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

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in the

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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

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 *

: 1967 *

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: 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 {{Argentina-footy-forward-1940s-stub