Francisco Varallo

Early years

Varallo was born in Los Hornos, a district of La Plata Partido in Buenos Aires Province, on 5 February 1910. He made his debut aged 14, and early in his career gained the nickname cañoncito (in English: "little cannon") for his shooting ability. Aged 18, Varallo had a trial with Estudiantes de La Plata, scoring eleven goals in three games for the club. However, the board of the club where Varallo was a youth team player were supporters of Estudiantes' town rivals Gimnasia y Esgrima, and therefore denied him the opportunity to join Estudiantes. Varallo ultimately joined Gimnasia, making his debut for the club's reserve side, before making his debut for the first team in 1929. During his first season with Gimnasia, Varallo won the Primera División championship with the club after beating Boca Juniors by 2–1 in the final. In 1930, the forward was loaned for free by Gimnasia to Vélez Sársfield to play for the team during their Pan-American tour. He totaled 17 goals during the tour.

Boca Juniors

Varallo moved to Boca Juniors for the start of the 1931 season (the first professional season in Argentina) for a fee of approximately $8000. He continued to play for the club for the next nine years during which time he won the Primera División title three times, in 1931, 1934 and 1935, as well as coming runner up in 1933, when he was the top goalscorer in the league and of South America scoring 34 goals. In his nine years at Boca Juniors he became the…

Varallo represented Argentina at the inaugural World Cup in 1930, held in Uruguay, where he was the youngest player at age 20. He played in all three of the team's group games; scoring one goal in the match against Mexico, but missed the semi-final against the United States due to injury. However, he was fit to play in the World Cup final against Uruguay and started at inside right forward. Argentina were leading 2–1 at half time, but eventually lost to the hosts 4–2. Varallo was also a member of the Argentine team that won the South American Championship in 1937. He scored three goals during the tournament, including a brace in the 2–1 win over Chile.

International goals

Argentina's goal tally first

Club

Gimnasia y Esgrima (LP) Primera División (1): 1929 Boca Juniors Primera División (3): 1931, 1934, 1935

International

Argentina Copa América (1): 1937 FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1930

Individual

Primera División top scorer (1): 1933 Golden Foot (1): 2010, as a football legend

Records

Boca Juniors 3rd. highest all-time goalscorer: 194 goals Argentine Primera División 4th. all-time topscorer (236 goals) FIFA Order of Merit 1994 CONMEBOL Order of Merit 2006 The last surviving player from the 1930 World Cup