Teodoro "Lolo" Fernández Meyzán (20 May 1913 – 17 September 1996) was a Peruvian professional footballer who played as forward. All his football work was carried out as a player of the Universitario de Deportes of the Peruvian First Division. He was champion, best player and top scorer in the 1939 Copa América. He is the top idol of Universitario de Deportes and Peruvian First Division. Fernández is the most emblematic player in the history of club Universitario de Deportes for which he played his whole career, winning six times the Primera División Peruana. Although he sporadically reinforced other clubs in friendly matches, clubs such as Alianza Lima and Colo-Colo, Fernández never represented a club other than Universitario in official competitions. Known as "El Cañonero" ("The Cannoneer") due to his excellence as a centre-forward and his strong shooting, Fernández was the Primera División Peruana top-scorer seven times.

Club career

Lolo was the seventh of Raymunda Meyzán and Tomas Fernández's eight children. He learned to play football in primary school and was soon picked up by local club Huracán de Hualcará where he immediately stood out. At the age of 16, his parents sent him to

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

to continue his studies. Lolo stayed with his brother Arturo Fernandez who was the goalkeeper for Ciclista Lima. When Arturo transferred to first-division Universitario de Deportes, he brought Lolo along to play a bit of football in training and introduced him to the club's president, former 1930 World Cup player Placido Galindo, who decided to sign him. Lolo would remain with the club during his 22 years as a professional footballer. He made his professional debut with Universitario de Deportes in a friendly match against Club Deportivo Magallanes of Chile on 29 November 1931, scoring the game's only goal. In his first season (1932) he became Peruvian top scorer, the team finished second. The following year, the same feat was repeated. The 1934 season saw Lolo lead the division in scoring, winning the Primera División Peruana trophy for the only second time in its history. Lolo obtained 6 local leagues as player in total, all with Universitario de Deportes: 1934, 1939, 1941, 1945,

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

and

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

. Several times during his career he rejected offers from teams such as in Chile, Argentina and Europe. Rumor has it Chile offered him a "blank check", for he to write in what he wished to be paid. He did not go with Chile. However, he represented Colo-Colo in friendly matches against the Argentine club Independiente in October 1940, alongside his compatriots César Socarraz, Pablo Pasache and his brother Arturo. Lolo played his last game for Universitario on 30 August 1953 at the age of 40 in the Peruvian Super Classic during which he scored a hat-trick for a 4–2 win. Lolo is the top goalscorer for Universitario with 161 goals in 180 matches.

International career

Lolo played for the Peru national football team from 1935 to 1947, and scored 24 goals in 32 matches. He is the fourth top scorer in history for his country. In 1936, he represented Peru at the 1936 Olympic Games in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. Peru made its way into the quarterfinals after defeating Finland (7–2) and went on to beat Austria (4–2). Lolo Fernandez scored a total of 6 goals in the two games. In the 1938 Bolivarian Games in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, Team Peru won gold. In 1939, he won the

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Child Online Protection Act The Child Online Protection Act (COPA) was a United States law, law in the United States, United States of America, passed in 1998 with the declared purpose of ...

with the national team. The final was played against

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

(2–1) which was arguably the best team in the world at the time, as Uruguay had won gold in the 1924 and

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

and had won the first World Cup in 1930. Lolo was top scorer of the tournament with 7 goals.

Peru-Chile XI (Combinado del Pacífico)

Fernández was part of the "Combinado del Pacífico" (Peru-Chile XI) a squad of Peruvian and Chilean footballers of Alianza Lima, Atlético Chalaco, Colo-Colo and Universitario de Deportes that played 39 friendly matches in Europe between September 1933 and March 1934 against teams such as FC Barcelona, Celtic FC, Hearts FC, Newcastle United FC, West Ham United FC and

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. With 48 goals, Fernández was the team's main goalscorer during the European tour.

Club

Country

Individual awards

* Peruvian League: Top Scorer 1932, 1933, 1934, 1939, 1940, 1942, 1945, 2019 * 1939 South American Championship: Best Player * 1939 South American Championship: Top Scorer

Records

* 3rd place of all-time

goal scorers, 15 goals. * All-time top scorer of the Peruvian Super Classic, 29 goals. * Peruvian league top-scorer for a record seven times. * Highest individual scoring rate per Olympic match, 5 goals. * Most capped Peruvian player in the history of the

, 24 matches * Top goalscorer in Universitario de Deportes's history, 156 goals.

Personal life

He was the middle brother of the professional footballers Arturo, also a Peruvian international, and Eduardo Fernández. They also were the uncles of the footballers

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

, Jorge and Carlos Fernández.

Statistics

Career

International goals

::''Scores and results table. Peru's goal tally first:''

Honours

Teodoro Fernández was recognized and honored in his lifetime and afterward. At the 27 October 1952 inauguration of Estadio Nacional del Perú, he received from the government the highest honors bestowed on an athlete. President Manuel Odría (1948–56), bestowed on him the Laureles Deportivos en Primera Clase for his outstanding career in Peruvian soccer. The Club Universitario de Deportes named their stadium after him. This stadium was opened officially 20 July of the same year with a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against the University of Chile. The municipal stadium of the city of San Vicente de Cañete, on the central coast of Peru, is also named after him, along with a section of the Maison de Santé clinic where he spent the last months of his life. The Peruvian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Lorenzo Humberto Sotomayor dedicated his work ''Lolo Fernández'' to Fernández. Another work in his honor is the dance ''El Taita Lolo Fernández'' with music by Alcides Carreño and lyrics by Fernando Soria. In September 1996, one week following his passing, a

banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...

was displayed with the phrase "''Lolo Hasta Siempre Alianza Presente''" during a match between Ciclista Lima and Alianza Lima, who are known college rivals. On 17 September 1997, during a match against Sporting Cristal in the Clausura tournament of that year, the university's players wore jerseys with Fernández's image printed on the chest. In 2013, during a celebration of the centennial of his birth, the Chermany Inks: La Kasa Roja gallery presented an exposition of

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

s done by nine artists in honor of Fernández.

References

External links

Lolo Fernández, The first king of La U and Peru

History of "Lolo" Fernández

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Teodoro 1913 births 1996 deaths Sportspeople from the Department of Lima Men's association football forwards Peruvian men's footballers Peruvian expatriate men's footballers Peru men's international footballers Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Copa América–winning players Olympic footballers for Peru Peruvian Primera División players Club Universitario de Deportes footballers Colo-Colo footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Bolivarian Games gold medalists for Peru Bolivarian Games medalists in football 20th-century Peruvian sportsmen Association football players with retired numbers