 Cubillas with thePeru national football team | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1949-03-08)8 March 1949 (age 76) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Lima,Lima Province, Peru | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| 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) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1968–1982 | Peru | 81 | (28) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1988 | Alianza Lima | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (Spanish pronunciation:[teˈofilokuˈβiʎas]; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian formerfootballer who played as anattacking midfielder. He is considered Peru's greatest ever player and one of the best in the history of South America. In anIFFHS 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.[1] At the1970 FIFA World Cup,Pelé acknowledged Cubillas, referring to him as his successor.[2] Cubillas was renowned for his technique, shooting ability and free kick ability.[3]
Beginning atAlianza Lima, he was nicknamedEl Nene(The Kid), and was part of thePeru national team that won the1975 Copa América.[4] He helped Peru reach the quarter finals at the1970 FIFA World Cup[5] and again at the1978 World Cup,[6] along with qualifying for the1982 World Cup. He was elected theSouth American Footballer of the Year in 1972. At a club level, he is the second all time highest goalscorer of Alianza Lima with 165 and the top goalscorer of theFort Lauderdale Strikers 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 theFIFA World Cup with 10 goals in 13 matches.
In 2004,Pelé selected Cubillas as one of theFIFA 100, a list of 125 footballing greats.[7] In February 2008, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Brazilian World Cup victory, he was selected in theAll-Star First Team of South America of the past 50 years.[8] Cubillas is one of only three players to score five or more goals in two different World Cups, the other two beingMiroslav Klose andThomas Müller.[9] His free-kick againstScotland in 1978 is renowned as one of the best goals scored at theWorld Cup.
Nicknamed "Nene" (the kid) for his boyish looks, Cubillas began his career withAlianza Lima at the age of 16 in 1966.[10] While at Alianza, he was top scorer in thePeruvian Primera División in 1966 and 1970.[11]
Cubillas won the youth tournaments of 1965 and 1966. He made his debut at the age of 17 in thePeruvian Primera División 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 overIndependiente of Argentina.
Directors ofDeportivo Municipal andAlianza Lima formed a team in 1971 to play a series of friendly matches with the aim of bringing together Teófilo Cubillas withHugo Sotil, another great star of the time, known as the Golden Pair, which left historic scorelines such as the victory overBenfica and the 4-1 thrashing ofBayern Munich.
In 1972, Cubillas had his one of his most successful season in several years. He was the1972 Copa Libertadores top scorer and electedSouth American Footballer of the Year.[12]
In the summer of 1973, Cubillas transferred toSwiss football clubFC Basel under head coachHelmut Benthaus. The Basler entrepreneur and transport company owner Ruedi Reisdorfer paid the transfer fee of £97,000.[13][14] After playing in fourCup of the Alps games, Cubillas played his Swiss league debut for the club on 18 August in the away game againstChênois. He scored his first goal for the club in the same game as Basel won 1–0.[15] Cubillas scored two goals for Basel in the1973–74 European Cup, the first of which in the 1st leg againstFram on 19 September 1973 and the second in the return leg on 20 September.[16] 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.[17]
FC Porto,Sporting CP,FC Barcelona,AC Milan andReal Madrid 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.[14]
Cubilla arrived atPorto 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 theTaça de Portugal 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."
After his outstanding time in Portugal in 1977, Cubillas returned to Peru to play again for Alianza Lima.[17] Cubillas, along with many other players such asHugo Sotil,César Cueto,José Velásquez and other, formed one of the best Alianza Lima sides in their history.
The1977 Torneo Descentralizado tournament was between Alianza Lima andMelgar, both teams with the only chances of lifting the championship trophy. For Melgar, the objective was to defeatSporting Cristal and hope that Alianza Lima did not score any points againstUniversitario. 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.
