Jesús Ramón Ramírez Ceceña (born 5 December 1969) is a Mexican former professional footballer who 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 ...

. Ramírez was meant to be one of the best Mexican players since Hugo Sánchez, but various injuries threatened and stopped his career several times. He was one of the top Mexican footballers in the 1990s, but despite the speculations surrounding his talents, he never moved to Europe to play for a much more competitive club.

Club career

Ramirez started his career in Santos Laguna in 1990, and since the beginning, he showed his skills in the midfield. His talent made him one of the most promising players of the time, and was rewarded with a call for the Mexico national football team in 1991. In the 1991–1992 season, in a match against America, Carlos Alberto "El Escorpión" Carrillo, a defender of that team fractured his tibia and fibula. This caused him to miss the Barcelona 1992

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with the Mexico team, and a lack of form after the physical recovery. He managed come back after several months, to continue with brilliant displays with Santos Laguna, and in 1993, he recovered his spot in the national team. He played with Santos Laguna until 1994, year in which he played the final of the Mexican tournament, which he lost against Tecos UAG. His performance in the international tournaments in which Mexico national team participated, attracted the attention of several teams, and in 1994 (after he played in the final with Santos Laguna) he was transferred to

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, one of the biggest clubs in Mexico. With this team, he lived his best displays on the field. This culminated in 1997, when he got the championship of the Mexican tournament. In 1998, he played another final with Guadalajara against Necaxa, but this time he lost. In 1999, after a lot of speculation and rumors, he was transferred against his will to America, the biggest rival of Guadalajara, a team where he was an idol to the fans. This caused a lot of controversy, since he was an emblematic player of his team. This transfer to the rival club, caused him a lack of form, perhaps due to depression. This turned to be evident in a match between América and his former team, when he scored a goal: the moment was so shocking for him, that he didn't know how to react. Fortunately for him, that goal didn't count due to offside. His lack of form ruled him out of América at the end of the Summer 1999 season. He was then, transferred to Tigres UANL. In this team, he had difficult times to recover; he wasn't even registered with his preferred number 7 (retired in honour to the

peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

vian player Gerónimo Barbadillo in 1982). He slowly found his form again, and this awarded him another call for Mexico national team. In the Winter 2001 season, he played again in the final of the Mexican tournament, but he lost again, this time against Pachuca. However, he played in this match as a substitute. For the summer 2002 season, he returned to his beloved team Guadalajara. Constant injuries caused him to miss several matches, but again he displayed his talent, although irregularly. He reached the final of the Clausura 2004 season, but lost on penalty kicks against Pumas UNAM. At the end of the Clausura 2004 season, he joined

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

. In

he played the last part of his career, being the captain of the team. He retired from the fields in 2007.

Accident

On December 12, 2000, Ramírez, while driving at high velocity well above the permitted speed limit, collided with another vehicle that left him injured for several months and in the accident it killed an entire family of 5. Professor Efraín Cázarez Barbosa of 31 years old, his pregnant wife Evangelina Rodríguez Aceves of 29 years old, and their children Guillermo Efraín and Adonella Berenice Cázarez Rodríguez of 9 and 5 years old respectively, were killed in the collision. The professor's wife, Evangelina Rodríguez Aceves, was launched from the vehicle into incoming traffic and hit the pavement where she was run over by another car. In February 2002, Ramírez was acquitted of charges of homicide.

International career

Ramírez received his first call-up to the senior national team in 1991 as a promising young talent, and after recovering from a tibia and fibula fracture in 1993, he played regularly for Mexico until 2000. His first major appearance for

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, was in the Copa América 1993 in

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 ...

; the Mexico coach then was Miguel Mejia Baron. Being left-footed, Ramirez was used by the coach as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

rather than as a left winger/playmaker, position he had at club level. The Mexican team reached the final, but lost 2–1 against Argentina. Ramírez was again called to be part of the national team for the World Cup USA 1994, in which he continued playing as left back. The team reached the Round of 16, losing to Bulgaria in penalty kicks. He also participated in the Copa América Uruguay 1995. The Mexico team performed poorly, and ended in 7th place of 12 teams. They tied to USA in quarter finals and were dismissed on penalty kicks. In 1997, he missed the Copa América in Bolivia. In 1998, Ramírez returned to participate in the World Cup France 98. In this tournament, he had a more offensive role (the one he used to have in his club), giving one assist to Cuauhtémoc Blanco to score against Belgium. However, he was sent off in the match against Holland (after a confusion of the referee, who was supposed to book another player), so he was suspended to the Round of 16 match against Germany, which eventually was the last match of Mexico. Ramírez scored 14 goals in 119 caps for his country.

Honours

Guadalajara * Mexican Primera División: Verano 1997 * Pre-Libertadores Tournament: 1998 Chivas USA * Western Conference Regular Season: 2007 Mexico * FIFA Confederations Cup:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

; third place: 1995 * Copa América runner-up: 1993; third place:

* CONCACAF Gold Cup: 1993, 1996, 1998 Individual * CONCACAF Gold Cup Golden Ball: 1993 * RSSSF Player of the Year Nomination: 1993 * CONCACAF Gold Cup Best XI: 1998,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

* CONCACAF Team of the Century: 1998 *

Top Scorer:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Career statistics

International goals

Ramón Ramírez - Century of International Appearances
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References

External links

International statistics
at

rsssf The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

''Player Stats at Chivas USA site''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez, Ramon 1969 births Living people Footballers from Tepic, Nayarit Chivas USA players Santos Laguna footballers Tigres UANL footballers Club América footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States 1993 Copa América players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1995 Copa América players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1997 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 Copa América players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players FIFA Confederations Cup–winning players Mexico men's international footballers FIFA Men's Century Club Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Men's association football midfielders 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 20th-century Mexican sportsmen