Teófilo Cubillas

Early career

Nicknamed "Nene" (the kid) for his boyish looks, Cubillas began his career with Alianza Lima at the age of 16 in 1966. While at Alianza, he was top scorer in the Peruvian Primera División in 1966 and 1970. Cubillas won the youth tournaments of 1965 and 1966. He made his debut at the age of 17 in the Peruvian 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 over Independiente of Argentina. Directors of Deportivo Municipal and Alianza Lima formed a team in 1971 to play a series of friendly matches with the aim of bringing together Teófilo Cubillas with Hugo Sotil, another great star of the time, known as the Golden Pair, which left historic scorelines such as the victory over Benfica and the 4-1 thrashing of Bayern Munich. In 1972, Cubillas had one of his most successful season in several years. He was the 1972 Copa Libertadores top scorer and elected South American Footballer of the Year.

Basel

In the summer of 1973, Cubillas transferred to Swiss football club FC Basel under head coach Helmut Benthaus. The Basler entrepreneur and transport company owner Ruedi Reisdorfer paid the transfer fee of £97,000. After playing in four Cup of the Alps games, Cubillas played his Swiss league debut for the club on 18 August in the away game against Chênois. He scored his first…

After standing out notably in local football, he was called up to the Peru national team by head coach Didi for 1968 for the qualifiers for the 1970 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. At just 18 years old, Cubillas made his official debut against Argentina in the qualifiers in the last round of qualifiers in 1968. 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 against Colombia in Bogotá. Cubillas would play in three World Cups between 1970 and 1982 along with one Copa América.

1970 World Cup

Cubillas helped the Peru national team advance to the quarter-finals of the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. He scored in all of Peru's four matches: once against Bulgaria, twice against Morocco, and once against West Germany, all in the first round. Cubillas then scored another goal in the quarter-final loss against eventual champions Brazil, and he thus finished as the third highest goal scorer in the tournament. 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 the FIFA World Cup Young Player Award of the tournament, and was third in the Golden Shoe award.

1975 Copa America

The Peru national team failed qualify for the 1974…

Club

International

Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cubillas goal.

Basel

Swiss Super League: 1972-73 Porto

Taça de Portugal: 1976–77 Primeira Liga runner-up: 1974-75 Alianza Lima

Peruvian Primera División: 1977, 1978 Fort Lauderdale Sun

United Soccer League: 1984, 1985 Peru

Copa América: 1975 Individual

Peruvian Primera División top scorer: 1966, 1970 FIFA World Cup Best Young Player: 1970 FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1970 Copa Libertadores top scorer: 1972 South American Footballer of the Year: 1972 CONMEBOL All-Star Team: 1973 Copa America Best Player: 1975 FIFA World Cup Silver Boot: 1978 FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978 Eric Batty's World XI: 1978 NASL All-Star teams, all-time: 1980, 1981 NASL Best Midfield: 1981 Fort Lauderdale Strikers top scorer, all time: 1984 France Football: World Cup top 100 1930–1990: 2000 World Soccer The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time: 2000 Placar The 100 Players of the Century: 2000 Placar The 100 Players FIFA World Cup: 2000 FIFA 100: 2004 IFFHS' Best Players of the Century for Peru: 2006 World – Player of the Century Nº 48: 2006 South American – Player of the Century Nº 17: 2006 The Best of The Best – Player of the Century Top 50: 2007 CONMEBOL All-Star first team 1958–2008: 2008 3rd top scorer of the Peruvian national team: 26 goals