José Enrique Gutiérrez Cardona (27 February 1939 - 30 January 2013), more commonly known as ''Cardona'' or ''Indio Cardona'' or ''Coneja Cardona'', was a 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 ...

Early career

Cardona was born in

La Lima La Lima is a city, with a population of 80,740 (2023 calculation),Citypopulation.de
Population of the major ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

. In 1957 he was National Football Champion and Top Scorer. A year later, he was transferred to Portuguese club

Lusitano The Lusitano, also known as the Pure Blood Lusitano or PSL (''Puro Sangue Lusitano''), is a Portuguese horse breed. Horses were known to be present on the Iberian Peninsula as far back as 20,000 BC, and by 800 BC the region was renowned for ...

. In 1959 he was acquired by

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

but because it had reached its maximum allowance of foreign players, Cardona was lent to Spanish club

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

, who a year later was promoted to the top flight of the Spanish League for the first time in their history. He made his debut on September 13, 1959 against

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

, and stayed for 5 seasons, playing 89 games and scoring 24 goals in the first division. In the season 1959, Cardona was the top scorer in the Spanish second division with 22 goals (the same number of goals made by first division top scorer

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé (; 4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was an Argentine professional footballer and coach who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia" ("Blond A ...

that season). In 1964 he transferred to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, who that season came second in the league championship and won the

Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

(now known as ''La Copa del Rey''). Cardona scoring the winning goal in the final against

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

. The following year he played 10 times in Atlético's championship-winning season. Cardona, playing with Valencia C.F., scored the first goal in the first nightly game in the

Estadio Azteca Estadio Azteca () (officially known as Estadio Banorte for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium located in Coyoacán, Mexico City. It is the official home of football team Club América, as well as the Mexico national team. The stadium ...

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 ...

against

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

on June 5, 1966. The final score was 3-1 in favor of Valencia C.F.

International career

Cardona played internationally with

, but never qualified for a

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

finals. He represented his country in 3

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches.

Later life

Cardona retired at the end of the 1968–69 season, by which time he had played a total of 141 games in the Primera División, scoring 44 goals. He died, aged 73, in

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 701, ...

, of a heart attack.

Honours and awards

Club

Elche * Segunda Division: 1958-59 Atlético Madrid *

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

: 1965–66, 1969–70 *

: 1964–65

References

External links

*
España le hace un homenaje a la Coneja Cardona
- El Heraldo {{DEFAULTSORT:Cardona, Jose 1939 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Cortés Department Men's association football forwards Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers Elche CF players Atlético Madrid footballers Real C.D. España players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Primeira Liga players La Liga players Honduran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Spain