Faustino Delgado

Faustino Delgado
Personal information
Full name Faustino Delgado Olabarrera
Date of birth (1921-02-15)15 February 1921
Place of birth Mollendo, Peru
Date of death 31 October 2004(2004-10-31) (aged 83)
Place of death Peru
Position(s) Forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1941–1955 Sporting Tabaco
1956–1963 Sporting Cristal
International career
1957–1961 Peru 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Faustino Delgado Olabarrera (15 February 1921 – 31 October 2004) was a Peruvian footballer who played as a forward for Sporting Tabaco and the Peruvian national team between 1945 and 1963. He spent his entire 18-year career at Tabaco (later renamed Sporting Cristal), thus being part of the so-called one-club men group.[1]

Playing career

Club career

Born in Mollendo on 15 February 1921, Delgado moved to Lima to complete his mandatory military service, and whilst in the Peruvian capital, he joined the ranks of Sporting Tabaco in 1945, aged 24, but only made official debut for the club on 20 July 1946, in a 6–1 loss to Deportivo Municipal.[2] He scored his first goal for the club in his second appearance, a 1–4 loss to Club Universitario.[2] A few weeks later, he achieved his first official victory for the club after scoring the final goal of an epic 6–5 win over Deportivo Municipal. He thus slowly established himself as an undisputed starter in the club's forward line, which also included Edgardo Mabama and Vicente Villanueva.[2]

Delgado stayed loyal to the club until 1956, when it was renamed as Sporting Cristal, playing in its first-ever match on 24 May 1956, a friendly match against Sport Boys, and scoring in a 2–1 victory.[2][3] Together with Máximo Mosquera, Antonio Sacco, and Carlos Zunino, he was a member of the Cristal team that won the Peruvian Primera División at the first time of asking (1956), claiming the title on the final matchday against Carlos Concha, in which he scored twice in a 4–0 win, finishing the season as the championship's top scorer iwith 11 goals.[3][4] On 18 February 1960, he scored against Pelé's Santos in the club third-ever international match, which ended in a 3–3 draw.[3] The following year, Delgado was a member of the Cristal team that won the championship again in 1961, which qualified the club for the 1962 Copa Libertadores, in which he helped his team to a 2–1 victory over Argentine club Racing Club on 20 February, becoming, at the age of 41 years and 5 days, the oldest player in the then short history of the Copa Libertadores.[3] He retired the following year, in 1962, aged 42.

International career

On 9 April 1957, just three days after the end of the 1957 South American Championship, Delgado made his international debut for Peru in a friendly match against Argentina, being replaced by Juan Joya in the second half in an eventual 1–4 loss.[2]

Delgado had to wait four years to earn his final two cap for Peru in a two-legged 1962 World Cup qualifier against Colombia in April and May 1961, scoring a first-half penalty in a 1–1 draw that eliminated Peru from the World Cup.[2] In doing so at the age of 40 years and 81 days, he became not only the oldest goalscorer in the history of the Peruvian national team, but also the oldest goalscorer in CONMEBOL and the oldest to ever score in a World Cup South American qualifier, three records that he held for over 60 years, until they were finally broken in 2024 and 2025 by Paolo Guerrero.[5][6]

Death

Delgado died on 31 October 2004, at the age of 83.[1]

Honours

Deportivo Municipal

References

  1. ^ a b "Faustino Delgado: El chino del pueblo" [Faustino Delgado: The Chinese of the people]. dechalaca.com (in Spanish). 23 May 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Faustino Delgado: El 'Tino' rimense" [Faustino Delgado: The 'Tino' from Rimense]. dechalaca.com (in Spanish). 14 August 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d "Historia del Sporting Cristal" [History of Sporting Cristal]. www.gloriosoceleste.com (in Spanish). 3 August 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  4. ^ "Campaña de Sporting Cristal en 1956" [Sporting Cristal campaign in 1956]. www.gloriosoceleste.com (in Spanish). 29 July 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  5. ^ "Guerrero, new oldest national team scorer in South America". IFFHS. 26 October 2024. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
  6. ^ "Guerrero, oldest CONMEBOL scorer in World Cup qualification". IFFHS. 23 March 2025. Retrieved 2 July 2025.
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