Rubén Andrés Cano Martínez (born 5 February 1951) is an Argentine-Spanish retired 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 played as a striker. He appeared in 228

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

matches over eight seasons (93 goals) with two teams, mainly

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

. Cano represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

Club career

Born in

San Rafael, Mendoza San Rafael is a city in the southern region of the Mendoza Province, Argentina. With more than 118,000 inhabitants (), it is the largest city in and the seat of San Rafael Department. The city is located 240 km from Mendoza, Argentina, the p ...

, Argentina to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

parents, Cano started his professional career with

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 ...

based

Club Atlético Atlanta Club Atlético Atlanta is an Argentine sports club from the Villa Crespo district of Buenos Aires. Nicknamed ''Los Bohemios'' ('The Bohemians'), Atlanta is mostly known for its association football, football team, although the institution also h ...

, remaining four years with the team. In 1974, he returned to the land of his ancestors and joined

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

, making his

debut on 14 September 1974 in a 1–0 home win against

and ending his first season with six goals in 32 games as the

Valencians Valencians ( ; ) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Autonomy as a ''nationality'' "within the unity of the Spanish nation". ...

finished in eighth position. In the 1976 off-season, Cano signed for precisely Atlético Madrid, scoring 19 times in his first year – fifth-best in the competition – as the ''Colchoneros'' won the national championship, one point ahead of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. He added a combined 40 in the following two seasons, and formed an efficient forward partnership during his spell with another Argentine-born player, Rubén Ayala. After only 12 matches (one goal) in 1981–82, the 32-year-old Cano left Atlético and joined

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

in the third division, helping the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

side promote in his debut season and remaining with them for a further two second level campaigns; he closed out his career at the age of 36 after a couple of years with another club in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, second-tier

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

International career

Cano chose to represent

internationally, going on to win 12

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in two years. His debut occurred on 16 April 1977 in a

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

qualifier against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

(0–1 loss in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

); also in that competition, he scored the game's only goal in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

on 30 November to help his adopted nation defeat

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and top its group. Picked for the finals in Argentina, Cano appeared in the 1–2 defeat to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, in an eventual group stage exit.

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

: 1976–77

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cano, Ruben 1951 births Living people Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Argentine emigrants to Spain Spanish men's footballers Argentine men's footballers Footballers from Mendoza Province Men's association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Atlanta footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Elche CF players Atlético Madrid footballers CD Tenerife players Rayo Vallecano players Spain men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players 20th-century Argentine sportsmen 20th-century Spanish sportsmen

Club career

International career

Honours

See also

References

External links