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Teófilo Cubillas facts for kids

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal family name is Cubillas and the second or maternal family name is Arizaga.
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Teófilo Cubillas
Teófilo Cubillas (cropped).png
Cubillas with the Peru national football team
Personal information
Full name Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga
Date of birth (1949-03-08) 8 March 1949 (age 75)
Place of birth Lima, Lima Province, Peru
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Youth career
Alianza Lima
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1966–1972 Alianza Lima 175 (117)
1973 Basel 10 (3)
1974–1977 Porto 85 (48)
1977–1978 Alianza Lima 47 (35)
1979–1983 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 139 (65)
1983 Fort Lauderdale Strikers (indoor) 9 (9)
1984 Alianza Lima 4 (4)
1984–1985 South Florida Sun 7 (5)
1987–1988 Alianza Lima 13 (3)
1988 Fort Lauderdale Strikers 12 (7)
1989 Miami Sharks 8 (1)
Total 506 (297)
National team
1968–1982 Peru 81 (28)
Teams managed
1988 Alianza Lima
Honours
Men's football
Representing  Peru
Copa América
Winner 1975
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (Spanish pronunciation: [teˈofilo kuˈβiʎas]; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50. He was renowned for his technique, shooting ability and free kick ability.

Nicknamed El Nene (The Kid), he was part of the Peru national team that won the 1975 Copa América. He helped Peru reach the quarter finals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup and again at the 1978 World Cup and was elected the South American Footballer of the Year in 1972.

In 2004, Pelé selected Cubillas as one of the FIFA 100, 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 and Thomas Müller.

Club career

Nicknamed "Nene" (the kid) for his boyish looks, Cubillas began his career with Alianza Lima at the age of 16 in 1966. Whilst at Alianza he was top scorer in the Peruvian Primera División in 1966 and 1970.

In 1972, he had his most successful season in several years. He was Libertadores Cup top scorer and South American Footballer of the Year.

In the summer of 1973, Cubillas transferred to Swiss football club FC Basel under head coach Helmut Benthaus. 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 domestic league debut for his new 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, which was not long enough for him to show the extent of his talent. In these six months Cubillas played a total of 21 games for Basel scoring a total of eight goals.10 of these games were in the Nationalliga A, two in the Swiss Cup, four in the European Cup, four in the Cup of the Alps and one was a friendly game. He scored three goals in the league, two in the domestic cup, two in the European Cup and the other one was scored in the Cup of the Alps.

Later on, for the second half of the 1973–74 season he joined Portuguese club FC Porto for a fee of £200,000. In 1977, he returned to Alianza Lima.

In 1979, Cubillas joined the NASL, signing for Fort Lauderdale Strikers, where he spent five seasons, scoring 59 league goals, including three goals in seven minutes against the Los Angeles Aztecs in 1981.

Following the December 1987 Alianza Lima air crash Cubillas returned from his Miami home 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.

In May 1988 Cubillas signed with the newly resurrected Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the American Soccer League. The Strikers went to the ASL title game where they fell to the Washington Diplomats. Following the loss to the Diplomats, the Strikers released Cubillas.

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

International career

Cubillas played in three World Cups between 1970 and 1982.

1970 World Cup

Sotil Cubillas Challe 1973
Hugo Sotil, Teófilo Cubillas and Roberto Challe (1973)

Cubillas helped the Peru national team advance to the quarter-finals of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. He scored in all of Peru's four matches: once against Bulgaria, twice against Morocco, and once against West Germany, all in the first round. Cubillas then scored another goal in the quarter-final loss against eventual champions Brazil, and he thus finished as the third highest goal scorer in the tournament.

He won the FIFA World Cup Young Player Award, and was third in the Golden Shoe award.

1975 Copa America

The Peru national team did not qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany, but a year later, Cubillas helped Peru win its second South American title, the Copa América 1975. Cubillas scored against Brazil in the semi-final, and then played in the play-off match in the final.

1978 World Cup

In the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Cubillas scored five goals for Peru, finishing co-second highest goal scorer after Mario Kempes. Peru advanced to the second phase of the tournament thanks to goals from Cubillas: he scored two goals in the opening match against Scotland (one of which was an excellent free-kick), and he then scored a hat-trick in the game against Iran, including two penalties.

However, Peru subsequently lost to Brazil, Poland and Argentina, although Cubillas played in all six Peru matches in the tournament.

