the creator deities who participated in all three attempts at creating humanity. He also caused th ...

and

Cojutepeque Cojutepeque () is the capital city of El Salvador's Cuscatlán department. It also served as the capital of San Salvador during several years. It also serves as the administrative centre for the surrounding municipality of Cojutepeque. Its popu ...

. He won the 1985 Top league goal scorer award and also won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball in that year.

International career

The moustached Rivas made his official debut for

in a March 1980 friendly match against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

, played in 17

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 featured in all three of El Salvador's games 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 ...

in Spain. He scored 19 goals for the

El Salvador national football team The El Salvador national football team (), known as ("the National Team"), represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol (). The national team's first match was played in Septemb ...

from 1980 to 1989. He scored 42 goals in 97 matches including non-official games. His final international game was a November 1989

match against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Retirement and illness

After he retired, he was in charge of C.D. Árabe Marte and took the

rein Reins are used to direct a horse (or other animal) when riding or driving. They are attached to a bridle's bit or noseband and are made of leather, nylon, or other materials. Reins are used to give subtle commands or cues—also known as r ...

s at FAS in 1999 along with

José Luis Rugamas José Luis Rugamas Portillo (born 5 June 1953 in San Salvador) is a Salvadoran Football (soccer), football Manager (soccer), manager and former professional player. He was interim manager of the El Salvador national football team, El Salvador ...

. During his playing career, he had obtained his medical diplomas to become a doctor and was part of the El Salvador national football team medical staff. In June 2011, it became clear Rivas was seriously ill and needed a marrow operation, for which funds would be raised with a benefit match. A lot of former players were reunited to help Rivas. Rivas died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

on 9 January 2016 at the age of 57.

References

External links

* - Atletico Marte * - Atletico Marte {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivas, Jose Maria 1958 births 2016 deaths Footballers from San Salvador Men's association football forwards Salvadoran men's footballers El Salvador men's international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players C.D. Atlético Marte footballers Salvadoran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belize Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in Belize Premier League of Belize players