Teófilo Cubillas

Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga (Spanish pronunciation: [teˈofilo kuˈβiʎas]; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50.[1] He was renowned for his technique, shooting ability and free kick ability.[2] He was considered one of the best players in the world of the 1970s and the best in his position of the decade only behind the Dutch Johan Cruyff.[3][4] Among his main achievements are the FIFA awards for the best young player and the bronze boot in Mexico 1970, as well as the silver boot and member of the ideal team of Argentina 1978, he was also champion and best player of the 1975 Copa América. He is regarded one of the best attacking midfielders in the history of football.[5]

Teófilo Cubillas

Cubillas in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga
Date of birth	(1949-03-08) 8 March 1949
Place of birth	Lima, Peru
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Youth career
	Alianza Lima
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1966–1972	Alianza Lima	175	(117)
1973	Basel	10	(3)
1974–1977	Porto	85	(48)
1977–1978	Alianza Lima	47	(35)
1979–1983	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	139	(65)
1983	Fort Lauderdale Strikers (indoor)	9	(9)
1984	Alianza Lima	4	(4)
1984–1985	South Florida Sun	7	(5)
1987–1988	Alianza Lima	13	(3)
1988	Fort Lauderdale Strikers	12	(7)
1989	Miami Sharks	8	(1)
Total		506	(297)
National team
1968–1982	Peru	81	(26)
Teams managed
1988	Alianza Lima
Honours Men’s football Representing  Peru Copa América Winner 1975
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Nicknamed El Nene (The Kid), he was part of the Peru national football team that won the 1975 Copa América.[6] He helped Peru reach the quarter finals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup[7] and again at the 1978 World Cup[8] and was elected the South American Footballer of the Year in 1972. He was characterized as an attacking midfielder gifted with exquisite technique, power, change of pace, dribbling ability and great goalscoring ability. His medium and long-range free kicks were famous for the precision with which he executed them. On the field of play, he also stood out for his sportsmanship: he was never sent off.

He is the midfielder most goalscorer (10 goals) and with the best goal average (0.77) in the history of the Soccer World Cup, one of the 4 top free kick scorers in the history of the Soccer World Cup together with Pelé, Beckham and Rivelino, he was a five-time candidate for "best South American footballer of the year" in 1971,[9] 1972 -winner-,[10] 1975,[11] 1977,[12] and 1978[13]). And together with Batistuta he is the 3rd highest Latin American scorer in World Cup history, after Ronaldo and Pelé.[14]

At the club level, he is the second highest historical scorer for Club Alianza Lima (167 goals). He is also the top scorer for the "Blue and White" club in the history of the Copa Libertadores, the fourth top foreign scorer in the history of FC Porto (66 goals), the top scorer in the history of Fort Lauderdale Strikers (65 goals) and the eighth all-time top scorer in the Peruvian League (167 goals). He was the top scorer in the Copa Libertadores in 1972, scoring 6 goals and is the Peruvian soccer player with the best average goal score in European competitions, scoring 72 goals in 122 games, achieving a average of 0.59 goals per game, and the one that scored the most goals in a season European, scoring 36 goals in 39 games in the season 1975-76 with the FC Porto. He is also the highest-scoring midfielder in the history of FC Porto.

Worldwide, the IFFHS, in 2008, awarded Cubillas 268 goals in 469 official matches in First Division Tournaments, placing him as the seventh midfielder highest scorer of the history of football, surpassing other greats in the world such as Platini (207), Roberto Baggio (205), Gullit (175), Rivaldo (229), Zidane (95) and Maradona (259), in addition to being the second South American midfielder with the most goals in history, only behind Zico. During his long career there are 615 games and 338 goals.

He was chosen by FIFA as the 2nd "Best Young Player" in the history of the World Cup, beating cracks of the stature of Beckenbauer, Flórián Albert, Owen and Enzo Scifo, as well as one of the 100 best players in the history of the World Cup by the same institution in 2018.[15] At the continental level, it was included in the historical ideal eleven of the Copa América according to the official site of the continental competition in 2015.[16]

Cubillas has been awarded South American Footballer of the Year in 1972 - beating Pelé in the votes and is a member of the Maracanã Stadium hall of fame. In 2004 he was named in the list of the 50 Best Players of the 20th Century and one of the best South American footballers 20th century by the IFFHS - that same year he was named to the FIFA 100 list compiled by Pelé. In 2008, the Sports Illustrated magazine included him in the ideal eleven of the last 50 years of South American football along with Pelé, Maradona, Garrincha and others continental soccer legends. In 2019 he was included by the prestigious British magazine FourFourTwo among the 100 best footballers in the history of football, ranking 66. He is also one of the 50 player most voted as Best footballer of the century [17]in all the historical rankings that were made at the end of the 20th century.