| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Faustino Delgado Olabarrera | ||
| Date of birth | (1921-02-15)15 February 1921 | ||
| Place of birth | Mollendo, Peru | ||
| Date of death | 31 October 2004(2004-10-31) (aged 83) | ||
| Place of death | Peru | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1941–1955 | Sporting Tabaco | ||
| 1956–1963 | Sporting Cristal | ||
| International career | |||
| 1957–1961 | Peru | 3 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Faustino Delgado Olabarrera (15 February 1921 – 31 October 2004) was a Peruvianfootballer who played as aforward forSporting Tabaco and thePeruvian national team between 1945 and 1963. He spent his entire 18-year career at Tabaco (later renamedSporting Cristal), thus being part of theone-club men group.
Born inMollendo on 15 February 1921, Delgado moved toLima to complete his mandatory military service. Whilst in the Peruvian capital, he joined the ranks ofSporting Tabaco in 1945, aged 24, making his official debut for the club on 20 July 1946, in a 6–1 loss toDeportivo Municipal.[1] Delgado scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance, a 1–4 loss toClub Universitario.[1] A few weeks later, he achieved his first official victory for the club after scoring the final goal of an epic 6–5 win over Deportivo Municipal. He thus slowly established himself as an undisputed starter in the club's forward line, which also includedEdgardo Mabama [es] andVicente Villanueva.[1]
Delgado stayed at the club until 1956, when it was renamed asSporting Cristal, scoring a goal in its first-ever match on 24 May 1956, a 2–1friendly win overSport Boys.[1][2] Together withMáximo Mosquera,Antonio Sacco, andCarlos Zunino, he was a member of the Cristal team that won thePeruvian Primera División at the first time of asking (1956), claiming the title on the final matchday againstCarlos Concha, scoring twice in a 4–0 win to finish the season as the league's top scorer with 11 goals.[2][3] On 18 February 1960, he scored againstPelé'sSantos in the club third-ever international match, which ended in a 3–3 draw.[2] The following year, in 1961, Delgado helped Cristal win the championship again, which qualified the club for the1962 Copa Libertadores, in which he helped his team to a 2–1 victory over Argentine clubRacing Club on 20 February, becoming, at the age of 41 years and 5 days, the oldest player in the then short history of the Copa Libertadores.[2] He retired the following year.
On 9 April 1957, just three days after the end of the1957 South American Championship, Delgado made his international debut for Peru in a friendly match againstArgentina, being replaced by Juan Joya in the second half in an eventual 1–4 loss.[1]
Delgado earned his final twocaps for Peru in a two-legged1962 World Cup qualifier againstColombia in April and May 1961, scoring a first-halfpenalty in a 1–1 draw that eliminated Peru from the World Cup.[1] In doing so at the age of 40 years and 81 days, he became the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Peruvian national team, the oldest goalscorer in CONMEBOL, and the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup South American qualifier, three records that he held for over 60 years, until they were finally broken in 2024 and 2025 byPaolo Guerrero.[4][5]
Delgado died on 31 October 2004, at the age of 83.[6]