Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former

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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He is considered Peru's greatest ever player and one of the best in the history of South America. In an

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

poll he was selected as the best Peruvian player in history and was also included in the world's Top 50 of the 20th century. At the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

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 ...

acknowledged Cubillas, referring to him as his successor. Cubillas was renowned for his technique, shooting ability and free kick ability. Beginning at

Alianza Lima Club Alianza Lima, more commonly known as simply Alianza Lima, is a Peru, Peruvian professional sports club based in La Victoria District, Lima, La Victoria District of Lima, Peru. The club was founded under the name of Sport Alianza on February ...

, he was nicknamed ''El Nene'' ''(The Kid)'', and was part of the Peru national team that won the

1975 Copa América The 1975 edition of the Copa América football (soccer), football tournament was played between 17 July and 28 October. The tournament saw many significant shifts to its format, such as changing its name from South American Championship to Copa A ...

. He helped Peru reach the quarter finals at the

and again at the 1978 World Cup, along with qualifying for the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in th ...

. He was elected the

South American Footballer of the Year The Rey de América ("King of America"), often referred to as the South American Footballer of the Year, is an annual association football award presented to the best footballer in South America over the previous calendar year. The award was con ...

in 1972. At a club level, he is the second all time highest goalscorer of Alianza Lima with 165 and the top goalscorer of the

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) The Fort Lauderdale Strikers were an American soccer team establishe ...

with 65. For the national team, he is the third all time goalscorer with 28 goals in 81 appearances. He is also the joint 10th all time goalscorer of the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

with 10 goals in 13 matches. In 2004,

selected Cubillas as one of the

FIFA 100 The FIFA 100 is a list compiled by Brazilian professional footballer Pelé featuring his choices of the "greatest living footballers" at the time of its release. The list was unveiled on 4 March 2004 during a gala ceremony at the Natural Histor ...

, a list of 125 footballing greats. In February 2008, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Brazilian World Cup victory, he was selected in the ''All-Star First Team'' of South America of the past 50 years. Cubillas is one of only three players to score five or more goals in two different World Cups, the other two being

Miroslav Klose Miroslav Josef Klose (, ; born Mirosław Marian Klose; 9 June 1978) is a German professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who currently serves as head coach of 1. FC Nürnberg. A Forward (as ...

and

Thomas Müller Thomas Müller (; born 13 September 1989) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich. He primarily plays as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. Widely regarded as one o ...

. His free-kick against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1978 is renowned as one of the best goals scored at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

Club career

Early career

Nicknamed "''Nene''" (the kid) for his boyish looks, Cubillas began his career with

at the age of 16 in 1966. While at Alianza, he was top scorer in the

Peruvian Primera División The Peru First Division (; known simply as ''First Division'', and Liga 1 Te Apuesto for sponsorship reasons), officially known as Liga 1, is the top flight of association football in Peru. It has been referred to as Torneo Descentralizado since ...

in 1966 and 1970.Peruvian Championship: Top Scorer
Retrieved on 3 January 2009 Cubillas won the youth tournaments of 1965 and 1966. He made his debut at the age of 17 in the

with Alianza Lima. In his first season, he was the tournament's top scorer with 19 goals. In the summer of 1967, Cubillas, aged 18, made his international debut in a friendly match and scored a double in a 6-1 win over Independiente of Argentina. Directors of

Deportivo Municipal Club Centro Deportivo Municipal, commonly known as Deportivo Municipal, is a Peruvian Association football, football club based in Lima, Peru. They are among Peru's most recognizable clubs and enjoy considerable popularity. The bulk of their succ ...

and

formed a team in 1971 to play a series of friendly matches with the aim of bringing together Teófilo Cubillas with

Hugo Sotil Hugo Alejandro Sotil Yerén (18 May 1949 – 30 December 2024) was a Peruvian professional footballer. Nicknamed ''El Cholo'', he played as a striker or midfielder. Together with Teófilo Cubillas and Héctor Chumpitaz, he was one of Peru's ...

, another great star of the time, known as the Golden Pair, which left historic scorelines such as the victory over Benfica and the 4-1 thrashing of

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 football team, ...

. In 1972, Cubillas had his one of his most successful season in several years. He was the

1972 Copa Libertadores The 1972 Copa Libertadores was the 13th edition of the Copa Libertadores, CONMEBOL's the annual club tournament. Independiente of Argentina defeated Universitario de Deportes of Peru in the finals, and became the second team in the tournament's ...

top scorer and elected

Basel

In the summer of 1973, Cubillas transferred to

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

football club

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

under head coach

Helmut Benthaus Helmut Benthaus (born 5 June 1935) is a German former association football, football player and coach. He spent his best playing days at Westfalia Herne and his best coaching days at FC Basel. Early career Born in Herne, Germany, Herne, Benthau ...

