Ricardo Peláez Linares (born 14 March 1963) is a Mexican former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who currently works for

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ) is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the ...

and ESPN Mexico as an analyst. Peláez began his professional career with Club América, subsequently transferring to Necaxa two years later. He emerged as a pivotal player for the team, amassing more than 300 appearances and netting 158 goals, which established him as the club's all-time top scorer. He had a short return to Club América before concluding his career at

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 ...

. Peláez represented the Mexico national team at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

. Following his retirement, Peláez has assumed the role of football executive and sports analyst.

Club career

Ricardo Peláez Linares started his career as an accountant. After finishing his studies in accounting, Ricardo started to work doing public accountancy which he believed was something extremely boring and tiresome. Football being his hobby and passion, he decided to go for trials at Club América. He was 23 when the club headhunters recognized his talents and decided to place him in the first team. He made his debut with Club America in 1985, winning the Prode 85 title. His best years came with Necaxa, with whom he won the league twice, in 1994-95 and 1995-96. He also won the Campeón de Campeones in 1994-95 and the Campeón de Copa in 1995-96. All of this led to Necaxa being named Team of the Decade. Pelaez scored 158 goals for Necaxa, many of them headers (his best quality), making him the club's all-time leading scorer. After a brief return to Club América between 1997 and 1998, Peláez decided to join Guadalajara, with whom he finished as runner-up to Necaxa in the Torneo Invierno 98. He retired from professional football in 2000.

International career

Peláez was part of the Mexico national team at the

, scoring two goals in the tournament. Peláez scored the equalizer against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in a 3–1 win. Peláez scored his second goal of the tournament in a 2–2 draw against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Overall Peláez capped 43 times for Mexico and scored 16 goals.

International goals

Executive

Club América

On 8 November 2011, following the departure of Michel Bauer as president, Peláez was named the new Sporting President of Club América as part of a complete organizational restructuring. His first act as president was the signing of

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican professional football manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Costa Rica national te ...

as the club's new manager. A year prior to the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, he was appointed Sporting Director of the Mexico national team, later returning to Club América at the end of the tournament. He left his role as Sporting President in April 2017. Under Peláez's leadership, Club América consistently achieved qualification for the playoffs, reaching the finals four times and securing two league titles, in addition to two

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

titles.

Cruz Azul

Peláez was announced as Director of Football for

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

on 7 May 2018, replacing Eduardo de la Torre. Peláez signed a two-year contract with the club and was presented on 9 May 2018. In his first season with Cruz Azul, the team reached the Copa MX final, defeating

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

2–0 to win the cup.

Guadalajara

Following much speculation, Peláez was announced as

's new Director of Football beginning in the 2020 Clausura. On October 11, 2022 Chivas terminated the contract of sporting director Ricardo Pelaez after a 5-4 loss on penalties to Puebla in the first round of the Liga MX playoffs.

Outside football

In 2004, Peláez became a commentator for football matches on Mexican television station

Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...

. Peláez has also lent his voice alongside commentator Enrique Bermúdez to be the

Spanish language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

commentators for the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

videogames for the editions from

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. From September 2017 until May 2018, he worked as an analyst for

and ESPN Mexico.

Honours

América *

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

: Prode-85 Necaxa *

: 1994–95, 1995–96 *

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 ...

: 1994–95 * CONCACAF Cup Winners' Cup:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

* Campeón de Campeones: 1995 Mexico * CONCACAF Gold Cup:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pelaez, Ricardo 1963 births Living people Mexican men's footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players Club América footballers Liga MX players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players Mexico men's international footballers Men's association football forwards 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 20th-century Mexican sportsmen