1982 World Cup

Cubillas was also in the Peru national team for 1982 FIFA World Cup. He played in all three group games but did not score any goals.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Alianza Lima 1966 Peruvian Primera División 23 19 –
1967 25 9 – –
1968 26 19 – –
1969 11 5 – –
1970 27 22 – –
1971 29 22 – –
1972 29 14 –
Total 170 110 0 0
FC Basel 1973–74 Swiss Super League 10 3 2
Porto 1973–74 Primeira Liga 12 4 3 1 - 15 5
1974–75 30 9 6 4 4 2 40 15
1975–76 29 28 4 4 5 4 38 36
1976–77 14 7 3 2 2 1 19 10
Total 85 48 13 10 10 7 108 65
Alianza Lima 1977 Peruvian Primera División 32 23 – – – 32 23
1978 15 12 – – 10 7 25 19
Total 47 35 0 0 10 7 57 42
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1979 NASL 30 16 — – – — 32 16
1980 34 18 – – – – 34 18
1981 34 19 – – – – 34 19
1982 18 4 – – – – 18 4
1983 23 8 – – – – 23 8
Total 139 65 0 0 0 0 139 65
Alianza Lima 1984 Peruvian Primera División 4 4 – – – – 4 4
South Florida Sun 1984 USL 5 4 – – – 5 4
1985 2 1 – 2 1
Total 7 5 0 0 0 0 7 5
Alianza Lima 1987 Peruvian Primera División 13 3 13 3
Fort Lauderdale Strikers 1988 ASL 12 7 – – – – 12 7
Career total 488 280 15 12 31 22 534 314

International

Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cubillas goal.
List of international goals scored by Teófilo Cubillas
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 8 May 1969 Bogotá, Colombia  Colombia 2–1 3–1 Friendly
2 9 July 1969 Lima, Peru  Paraguay 1–0 2–1 Friendly
3 2–0
4 17 August 1969 Lima, Peru  Bolivia 2–0 3–0 1970 World Cup qualifier
5 7 February 1970 Lima, Peru  Czechoslovakia 2–1 2–1 Friendly
6 9 February 1970 Lima, Peru  Romania 1–1 1–1 Friendly
7 24 February 1970 Lima, Peru  Bulgaria 1–2 5–3 Friendly
8 2 June 1970 León, Mexico  Bulgaria 3–2 3–2 1970 World Cup
9 6 June 1970 León, Mexico  Morocco 1–0 3–0 1970 World Cup
10 3–0
11 10 June 1970 León, Mexico  West Germany 1–3 1–3 1970 World Cup
12 14 June 1970 Guadalajara, Mexico  Brazil 2–3 2–4 1970 World Cup
13 10 February 1971 Lima, Peru  South Korea 3–0 4–0 Friendly
14 4–0
15 5 April 1972 Mexico City, Mexico  Mexico 1–1 1–2 Friendly
16 23 April 1972 Bucharest, Romania  Romania 1–1 2–2 Friendly
17 4 March 1973 Lima, Peru  Guatemala 2–0 5–1 Friendly
18 4–1
19 23 April 1973 Lima, Peru  Panama 3–0 4–0 Friendly
20 20 August 1975 Lima, Peru  Chile 2–0 3–1 Copa America 1975
21 30 September 1975 Belo Horizonte, Brasil  Brazil 2–0 3–1 Copa America 1975
22 17 July 1977 Cali, Colombia  Bolivia 2–0 5–0 1978 World Cup qualifier
23 3–0
24 3 June 1978 Córdoba, Argentina  Scotland 2–1 3–1 1978 World Cup
25 3–1
26 11 June 1978 Córdoba, Argentina  Iran 2–0 4–1 1978 World Cup
27 3–0
28 4–1

Honours

Porto

Alianza Lima

  • Peruvian Primera División: 1977, 1978

Fort Lauderdale Sun

  • United Soccer League: 1984, 1985

Peru

Individual

  • Peruvian Primera División top scorer: 1966, 1970
  • FIFA World Cup Best Young Player: 1970
  • FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1970
  • Copa Libertadores top scorer: 1972
  • South American Footballer of the Year: 1972
  • CONMEBOL All-Star Team: 1973
  • Copa America Best Player: 1975
  • FIFA World Cup Silver Boot: 1978
  • FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978
  • NASL All-Star teams, all-time: 1980, 1981
  • NASL Best Midfield: 1981
  • Fort Lauderdale Strikers top scorer, all time: 1984
  • France Football: World Cup top 100 1930–1990: 2000
  • World Soccer The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time: 2000
  • Placar The 100 Players of the Century: 2000
  • Placar The 100 Players FIFA World Cup: 2000
  • FIFA 100: 2004
  • IFFHS' 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
  • CONMEBOL All-Star first team 1958–2008: 2008
  • Peru national team all-time scoring leader: 2008

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Teófilo Cubillas para niños

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