 Fillol as displayed in a 1978 Panini card | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ubaldo Matildo Fillol | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1950-07-21)21 July 1950 (age 74) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | San Miguel del Monte, Buenos Aires,Argentina | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft11+1⁄2 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1965–1971 | Quilmes | 57 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1971–1973 | Racing Club | 59 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1973–1983 | River Plate | 360 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1983–1984 | Argentinos Juniors | 17 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1984–1985 | Flamengo | 34 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1985–1986 | Atlético Madrid | 17 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1986–1989 | Racing Club | 71 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Vélez Sársfield | 42 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Total | 657 | (0) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1974–1985 | Argentina | 58 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Racing Club | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Ubaldo Matildo Fillol ([uˈβaldomaˈtildofiˈʎol]; born 21 July 1950), nicknamedel Pato (in English: "the Duck"), is anArgentine football coach and formergoalkeeper. He took part in the1974,1978 (where he won the championship with his team and was voted Best Goalkeeper) and1982 World Cups representing theArgentina national team. He also played in the South American qualifiers for the1986 World Cup, but he was finally not chosen for the final team that played (and won) in Mexico. He is usually considered to be one of the greatest goalkeepers and is commonly cited among the best Argentine goalkeepers ever.[1][2][3]
Born inSan Miguel del Monte, Fillol took his first steps as goalkeeper in an amateur club of the city, where he spent four years. Former River Plate player and managerRenato Cesarini would be his mentor after seeing him play at the regional league. In 1965 Fillol arrived toQuilmes A.C. to play at club's youth divisions. At the age of 18, Fillol debuted inthe Argentine top division playing for Quilmes vs.Huracán on 1 May 1969. He soon drew public attraction due to his agility and quick reflexes that allowed him to make acrobatic saves.[4][5]
In the1970 Metropolitano championship Fillol stopped the first penalty in his career toGimnasia y Esgrima LP forward Delio Onnis. That same year Quilmes would be relegated toPrimera B, where Fillol played 23 matches with the club. In 1972 Fillol was signed byRacing Club de Avellaneda, debuting in the1972 Metropolitano tournament. In that championship, Fillol set a record of sixpenalties saved, the highest in Argentine football for a single season.[5]
In 1973 Fillol was transferred toRiver Plate, where he would play for most of his career. At River Plate, Fillol won seven titles, including the1975 Metropolitano tournament, the club's first title in 18 years. In 1977 Fillol was awarded thefootballer of the Year of Argentina, being the first goalkeeper ever to receive the distinction.
He was called up for theArgentina national team, where he was part of the roster at the1974 World Cup (the other goalkeepers wereDaniel Carnevali andMiguel Ángel Santoro). Fillol's most notable performance with Argentina was in1978, when Argentina won its first World Cup and Fillol was chosen as the best goalkeeper of the competition.
In 1983, after a conflict with River Plate management (during which he considered retiring) Fillol was transferred toArgentinos Juniors by request of former River coachÁngel Labruna, who was managing Argentinos at the time. Fillol played 17 matches there.[6] In November that year, he moved to Brazil to play forFlamengo. There, he won theTaça Guanabara with the club in 1984.
Fillol's debut in European football was in 1985 when he was transferred toAtlético Madrid at the age of 35. With Fillol as goalkeeper, the club won the1985 Supercopa de España. In 1986 Fillol returned toRacing, where he won the first edition of theSupercopa Sudamericana in1988, which was also the club's first international title since the1967 Intercontinental Cup
The best goalkeeper I've ever seen was Ubaldo Fillol"
At the age of 40, Fillol retired from football ending his career inVélez Sarsfield in the last match of the1990 Apertura championship, a 2-1 win over River Plate at theEstadio Monumental on 22 December 1990.[8][9] Fillol had an outstanding performance, even stopping a penalty from forwardRubén da Silva. Fillol also held the record of 26 penalties stopped, the highest in Argentine football, sharing this record withHugo Gatti.[10]
After his retirement, Fillol served as goalkeeping coach for theArgentine national team until he became the head coach for Racing Club in 2003.[11] After a short tenure as Racing manager, Fillol returned to his role as goalkeeping coach for Argentina, also working at the2006 FIFA World Cup.[5] Nevertheless, Fillol left his charge whenJosé Pekerman resigned as Argentina manager.[12]
Fillol continued his career coaching goalkeepers at River Plate, but he resigned after a match againstSan Lorenzo in whichJuan Pablo Carrizo refused to accept his gesture of support after a mistake that allowed the rival team to score a goal. Fillol alleged he felt "humillated" by Carrizo and showed his desire to continue in the club but only working with youth players, as he had done before.[13] Finally, Fillol would return to River Plate in 2014, serving as director of club's goalkeepers section.[14]
For hisRiver Plate career, he was the counterpart ofHugo Orlando Gatti, another great Argentine goalkeeper who played in the nemesis team,Boca Juniors. Fillol was always the image of professionalism and seriousness; "Madman" Gatti, on the other hand, looked eccentric, unorthodox.
At the 1978 World Cup, Fillol wore the number 5 jersey, instead of 1 which is the standard for goalkeepers. This happened because Argentina, at that time, gave players their numbers alphabetically. The number 1 jersey was worn by offensive midfielderNorberto Alonso. For the same reason, Fillol wore the number 7 jersey at the 1982 tournament while Osvaldo Ardiles (another midfielder) wore the number 1. This practice was last permitted in 1986, when FIFA stated that the number 1 shirt should only be worn by goalkeepers.
River Plate
Flamengo
Atlético Madrid
Racing Club
Argentina
Argentina squads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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