Oreste Omar Corbatta Fernández (11 March 1936 – 5 December 1991) was an Argentine

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 ...

who played as right winger. Corbatta is regarded as the greatest idol in the history of Racing Club. Dubbed '' Arlequín''El que se fue solo (The departed alone)
'' La Gaceta'', 5 December 2008 and ''El dueño de la raya'' (The chairman of the sideline), he played for five clubs in his country –six in total– mainly Racing Club and

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

, winning four major titles and scoring 86 official goals with both teams combined. An accomplished penalty kick taker and widely regarded as the best Argentine right winger of all time, Corbatta earned more than 40

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the national side in the 50s/60s, and represented the country at the 1958 World Cup.

Club career

Born in Daireaux,

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

to an Italian immigrant from Recanati and an Argentine mother, Corbatta gave his first steps in football playing for

Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "La Plata Students"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata, is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, where it has spent most of its histo ...

at 14 years old. In 1953 he joined Club Juverlandia of Chascomús to play the Liga Platense regional championship. His performances on the field called the attention of

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

, who hired him on loan for one year. Corbatta started his professional career on 30 April 1955, making his debut in

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; ), known officially as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Betano for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Argentina and the highest level of the Argentine football league system. Organ ...

in a 0–1 loss against Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata. Corbatta was one of the ''La Academía'' key players that helped the team to win the 1958 and

1961 Events January * January 1 – Monetary reform in the Soviet Union, 1961, Monetary reform in the Soviet Union. * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and cons ...

league titles. In 1963, Corbatta joined

for 12 million pesos, with which Racing was able to improve the conditions in its stadium and build new sporting facilities. On 19 May 1963, he scored all the goals in a 3–0 home win against Vélez Sarsfield, and also featured in that year's

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

final loss against

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; 23 October 1940 – 29 December 2022), better known by his nickname Pelé (), was a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Widely reg ...

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

; in his final two years in ''

La Bombonera La Bombonera (; , named after its resemblance to a chocolate box, per Viktor Sulčič), officially known as Alberto José Armando Stadium (, ; named after Alberto Armando), is an association football stadium located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. ...

'', he added a further two national championships. Corbatta joined Independiente Medellín in 1965, remaining in

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

for three years. He returned to his country for spells with lower league sides

San Telmo San Telmo ("Saint Pedro González Telmo") is the oldest ''Barrios of Buenos Aires, barrio'' (neighborhood) of Buenos Aires, Argentina. A well-preserved area of the Argentine metropolis, it hosts some of its oldest buildings. One of the birthplace ...

, Italia Unidos and Tiro Federal, retiring from football at the age of 38. During his professional career, he only missed four of 68 penalties.

International career

Corbatta played a total of 43 games for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

in which he scored 18 goals, at one time ranking in joint-13th place with Domingo Tarasconi. He was part of the South American Championship-winning team in

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

, when he formed a legendary attacking line with Humberto Maschio, Antonio Angelillo, Omar Sívori and Osvaldo Héctor Cruz. They were nicknamed the ''Carasucias'', and that was the first Argentine achievement with a great repercussion on the media.La primera delantera mediática
by Roberto Martínez on ESPN, 7 May 2016 Because of his great performance in the tournament, a Chilean journalist defined Corbatta as "the animated cartoon player". With Corbatta in the team, Argentina would repeat the feat in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. Corbatta also appeared in 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, contributing with three goals in three games in an eventual group stage exit.

Personal life / Tribute

Corbatta struggled heavily with

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

, playing several games in a state of full inebriation. Illiterate, he never learned to read. Poor and alone – he married and divorced four times – Corbatta died of

larynx cancer Laryngeal cancer is a kind of cancer that can develop in any part of the larynx (voice box). It is typically a squamous-cell carcinoma, reflecting its origin from the epithelium of the larynx. The prognosis is affected by the location of the tum ...

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

in 1991, aged 55. In 2006, to mark the 15th anniversary of his death, he was inaugurated into the Racing Club Hall of Fame, and a bronze statue by Daniel Zimermann was unveiled. The Avellaneda municipality renamed the stadium's backstreet to "Pasaje Corbatta" in his honor. "Don't pass me the ball because I can't see it", from Corbatta to teammate Raúl Belén before a Racing v

match. Corbatta had arrived in Racing Club Stadium so heavily drunk that he needed to be reanimated by club employees. Although he could not be completely recovered, he jumped to the field and scored two goals.El dueño de la raya
by Damián Didonato on ''Un Caño''

Honours

Club

Racing * Primera División: 1958,

Boca Juniors * Primera División:

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

runner-up:

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

International

Argentina * South American Championship:

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Corbatta, Omar Oreste 1936 births 1991 deaths Footballers from Buenos Aires Province Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine men's footballers Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Boca Juniors footballers Tiro Federal footballers Categoría Primera A players Independiente Medellín footballers Argentina men's international footballers 1958 FIFA World Cup players Copa América–winning players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Colombia 20th-century Argentine sportsmen People of Marchesan descent