Juan Jose "Cheche" Vidal Noya is a retired Venezuelan

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

defender who was a member of the Venezuelan Olympic soccer team at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

. He was the 1979 Venezuela Footballer of the Year and was the World Cup USA Vice President in charge of technology at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

College

Vidal attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

, where he played on the men's soccer team from 1981 to 1983. Vidal was a 1981 Third-Team All-American, but lost the 1982 season to a knee injury. He came back in 1983 and was selected as a First-Team All-American. In 1984, he graduated with a master's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

and sports applied technology. In 1998, he was inducted into the Terriers Hall of Fame.

Professional

Vidal was the 1979 Venezuelan Footballer of the Year as a member of

Deportivo Italia Deportivo Miranda Fútbol Club (previously named Deportivo Italia Fútbol Club, Deportivo Italchacao, Deportivo Petare Fútbol Club and Petare Fútbol Club) is a Venezuelan football club based in Caracas. Formed in 1948 as "Deportivo Italia F.C ...

National team

Vidal played on both the Venezuelan national and Olympic teams. He was a member of the Venezuela national team at the 1979 Copa America. He also played two games at the

Technology

1989 marked the decisive play in his career; he was recognized in the US for his technological skills. His then futuristic vision of implanting the first interactive multimedia network in a sporting event went from project to facts when being contracted by the organizing committee of World Cup USA 94 like vice-president of Technology and member of the Management Committee.The Game Plan
/ref> Among the responsibilities assigned to Vidal was planning and managing the telecommunication, computing and electronics functions of the World Cup USA 94. For this and other projects received several awards, such as the one granted by Var Business Magazine. Through En-Línea, a company that established in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, it marked a milestone in the sports world by creating the website of the

International Football Federation The International Football Federation was a proposed professional American football minor league. It had intended to launch in spring 2000, but folded while still in its preliminary stages. It is often considered to be one of the shortest-lived hi ...

(FIFA), which was followed by sites of regional confederations such as

Conmebol CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

. In Caracas he created DeRed, which develops technology for its international projects, and has partnered with the Spanish group

Santa Mónica Santa Mónica is a small town of San José Department in southern Uruguay. In 2004 it had a population of 2,561. It is connected to Montevideo by Route 1. Playa Pascual lies just to its southwest. Both Playa Pascual and Santa Mónica, along with ...

and the communications agency Beyond. He then formed Beyond En-Línea. In 1998, he founded Platinum with the Olympic medalist Rafael Vidal, a pioneer in the application of marketing in Venezuela. Then created Fútbol Mejor, an organization conceived for the rescue and optimization of that sport in Venezuela.

References

External links

Cheché Vidal: Pionero cibernético
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidal, Cheche 1959 births All-American college men's soccer players Boston University Terriers men's soccer players Deportivo Italia players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Living people Venezuelan men's footballers Venezuela men's international footballers Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Men's association football defenders Olympic footballers for Venezuela Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics 20th-century Venezuelan sportsmen