Norberto Yácono (also Iacono / 8 January 1919 – November 1985) 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 ...

defender who won six Argentine league championships with

CA River Plate CA most often refers to: * Canada, a country by ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code * California, U.S. state by postal abbreviation CA or ca may also refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U ...

. He was born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Playing career

"Pacho" Yácono was taken by a friend of his father to a test training at River Plate in 1933 when he was 13 years of age. He was chosen to stay and he made his debut for the professional team on 28 May 1939 in a match against

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

which was also the very last match of

Bernabé Ferreyra Bernabé Ferreyra (12 February 1909 – 22 May 1972) was an Argentina, Argentine association football Forward (association football), forward. He was one of the first professional players in football in Argentina, Argentine football to reach grea ...

, who for a long period has been the most expensive player in the world. In 1941, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1952 and 1953 he won six league championships with the club. He also won each three times, the

Copa Ibarguren The Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren, also called Campeonato Argentino
by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on the RSSSF or simply Copa Ibarguren was an offi ...

, a competition between the winners of Argentine provincial championships, and the

Copa Aldao The Copa Ricardo Aldao ( English: ''Ricardo Aldao Cup''), popularly called Campeonato Rioplatense and Copa Río de La Plata, was an official AFA- AUF football club competition contested annually, albeit irregularly, between the league champions o ...

, a competition between the champions of Argentina and Uruguay. Altogether the right fullback, particularly praised for his man-marking skills, played 393 times in official matches for River Plate - which puts him in the 9th rank in club history - albeit, he never scored. Notably he was one of the players that remained with the club in the late 1940s, when others like Néstor Rossi, Adolfo Pedernera and the young

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé (; 4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was an Argentine professional footballer and coach who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia" ("Blond A ...

left in the course of the big players strike then. He debuted for the national team on 12 August 1942 in the Estádio Centenario of Montevideo when

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

drew 1–1 against Uruguay in a match for the

Copa Lipton The Copa Lipton or Copa de Caridad Lipton was a Association football, football friendly competition contested between Argentina national football team, Argentina and Uruguay national football team, Uruguay national teams. The competition was hel ...

. The highlight of his career with Argentina was the South American Championship 1947 in which he featured in six of the seven matches in

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

's second city. Argentina won the tournament undefeated. His 15th and last match for the ''albiceleste'' when he captained Argentina in a friendly in London's

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

on 9 May 1951. They lost to the hosts 2–1. Well into his mid-thirties he left River in 1953 to play for América in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. With América he won the finals of the cup competition, the

Copa México Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

, of 1954 and 1955, in both cases defeating

CD Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Guadalajara metropolit ...

. In 1955-56 he served as coach for the club. By May 1958 he moved to

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in Canada where he initially played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

– which consisted of 10 clubs from Toronto, two from

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

just about 70 km southwest of Toronto, and three from Montreal – for Cantalia SC, a club supported by Italian immigrants. At the time they also hired Alberto Piavone from

who in 15 years with

Ferro Carril Oeste Club Ferro Carril Oeste, known simply as Ferro Carril Oeste or familiarly, Ferro, is an Argentine sports club from the neighbourhood of Caballito, Buenos Aires. Although many activities are hosted by the club, Ferro is mostly known for its assoc ...

became the second highest scorer of that club. The league competition was won by

Montreal Hungaria Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

and Cantalia became sixth. For the 1959 season he joined the Alouettes, also in Montreal. This time the league was won by Cantalia and Alouettes finished 7th. However, they went on to win the Canadian cup competition, the

National Challenge Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

, of 1959, widely considered the quasi national championship. For this purpose they defeated on September 19 the

Westminster Royals The Westminster Royals (also Westminster United or New Westminster Royals FC) were a Canadian soccer club based in New Westminster, British Columbia. It has the distinction of winning Canada Soccer's The Challenge Trophy nine times, setting the ...

from the Vancouver region 3–2 in the Fred Hamilton Park in Toronto's "Little Italy". His teammate Tony Bonezzi, who was also born in Buenos Aires, would die eight years later in a tragic accident in Israel, aged just 35. From 1960 to 1962 he finished his playing career in the US.

Honours

River Plate *

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 * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

. *

Copa Ibarguren The Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren, also called Campeonato Argentino
by Osvaldo Gorgazzi on the RSSSF or simply Copa Ibarguren was an offi ...

: 1941, 1942, 1952. *

: 1941, 1945, 1947. *

South American Championship of Champions The South American Championship of Champions (, ) was a association football, football competition played in Santiago, Chile in 1948 and the first continental-wide clubs football tournament in South America. Hosted and organized by Chilean club Col ...

runner-up:

1948 Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

Club América *

: 1954, 1955. Montreal Cantalia SC * Canadian National Challenge Cup: 1959. Argentina *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

Coaching career

In 1961, he was the head coach for Montreal Cantalia in the

Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League The Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada. The league operated for six seasons from 1961 to 1966 across four cities in two Canadian provinces and one American state. In the 1960s, the Eastern Canada Professional ...

. After retiring as a player in the early 1960s Yácono returned to Argentina where he worked as the manager of

Sportivo Italiano Club Sportivo Italiano is an Football in Argentina, Argentine professional association football, football club located in Ciudad Evita, La Matanza Partido, Greater Buenos Aires. The team currently plays in the Primera B Metropolitana, the third ...

Lanús Lanús () is the capital of Lanús Partido, Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It lies just south of the capital city Buenos Aires, in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation, metropolitan area. The List of cities in Argentina, city has a populati ...

and Godoy Cruz. Later in his career he took up a position of youth team coach for River Plate. After he immigrated to the US and lived in New Jersey, he was still very active with soccer and became the coach for Iberia Airlines of Spain in the New York Airlines Soccer League, which does not exist any more . That was in the early 70s. His knowledge and passion for soccer helped the team to win the championship in 1973. Through the efforts of Norberto Yacono, Iberia Airlines was able to incorporate in the team recently retired players from Argentina, such as Norberto Troilo and Guillermo Heredia. His son, "Pichi", also played for the team that winning year. It is reported that for arranging the match between Kansas City Spurs and Brazil's

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

around their superstar

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

during their tour of the US in 1968 he was bestowed the honorary citizenship of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

References

External links

*
Norberto Yacono
', La enciclopedia de River Plate en rivermillonarios.com.ar. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yacono, Norberto 1919 births 1985 deaths Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Club Atlético River Plate footballers Club América footballers Argentine football managers Club Atlético Lanús managers Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba managers Argentine Primera División players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Copa América–winning players Canadian National Soccer League players 20th-century Argentine sportsmen