. The Basler entrepreneur and transport company owner Ruedi Reisdorfer paid the transfer fee of £97,000. After playing in four Cup of the Alps games, Cubillas played his Swiss league debut for the club on 18 August in the away game against Chênois. He scored his first goal for the club in the same game as Basel won 1–0. Cubillas scored two goals for Basel in the 1973–74 European Cup, the first of which in the 1st leg against Fram on 19 September 1973 and the second in the return leg on 20 September. He only remained at the club for six months, where Cubillas played a total of 21 games for Basel scoring a total of 8 goals.

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

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 ...

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

took interest in Cubillas. But Basel was not willing to let the footballer go so soon. In December 1973, the Portuguese from Porto announced that they could raise enough money for the transfer, a commercial strategy that would be the last chance for Cubillas. Finally, Basel accepted and Cubillas was able to transfer to Portuguese club FC Porto for a fee of £200,000.

Porto

Cubilla arrived at

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

wearing the number 10 shirt and enjoying his best years as a player. Despite not winning the league, he won the captain's armband, becoming the true idol, top scorer and captain of Porto. He scored 66 goals in 110 games, won the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

and two league runner-up finishes. Cubillas is considered the best foreign player to have played for FC Porto. Nene himself remembers that "He was the highest paid player in the country, even ahead of Eusébio, a legend of Benfica and world football."

Alianza Lima

After his outstanding time in Portugal in 1977, Cubillas returned to Peru to play again for Alianza Lima. Cubillas, along with many other players such as

, César Cueto, José Velásquez and other, formed one of the best Alianza Lima sides in their history. The 1977 Torneo Descentralizado tournament was between Alianza Lima and Melgar, both teams with the only chances of lifting the championship trophy. For Melgar, the objective was to defeat

Sporting Cristal Club Sporting Cristal S.A., shortened to Sporting Cristal, is a Peruvian sports club located in the city of Lima, best known for its association football, soccer team. It was founded on 13 December 1955 in the Rímac District, Rímac district by e ...

and hope that Alianza Lima did not score any points against Universitario. Sporting Cristal came out defeating Melgar and Alianza Lima defeated Universitario at home 4-3 winning the 1977 tournament with Cubillas scoring two of the goals. Cubillas would win the national championship again with Alianza in 1978.

Fort Lauderdale Strikers

In 1979, Cubillas joined the NASL, signing for

, where he spent five seasons, scoring 59 league goals, including three goals in seven minutes against the

Los Angeles Aztecs The Los Angeles Aztecs were an American professional soccer team based in Los Angeles, California, that existed from 1974 to 1981. The Aztecs competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1974 North American Soccer League season, 1974 ...

in 1981. In May 1988 Cubillas returned with the newly resurrected

of the American Soccer League. The Strikers went to the ASL title game where they fell to the

Washington Diplomats The Washington Diplomats were an American soccer club representing Washington, D.C. Throughout their playing existence, the club played their home games at Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium and indoor home matches at the neighboring D.C. A ...

. Following the loss to the Diplomats, the Strikers released Cubillas.

Return to Alianza Lima

Following the December 1987 Alianza Lima air crash Cubillas returned from Miami to play for free for Alianza, who lost most of their players in the crash. He also managed the club for a period in 1988.

Miami Sharks

In March 1989, he signed with the Miami Sharks but was released on 3 July after scoring only one goal in eight games. That same year Cubillas retired at the age of 40. In June 1991 he was playing and coaching at Miramar Illusiones of the Gold Coast Soccer League in Florida.

International career

After standing out notably in local football, he was called up to the Peru national team by head coach

Didi Didi Chuxing Technology Company is a Chinese vehicle for hire company headquartered in Beijing with over 550 million users and tens of millions of drivers. The company provides app-based transportation services, including taxi hailing, private ...

for 1968 for the qualifiers for the

held in Mexico. At just 18 years old, Cubillas made his official debut against

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 ...

in the qualifiers in the last round of qualifiers in 1968. In a match that will be difficult to forget for both Peruvians and Argentines, led by Cubillas, Peru started a heroic draw in 2 to 2 that took them to the World Cup and that eliminated the Argentine national team. Cubillas would score his first goal for Peru on 8 May, 1969 in a friendly against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

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 ...

. Cubillas would play in three

s between 1970 and 1982 along with one Copa América.Teofilo Cubillas: Legends of the Football World Cup
Retrieved on 19 May 2013

1970 World Cup

Cubillas helped the Peru national team advance to the quarter-finals of the

in Mexico. He scored in all of Peru's four matches: once against

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, twice against

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, and once against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, all in the first round. Cubillas then scored another goal in the quarter-final loss against eventual champions

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, and he thus finished as the third highest goal scorer in the tournament. After winning the 1970 World Cup,

who has been Cubillas's idol quoted, ''Don't worry, I already have a successor and it is Teófilo Cubillas''. Cubillas won the FIFA World Cup Young Player Award of the tournament, and was third in the Golden Shoe award.

