Jaime Belmonte Magdaleno (8 October 1934 – 21 January 2009), was a Mexican professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, known as ''El Flaco'' (''The Slim Man''), He was also called ''El héroe de Solna'' (''The hero of

Solna Solna ( or , ), also known as Solna Municipality, is a municipality in central Stockholm County, Sweden, located just north of Stockholm City Centre. Its seat is located in the town of Solna, which is a part of the Stockholm urban area. Solna i ...

''), in reference to his goal scored vs

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the city of

during the

1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

earning Mexico's first point in a World Cup.

Career

Born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, Belmonte began playing professional football with Deportivo Cuautla. He made 89 appearances for the club from 1955 to 1959. In 1959, he joined

Deportivo Irapuato Club Deportivo Irapuato is a Mexican professional football club based in Irapuato, Guanajuato, that currently competes in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. It was the first football club founded in Guanajuato by Pedro ...

. In 13 seasons with Irapuato, Belmonte scored 125 goals.

International

Belmonte played for the

Mexico national football team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in men's international association football, football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation, Federación Mexicana de Fútbol (). It has been a member of FIFA since 1929 and c ...

at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

in Sweden. He scored the goal in a 1–1 draw with

, earning Mexico its first point at the World Cup hence earning the nickname the ''hero of Solna''.

Personal

Belmonte died from cancer in 2009 at age 74. In 2012, Belmonte received a statue in his honour, outside

Irapuato FC Club Deportivo Irapuato is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Irapuato, Guanajuato, that currently competes in Liga Premier de México, Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football league system, Me ...

's stadium

Estadio Sergio León Chávez Estadio Sergio León Chávez is a Multi-purpose stadium in the city of Irapuato. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium holds 25,000 people. The stadium was built in 1967 and hosted three matches in group C of the FIFA ...

References

External links

* * 1934 births 2009 deaths Mexico men's international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players C.D. Irapuato footballers Footballers from Mexico City Liga MX players Men's association football wingers Mexican men's footballers 20th-century Mexican sportsmen {{Mexico-footy-midfielder-1930s-stub