In 1979, Cubillas joined theNASL, signing forFort Lauderdale Strikers, where he spent five seasons, scoring 59 league goals, including three goals in seven minutes against theLos Angeles Aztecs in 1981.[18]
In May 1988 Cubillas returned with the newly resurrectedFort Lauderdale Strikers of theAmerican Soccer League.[19] The Strikers went to the ASL title game where they fell to theWashington Diplomats.[20] Following the loss to the Diplomats, the Strikers released Cubillas.[21]
Following theDecember 1987 Alianza Lima air crash Cubillas returned from Miami to play for free forAlianza, who lost most of their players in the crash.[22] He also managed the club for a period in 1988.[23]
In March 1989, he signed with theMiami Sharks but was released on 3 July after scoring only one goal in eight games.[24] 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.[25]
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After standing out notably in local football, he was called up to thePeru national team by head coachDidi for 1968 for the qualifiers for the1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. At just 18 years old, Cubillas made his official debut againstArgentina in the qualifiers in the last round of qualifiers in 1968.[26] 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 againstColombia inBogotá. Cubillas would play in threeWorld Cups between 1970 and 1982 along with one Copa América.[27]
Cubillas helped thePeru national team advance to the quarter-finals of the1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. He scored in all of Peru's four matches: once againstBulgaria, twice againstMorocco, and once againstWest Germany, all in the first round. Cubillas then scored another goal in the quarter-final loss against eventual championsBrazil, and he thus finished as the third highest goal scorer in the tournament.[5]
After winning the 1970 World Cup,Pelé who has been Cubillas's idol quoted, ''Don't worry, I already have a successor and it is Teófilo Cubillas''. Cubillas won theFIFA World Cup Young Player Award of the tournament, and was third in the Golden Shoe award.[28]
The Peru national team failed qualify for the1974 FIFA World Cup inWest Germany, with Cubillas missing out on the play off match againstChile. A year later however, Cubillas helped Peru win its secondCopa América, winning the1975 Copa América. Peru was placed in a group withChile andBolivia. After eliminating Chile and Bolivia in the first round, the country facedBrazil in the semi-finals. Cubillas scored against Brazil to reach the final againstColombia. The first match was played inBogotá, where Peru lost 1-0. The second match was played inLima 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 partnerHugo Sotil scored to make the game 1-0.[4] 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 inBelo Horizonte.
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Cubillas played in the1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, with a good start, showing his skill, finishing co-second highest goal scorer afterMario Kempes, and helping Peru win first place of its group, advancing to the second round. In the match againstScotland Cubillas scored two goals[29] and then scored ahat-trick in the game againstIran, including two penalties.[6] The magnificent free kick goal that Cubillas scored against Scotland with the outside edge of his boot, is today in theFIFA 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 ofJosé 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 byArgentina 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 toBrazil andPoland, 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.
Cubillas was also in the Peru national team for1982 FIFA World Cup. He played in all three group games but did not score any goals.[27] 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.
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Alianza Lima | 1966 | Peruvian Primera División[30] | 23 | 19[11] | – | |||||
| 1967 | 25 | 9 | – | – | ||||||
| 1968 | 26 | 19 | – | – | ||||||
| 1969 | 11 | 5 | – | – | ||||||
| 1970 | 27 | 22[11] | – | – | ||||||
| 1971 | 29 | 22 | – | – | ||||||
| 1972 | 29 | 14 | – | |||||||
| Total | 170 | 110 | 0 | 0 | ||||||
| FC Basel | 1973 | Swiss Super League[30] | 10 | 3 | 2[31] | |||||
| Porto | 1973–74 | Primeira Liga[30] | 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[30] | 32 | 23 | – | – | – | 32 | 23 | |
| 1978 | 15 | 12 | – | – | 10 | 7 | 25 | 19 | ||
| Total | 47 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 7 | 57 | 42 | ||
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers[32] | 1979 | NASL[a] | 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[33] | 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[34] | ASL | 12 | 7 | – | – | – | – | 12 | 7 |
| Career total | 488 | 280 | 15 | 12 | 31 | 22 | 534 | 314 | ||
| 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 |
Basel
Porto
Alianza Lima
Fort Lauderdale Sun
Peru
Individual
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