1975 Copa America

The Peru national team failed qualify for the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

, with Cubillas missing out on the play off match against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. A year later however, Cubillas helped Peru win its second

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 ...

, winning the

. Peru was placed in a group with

and

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

. After eliminating Chile and Bolivia in the first round, the country faced

in the semi-finals. Cubillas scored against Brazil to reach the final against

. The first match was played in

, where Peru lost 1-0. The second match was played in

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 ...

and Peru won 2-0. However, both teams were level on points and had to play in the play-off final. Cubillas played in the play-off match in the final, where partner

scored to make the game 1-0. As a result, Peru won its second continental tournament. Cubillas was the Best Player of that tournament and among his goals is the beautiful goal against Brazil in Peru's historic 3-1 victory over Brazil, played in

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

1978 World Cup

Cubillas played in the

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 ...

in Argentina, with a good start, showing his skill, finishing co-second highest goal scorer after

Mario Kempes Mario Alberto Kempes Chiodi (, ; born 15 July 1954) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker or Attacking Midfielder, attacking midfielder. A prolific g ...

, and helping Peru win first place of its group, advancing to the second round. In the match against

Cubillas scored two goals and then scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in the game against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, including two penalties. The magnificent free kick goal that Cubillas scored against Scotland with the outside edge of his boot, is today in 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 ...

archives as a model of free kick execution and is considered one of the best in history. In that tournament, Peru's midfield made up of José Velásquez, César Cueto and Cubillas was considered by international critics as the best of the first phase of the World Cup. Already in the quarterfinals, the Peruvian team dropped its level and ended up being beaten by

6-0, a result that generated controversy, because for all experts there was no football difference to give that result and this allowed Argentina to qualify for the final. Peru subsequently lost to

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, finishing last with zero points. Cubillas played all six of Peru's matches in the tournament and won the Silver Boot as the tournament's second top scorer and was considered part of the championship's ideal team.

1982 World Cup

Cubillas was also in the Peru national team for

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

. He played in all three group games but did not score any goals. After being eliminated in the first phase, Cubillas would retire from the national team at the age of 33, with a total of 28 goals scored in 81 appearances.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cubillas goal.''

Honours

Porto *

: 1976–77 Alianza Lima *

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

Fort Lauderdale Sun *

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

: 1984, 1985 Peru *

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Individual *

top scorer: 1966, 1970 * FIFA World Cup Best Young Player: 1970 * FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1970 *

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

top scorer:

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

: 1972 *

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

All-Star Team: 1973 * Copa America Best Player: 1975 * FIFA World Cup Silver Boot: 1978 * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978 * Eric Batty's World XI: 1978 * NASL All-Star teams, all-time: 1980, 1981 * NASL Best Midfield: 1981 *

top scorer, all time: 1984 *

France Football ''France Football'' is a French monthly magazine containing football news from all over the world. It is considered to be one of the most reputable sports publications in Europe, mostly because of its photographic reports, in-depth and exclus ...

top 100 1930–1990: 2000 * World Soccer The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time: 2000 *

Placar ''Placar'' (; stylized in all caps) is a monthly Brazilian sports magazine. Its first edition was issued by Editora Abril. on March 20, 1970, and since then it has become the most successful sports publication in Brazil, even though it focuses ...

The 100 Players of the Century: 2000 *

The 100 Players

: 2000 *

: 2004 *

' Best Players of the Century for Peru: 2006 *World – Player of the Century Nº 48: 2006 *South American – Player of the Century Nº 17: 2006 *The Best of The Best – Player of the Century Top 50: 2007 *

All-Star first team 1958–2008: 2008CONMEBOL All-Star first team 1958–2008
Retrieved on 3 January 2009 * Peru national team all-time scoring leader: 2008

References

External links

CubillasInc.com and Nene Cubillas Camp Futbol – Official Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cubillas, Teofilo 1949 births Living people Footballers from Lima FIFA 100 Peru men's international footballers Club Alianza Lima footballers American Soccer League (1988–89) players FC Basel players FC Porto players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994) players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983) players Fort Lauderdale Sun players Miami Freedom players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players United Soccer League (1984–85) players Primeira Liga players Peruvian Primera División players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1975 Copa América players Peruvian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Peruvian expatriate sportspeople in the United States South American Footballer of the Year winners Copa América–winning players Peruvian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Swiss Super League players Peruvian people of African descent Copa Libertadores top scorers 20th-century Peruvian sportsmen