Hugo Sánchez

Pumas UNAM

As a teenager, Sánchez played for the Mexico national football team at the 1976 Summer Olympics. Having already played in over 80 international matches, Sánchez signed as a youth player at the age of 18 for Pumas UNAM, a professional team representing Mexico's national university, where he completed a degree in Dentistry while playing for the first team. Later that year, Pumas UNAM managed to win its first championship in the Primera División. Two years later, he became the league's top-scorer with 26 goals. In 1979, Pumas UNAM agreed to exchange players during the off-season with the San Diego Sockers of the North American Soccer League (NASL). He played in the NASL during the summer and in the Mexican league during the fall, winter and spring. Pumas UNAM loaned Sánchez to the Sockers in 1979 and 1980 where he became a prolific striker for the Sockers, averaging nearly a goal a game. Sánchez's five seasons with Pumas UNAM were during the team's golden years. In 1980–81, his last season with the club, Sánchez and Pumas UNAM won its second league championship, a CONCACAF Champions Cup and a Copa Interamericana. During his five years with Pumas UNAM, Sánchez scored 104 goals in 200 appearances. With Hugo's exemplary performances in the Toulon Tournament and 1975 Cannes Youth Tournament, he earned his nickname Niño de Oro (Golden Boy).

Atlético Madrid

After five successful seasons in Mexico, Sánchez drew the attention of several European sides,…

Sánchez made 58 appearances for Mexico between 1977 and 1994, scoring 29 goals. Prior to representing the senior side, as a teenager he represented Mexico at the 1975 Pan American Games on home soil, where he won a gold medal, and at the 1976 Summer Olympics. He participated in three FIFA World Cup tournaments, making eight World Cup appearances in total, and scoring once. Also, with Chilean Elías Figueroa holds the unique distinction of playing in three alternate tournaments 1978-1986-1994. He helped Mexico win the 1977 CONCACAF Championship to seal qualification for the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina; at the age of 19, he took part in the final tournament, where Mexico lost all three of their group games and suffered a first round elimination. After Mexico failed to qualify for the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain, Sánchez was a part of the Mexico team that reached the quarter-finals of the 1986 World Cup on home soil, losing out to eventual runners-up West Germany in a penalty shootout. He scored his only World Cup goal during his nation's opening match of the tournament on 3 June, the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over Belgium, although he also missed a penalty in Mexico's second group match against Paraguay, and was later booked, causing him to miss the final group match. Four years later, however, Mexico once again missed out on the final tournament as they were suspended from the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. Despite his advancing age, he later played a key role in…

Club

In March 2000, Sánchez became manager of Pumas UNAM, who were struggling in the league, signing a two-year deal. Although the team went on to have a good campaign under his leadership, differences between the club president and Sánchez resulted in his sacking in August of that year. After Jimenez Espriu resigned as the club president a year later, the new president, Luis Regueiro, appointed Sánchez as head coach in November 2001. After building his team up for a number of years, by 2004 Sánchez' Pumas had won everything they played in: Clausura 2004, Apertura 2004, Champion of Champions 2004 and the Santiago Bernabéu Trophy. He also became the only manager in history to lead a Mexican team to two consecutive championships in the Mexican Primera División in the "short tournament" format. The success, however, was short lived. Pumas became the worst team of the tournament the following season and in Winter 2005 were having the worst year in its history. Sánchez decided to resign in November 2005. Club Necaxa, another Mexican team, signed him as a head coach in 2006, and he also became the coach of the Mexico national team that year following their participation at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He became coach of La Liga's Almería in early 2009, but after accomplishing the goal of avoiding relegation from La Liga, and despite on 2 June 2009 the Almeria chairman Alfonso García announcing the renewal of his contract, he was released on 20 December 2009.

Mexico…

Sánchez, nicknamed Hugol and Pentapichichi, played primarily as a centre-forward . He was known for his movement, positioning, and finishing in the penalty area, and scored the majority of his goals from close range with relatively few touches of the ball. Due to his athleticism, Sánchez was good in the air, despite his diminutive stature, and was also known for his ability to score acrobatic and flamboyant goals from spectacular strikes and volleys from any position on the pitch, both inside or outside the area; his mastery of the "Chilena", or "Bicycle kick", was a result of his own early training in gymnastics, and his goals scored in this manner were later dubbed Huguinas. His trademark was to perform a celebratory somersault followed by a fist pump after each goal he scored, in honour of his sister, who was a gymnast and participated in the Montreal Olympics. Sánchez is considered to be the first noted exponent of the backflip. According to his FIFA profile, Sánchez is credited as the creator of the scorpion kick, which was later popularised by Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita. Though he regularly practised the trick in training, the Mexican striker never scored a goal with it in an official match. An accurate penalty taker, Sánchez held the record for most penalties scored in La Liga with 56, until Cristiano Ronaldo broke the record in 2017 after scoring his 57th penalty-kick.