José Rafael Albrecht (23 August 1941 – 3 May 2021) was an Argentine 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 ...

who played as a defender. He represented

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 ...

at the

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

World Cups 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 ...

Career

Albrecht was born in Tucumán. He started his career with

Club Atlético Tucumán Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album '' kelsea'' Brands and enterpris ...

in 1957. In 1960, he was signed by Estudiantes, where he excelled and, thus, was called to play for the Argentina national team in 1961. In 1962 he was transferred to San Lorenzo for 10 million pesos, a huge amount for those days. In San Lorenzo, he was part of two famous teams, the 'Carsucias' in 1964 and the 'Matadores' in 1968. The 'Matadores' team won the 1968

Metropolitano Metropolitano S.A. was a privately owned consortium formed in 1994 to take over concessions granted by the Argentine government as part of railway privatisation during the presidency of Carlos Menem for the operation of commuter rail services i ...

Championship without losing a single game. He played 229 games for the club, scoring 56 goals. Most of them were by way of penalties. In 1970 Albrecht moved to Mexico. He first played with

Club León Club León is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in León, Guanajuato, León, Guanajuato, that competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football league system, Mexican football. The club was founded in 1944 ...

, helping the team win two

Copa México Copa MX, also known as Copa Corona MX for sponsorship reasons, was an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic cup tournament for clubs at the highest and second levels of Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Copa ...

and two

Campeón de Campeones Campeón de Campeones () is an association football competition in Mexico and the domestic super cup between the Liga MX champions of the ''Apertura'' and ''Clausura'' tournaments. It was initially a super cup match between the league and cup cha ...

super cups. He then played for

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, where he retired from football in 1975. Albrecht played a total of 506 top flight games in his career, scoring a total of 95 goals, putting him in 7th place on the

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

list of top scoring defenders.

Death

Albrecht died on 3 May 2021, aged 79, after two weeks of hospitalisation with

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina.

Honours

Atlético Tucumán *

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 ...

: Torneo República 1960 * Annual Liga Tucumana: 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960 San Lorenzo * Argentine Primera División:

1968 Club León *

: 1970–71, 1971–72 *

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

runner-up: 1972–73 Argentina *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

runner-up:

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

Individual *

Argentina All Times Dream Team (Team C): 2021

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albrecht, Rafael 1941 births 2021 deaths Argentine people of German descent Argentine men's footballers Footballers from San Miguel de Tucumán Argentina men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Argentine Primera División players Liga MX players Estudiantes de La Plata footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Club León footballers Atlas F.C. footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players 1967 South American Championship players Argentine football managers Atlas F.C. managers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Argentina 20th-century Argentine sportsmen