Juan Ramón Verón (; (17 March 1944 – 27 May 2025) 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 ...

er. He played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

or forward most notably for Estudiantes, where he won three consecutive

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 ...

titles. He was the father of former player Juan Sebastián Verón.

Career

Estudiantes

Nicknamed ''La Bruja'' (), Verón was born in

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

. He was capable of playing both as a

and as a striker, and was renowned for his technical skills, ability with the ball at his feet and his goal-scoring prowess. He played for

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

, who were a dominant force in Argentine football during the late 1960s. Among the memorable goals he scored are his "

bicycle kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick or scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

" goal against Racing Club, his header in the Intercontinental Cup championship against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and, most famously, his glorious

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against Brazil's Palmeiras in the finals of the 1968 Copa Libertadores.

Later years

Known as one of Estudiantes' all-time great players, he moved on to play for Panathinaikos of

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

, Greece in 1972. After a successful seasons he returned to his beloved Estudiantes in 1975. In 1976, he moved to Colombia where he played for

Atlético Junior Club Deportivo Popular Junior F.C. S.A. (), commonly known as Junior de Barranquilla, by its old name Atlético Junior or simply as Junior, is a Colombian professional football team based in Barranquilla, capital of the department of Atlantic ...

where he helped the team to win the 1977 Colombian title and then Cúcuta Deportivo before returning to his home club in 1980.

After retirement

After retiring, he had a brief career as coach in Central America and worked as a special advisor for Estudiantes.

Personal life

His son Juan Sebastián Verón, nicknamed ''La Brujita'' (The Little Witch), is also a footballer who played for Estudiantes before moving to European football. In 2006, he returned to Estudiantes, captaining them to their first title in 23 years in the Apertura 2006 tournament and then came out of retirement to play for Estudiantes once again in 2017.La Brujita nació en un clásico
Juan Ramón died on 27 May 2025, at the age of 81.

Honours

Estudiantes * Primera División Argentina: Metropolitano 1967 *

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

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 ...

Atlético Junior * Colombian League: 1977

References

External links

* * *
Veron playing for Argentina national team
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Veron, Juan Ramon 1944 births 2025 deaths 20th-century Argentine sportsmen Argentine men's footballers Footballers from La Plata Men's association football forwards Men's association football midfielders Argentina men's international footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Argentine Primera División players Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Atlético Junior footballers Cúcuta Deportivo footballers Copa Libertadores–winning players Argentine football managers Guatemala national football team managers Comunicaciones F.C. managers Atlético Junior managers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate football managers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Guatemala Expatriate football managers in Guatemala Verón–Verde family