Ángel Labruna
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. He is tied with Arsenio Erico
Arsenio Erico
Arsenio Pastor Erico was a Paraguayan football forward. He is the all-time highest goalscorer in the Argentine first division...
as the all-time highest goalscorers
Primera División Argentina topscorers
This is a list of Argentine Primera División top scorers, that enumerates all players that have finished a season as top goalscorers in the top level of the Argentine football league system. These statistics only include seasons from the professional era of Argentine football...
in the Argentine first division
Primera División Argentina
The Primera División is a professional football league in Argentina. It is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the Argentine football league system. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera B Nacional. The season runs...
. Labruna was also part of the celebrated River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
striker, nicknamed "La Máquina" (The Machine), and he was considered one of the best South-American footballers of all time.
Playing career
He started in River PlateClub Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
on June 18, 1939 and played there for 20 years in the top league in his country. Won nine championships in the Argentina Tournament (1941, 1942, 1945, 1947, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1957) having the distinction of being top scorer twice (1943 with 23 goals and 1945 with 25).
He was part of his club's legendary team along with: Juan Carlos Muñoz
Juan Carlos Muñoz
Juan Carlos Muñoz was a footballer from Argentina who played right wing for River Plate, from 1939 to 1950, playing 184 games and scoring 39 goals. He started playing professionally for Sportivo Dock Sud in 1938. and he was sold in June 1939 to River Plate...
, José Manuel Moreno
José Manuel Moreno
José Manuel Moreno Fernández , nicknamed "El Charro", was an Argentine football inside forward who played for several clubs in Argentina, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia, and was the first footballer ever to have won top division league titles in four different countries .Moreno...
, Adolfo Pedernera
Adolfo Pedernera
Adolfo Alfredo Pedernera , born in Avellaneda, Argentina, was a football player and coach. Nicknamed "El Maestro" , He is still considered by many to be one of the greatest Argentine players of all-time. He was elected the 12th best South american footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the...
, and Félix Loustau
Félix Loustau
Félix Loustau is a former Argentine footballer who was a key player on the River Plate squad known as La Máquina. La Maquina is considered to be one of the greatest team ever assembled in the history of South American football...
, where he played as inner-left forward.
Labruna holds a number of records for River Plate, including his record of 16 goals in the superclásico derby with fierce rivals Boca Juniors
Boca Juniors
Club Atlético Boca Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primera División....
.
In 1959, Labruna left River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate
Club Atlético River Plate is an Argentine sports club based in the Nuñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its professional football team, which currently competes in Nacional B, the second tier of Argentine football....
having defended their colors in 515 matches, scoring 293 goals making him the all-time highest goalscorer
Primera División Argentina topscorers
This is a list of Argentine Primera División top scorers, that enumerates all players that have finished a season as top goalscorers in the top level of the Argentine football league system. These statistics only include seasons from the professional era of Argentine football...
in the Argentine first division
Primera División Argentina
The Primera División is a professional football league in Argentina. It is the country's premier football division and is at the top of the Argentine football league system. Contested by twenty clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Primera B Nacional. The season runs...
along with Arsenio Erico
Arsenio Erico
Arsenio Pastor Erico was a Paraguayan football forward. He is the all-time highest goalscorer in the Argentine first division...
. He later played two seasons in the Chilean Rangers
Club Social de Deportes Rangers de Talca
Club Social de Deportes Rangers, is a Chilean football club based in the city of Talca. The club was founded November 2, 1902 and plays in the Second division of the Chilean football league...
, and Uruguay's Rampla Juniors
Rampla Juniors
Rampla Juniors Fútbol Club, usually known simply as Rampla Juniors is an Uruguayan football club based in Montevideo.-Origin and colours:...
in Montevideo and Platense
Club Atlético Platense
Club Atlético Platense is an Argentine sports club based in Vicente López, in the north side of Greater Buenos Aires. The club nickname is Calamar after the journalist Palacio Zino said that the team moved "like a squid in its ink"....
in Argentina, to retire when he was 43 years old.
Labruna played 37 matches for the Argentina National Team
Argentina national football team
The Argentina national football team represents Argentina in association football and is controlled by the Argentine Football Association , the governing body for football in Argentina. Argentina's home stadium is Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti and their head coach is Alejandro...
