Roberto Meléndez

Roberto Meléndez Lara, nicknamed El Flaco, (born in Barranquilla, 31 March 1912 - died 20 May 2000) was a Colombian football player and coach who played in the 1930s and 1940s, in the amateur era of the sport.

Roberto Meléndez

Personal information
Full name	Roberto Meléndez Lara
Date of birth	(1912-03-31)31 March 1912
Place of birth	Barranquilla, Colombia
Date of death	20 May 2000(2000-05-20) (aged 88)
Place of death	Barranquilla, Colombia
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1930–1939	Junior
1939	Centro Gallego
1940–1947	Junior
National team
1937–1947	Colombia
Teams managed
1945	Colombia
1948	Junior
Honours Representing  Colombia Men's Football Central American and Caribbean Games 1938 Panama Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

As a player, Melendez played primarily as a forward. He was a player for Barranquilla Juventud Junior who, in large part due to his efforts, became the most powerful amateur club in Colombia during that period. He was the first Colombian player to play for a foreign team in 1939 when was hired by the team 'Hispano Centro Gallego' in Cuba. When playing, he was considered the best Colombian footballer of his era.[1]

Meléndez was also head coach of the Colombian national team and coached them to a fifth-place finish in the Copa América 1945 and in 1947 to an 8th-place finish.[2] He was also head coach of Atletico Junior in the early 1940s, who were runners-up in the first championship league football in 1948.[3] Meléndez died on 20 May 2000.[4]

The Barranquilla main metropolitan stadium Estadio Metropolitano Roberto Meléndez was officially renamed after Meléndez, on the initiative of journalist Chelo de Castro on 17 March 1991.[5]