Juan Carlos Cárdenas (25 July 1945 – 30 March 2022) was an Argentine
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 and coach. He played for a number of clubs in Argentina and Mexico as well as playing for the
Argentina national team. He was known by the nickname "El Chango" which was a common name for people from the north of Argentina.
Club career
Cárdenas was spotted in 1962 by
Racing Club de Avellaneda
Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...
playing as a teenager for
Unión Santiago. He spent one year on loan in the Argentine 2nd Division with
Nueva Chicago before returning to Racing Club in 1964. He was part of the
championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this sys ...
winning team of 1966. In 1967, he helped the club to win the
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...
and later that year he scored the decisive goal against
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foot ...
in the
Copa Intercontinental
Copa or COPA may refer to:
COPA
COPA may refer to:
* Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet
* Canadian Owners and Pilots Association
* Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association
* Parlia ...
to make Racing Club the first Argentine club to become club champions of the world.
In 1972 Cárdenas moved to Mexico where he played for Camoteros de
Puebla
Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...
and Tiburones Rojos de
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
returning to Racing Club in 1977.
Cárdenas also held the record of the youngest player to score in a
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...
match for nearly 60 years, as he scored Racing's second in a 2–2 home draw against
Nacional Montevideo on 26 February 1962 at the age of 16 years, 7 months and 2 days. His record was broken by
Ângelo Gabriel only in 2021.
Coaching career
After retiring as a player Cárdenas became the manager of several lower league teams in Argentina, including
All Boys
Club Atlético All Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Floresta, Buenos Aires. The institution is mostly known for its association football, football team, which currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Arge ...
,
Deportivo Armenio
Club Deportivo Armenio is a football club from Ingeniero Maschwitz, Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. The team currently plays in the Primera B Metropolitana, which is the regionalised third division of the Argentine football league system.
Histor ...
and
General Lamadrid (being champion in this last one in 1977).
Honours
Racing Club
*
Copa Intercontinental
Copa or COPA may refer to:
COPA
COPA may refer to:
* Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet
* Canadian Owners and Pilots Association
* Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association
* Parlia ...
: 1967
*
Copa Libertadores
The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...
: 1967
*
Primera División Argentina
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
* Alà Primera
Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...
: 1961, 1966
References
External links
*
1945 births
2022 deaths
Footballers from Santiago del Estero
Argentine men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
Argentina men's international footballers
Argentine Primera División players
Liga MX players
Copa Libertadores–winning players
Club Atlético Nueva Chicago footballers
Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers
Club Puebla players
C.D. Veracruz footballers
Argentine football managers
Argentine expatriate men's footballers
Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico
Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico
20th-century Argentine sportsmen
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