Leonel Hernández Valerín (born 3 October 1943 in Cartago) is a retired

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player.

Club career

Hernández spent his entire career with hometown club Cartaginés, after joining their youth team in 1957. He made his debut for the senior team in 1962. He was part of the club's famous ''Ballet Azul'' squad in the 1970s and became the Costa Rican Primera División top goalscorer in 1973. In February 2013,

Danny Fonseca Danny Alberto Fonseca Bravo (born 7 November 1979) is a Costa Rican former professional Association football, footballer who last played as a midfielder for Costa Rican club C.S. Cartaginés, Cartaginés. Club career A native of Cartago, Costa ...

equalled Hernández' club record of 360 games.

International career

Hernández was capped by

, playing 35 games and scoring 11 goals. He represented his country in 10

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches.

Personal life

Hernández was born to José Francisco Hernández Madriz and Dolores Valerín Brenes.Leonel Hernández será el dedicado del Campeonato Invierno Progol-JPS 2011
- UNAFUT He is married to María de los Angeles Artavia Luna and they have two daughters. He worked at the audit department at the Banco Crédito Agrícola de Cartago.
- Nación

References

External links

- Nación 1943 births Living people People from Cartago Province Men's association football forwards Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers C.S. Cartaginés players {{CostaRica-footy-bio-stub