Juan Carlos Cárdenas

Juan Carlos Cárdenas

Cárdenas with the Intercontinental Cup trophy, 1967
Personal information
Date of birth	(1945-07-25)25 July 1945
Place of birth	Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Date of death	30 March 2022(2022-03-30) (aged 76)
Place of death	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Unión de Santiago del Estero
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1960–1962	Unión (SdE)
1963	Nueva Chicago
1964–1972	Racing Club	287	(81)
1972–1975	Puebla
1975–1976	Veracruz
1976	Racing Club	(see above)
International career
1967–1976	Argentina	5	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Juan Carlos Cárdenas (25 July 1945 – 30 March 2022) was an Argentine football player and coach. He played for a number of clubs in Argentina and Mexico as well as playing for the Argentina national team. He was known by the nickname "El Chango" which was a common name for people from the north of Argentina.

Club career

Cárdenas was spotted in 1962 by Racing Club de Avellaneda playing as a teenager for Unión de Santiago del Estero. He spent one year in the Argentine 2nd Division with Nueva Chicago before joining Racing Club in 1964. He was part of the championship winning team of 1966. In 1967, he helped the club to win the Copa Libertadores and later that year he scored the decisive goal against Celtic in the Copa Intercontinental to make Racing Club the first Argentine club to become club champions of the world.

In 1972 Cárdenas moved to Mexico where he played for Camoteros de Puebla and Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz returning to Racing Club in 1976.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player Cárdenas became the manager of several lower league teams in Argentina, including All Boys, Deportivo Armenio and General Lamadrid (being champion in this last one in 1977).

Honours

Racing Club

• Copa Intercontinental: 1967
• Copa Libertadores: 1967
• Primera División Argentina: 1966

External links

• (in Spanish) Fútbol Factory profile at the Wayback Machine (archived January 24, 2008)