(scoring 17 goals). Won one Copa América
Copa América
The Copa América —previously known as South American Championship—is an international football competition contested between the men's national teams of CONMEBOL, the sport's continental governing body...
(1955) and as a 40-year old he played in the final phase of World Cup
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...
in 1958 in Sweden
1958 FIFA World Cup
The 1958 FIFA World Cup, the sixth staging of the World Cup, was hosted by Sweden from 8 June to 29 June. The tournament was won by Brazil, who beat Sweden 5–2 in the final for their first title. To date, this marks the only occasion that a World Cup staged in Europe was not won by a European...
.
Same as other greats of his generation he could not participate in other World Cups due to the event's suspension during World War II and later for his country's decision of not competing in the cups in Brazil
1950 FIFA World Cup
The 1950 FIFA World Cup, held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July, was the fourth FIFA World Cup. It was the first World Cup since 1938, the planned 1942 and 1946 competitions having been canceled owing to World War II...
and Switzerland
1954 FIFA World Cup
The 1954 FIFA World Cup, the fifth staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerland was chosen as hosts in July 1946. The tournament set a number of all-time records for goal-scoring, including the highest average goals scored per game...
.
Coaching career
Defensores de Belgrano
Defensores de Belgrano is a sports club from the Nuñez neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina. the football team currently plays in Primera B Metropolitana, the regionalised third division of the Argentine Football Association....
, Platense
Club Atlético Platense
Club Atlético Platense is an Argentine sports club based in Vicente López, in the north side of Greater Buenos Aires. The club nickname is Calamar after the journalist Palacio Zino said that the team moved "like a squid in its ink"....
, Rosario Central
Rosario Central
Club Atlético Rosario Central is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina. Its football team currently plays in the Primera B Nacional, the second tier of the Argentine football league system, after being relegated in the 2009-10 season....
(where he won his first National Championship, in 1971), Talleres de Córdoba
Talleres de Córdoba
Club Atlético Talleres is a sports club from the city of Córdoba, Argentina, mostly known for its professional football team, which currently plays in the regionalised third division, the Torneo Argentino A...
, Racing Club
Racing Club de Avellaneda
Racing Club is an Argentine professional football club from Avellaneda, a suburb of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered one of the "big five" clubs of Argentine football...
, Lanús
Club Atlético Lanús
Club Atlético Lanús is a sports club from Lanús, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. Founded on 3 January 1915, the club's main sports are football and basketball. In both sports, Lanús plays in Argentina's top divisions: Primera División and Liga Nacional de Básquet...
, Chacarita Juniors
Chacarita Juniors
Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors is an Argentine sports club from Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido in Greater Buenos Aires, which football squad is currently playing in the Primera B Nacional, the second division of the Argentine football league system.The club was founded on May 1, 1906, in...
and Argentinos Juniors
Argentinos Juniors
Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine football club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. Founded on August 15, 1904, the club was originally called the “Martyrs of Chicago”, in homage to the eight anarchists imprisoned or hanged after the 1886 Haymarket Riot in Chicago.-Early...
.
Labruna's period in charge of River Plate brought the club much domestic success, a side endowed with players such as Daniel Passarella
Daniel Passarella
Daniel Alberto Passarella is a former Argentine football centre back and former manager of the Argentine and Uruguayan national football teams. He was captain of the Argentina team that won the 1978 World Cup...
, Norberto Alonso
Norberto Alonso
Norberto Osvaldo Alonso , known colloquially as "Beto" Alonso, is a former Argentine football midfielder, who played the majority of his career for the Argentine club River Plate. He remains one of their most iconic players...
and Leopoldo Luque
Leopoldo Luque
Leopoldo Jacinto Luque is a former Argentine football striker.In a career spanning he played for Unión de Santa Fe, Rosario Central, River Plate, Racing Club de Avellaneda and Chacarita Juniors...
.
He is buried at La Chacarita Cemetery
La Chacarita Cemetery
Cementerio de la Chacarita in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is known as the National Cemetery and is the largest in Argentina.-Location:The cemetery is in the barrio or district of Chacarita, in the northern part of Buenos Aires...
in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
.
Every September 28, River Plate's fans celebrate the "International River Plate's fans Day" as a tribute to one of the club's greatest idols.