Roberto Antonio Rojas Saavedra (born 8 August 1957), nicknamed El Cóndor, is a retired Chilean

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. In 1989, he deliberately injured himself during a World Cup qualifying match in an attempt to avoid a loss by the Chile national team. The incident resulted in a lifetime ban for Rojas and one

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 ...

ban for Chile. His ban was subsequently lifted in 2001.

Playing career

Rojas was born and raised in the capital

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

. He began his career in 1976 with Deportes Aviación and went on to play for

Colo-Colo Colo-Colo (), officially Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo, is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano, it competes in the Chilean Primera División, from which the club has never been ...

from 1983 until 1987. With Colo-Colo, Rojas won national titles in 1983 and 1986. In 1987, after a successful performance in the

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 ...

, he transferred to Brazil's

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

where he remained until 1989.

Coaching career

After his retirement he returned to São Paulo to serve as a goalkeeper coach, training

Rogério Ceni Rogério Ceni (; born 22 January 1973) is a Brazilian professional Association football, football Coach (sport), coach and former player who is in charge of Esporte Clube Bahia, Bahia. He is considered one of the all-time greatest Brazilian Goalk ...

. In 2003, Rojas served as interim coach and took the team to the

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 ...

for the first time since 1994. He was later a goalkeeping coach for Brazilian side

Sport Recife Sport Club do Recife (), commonly known as Sport Recife or simply Sport, is a Brazilian sports club, located in Recife, Pernambuco. Founded in 1905, the club currently competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the top tier of football i ...

. As a coach, he led Comercial,

Ituiutaba Ituiutaba (Brazilian Portuguese: /itujuˈtabɐ/) is a municipality in the western part of the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Elevated to city status in 1901, its population in 2020 was 105,255 and a total area in the municipality of 2,694 k ...

and Sport Recife in Brazil and

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guarani language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * G ...

in Paraguay.

1989 World Cup qualifying incident

In 1989, Rojas was in goal for Chile's 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifier against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

's Maracanã stadium. Chile, down 1–0, would be eliminated from the upcoming World Cup if they failed to defeat Brazil. Around the 70-minute mark of the match, Rojas fell to the pitch writhing and holding his forehead. A

firework Fireworks are Explosive, low explosive Pyrotechnics, pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They are most commonly used in fireworks displays (also called a fireworks show or pyrotechnics), combining a large numbe ...

, thrown from the stands by a Brazilian fan named

Rosenery Mello do Nascimento Rosenery Mello do Nascimento (Rio de Janeiro, 1965 – Rio de Janeiro, 4 June 2011), best known by the stage name Rosenery Mello, was a Brazilian celebrity and model also known as ''"Fogueteira do Maracanã"'' (" Maracanã Firecracker-Thrower") ...

, was smoldering on the pitch about a yard away. It seemed that Rojas had been hit by the firework, an incident that could have had the match nullified and possibly even have had Brazil penalized by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

. Rojas, his head bloodied, was carried off the field; his teammates then refused to return claiming that conditions were unsafe. The match was unfinished. Video evidence later showed that Rojas had not been hit by the firework. His head injury was discovered to have been self-inflicted with a razor blade he had hidden in his glove. FIFA awarded Brazil a 2–0 win, effectively eliminating Chile from the 1990 World Cup. As a consequence, Chile was banned from the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

and Rojas was banned for life, along with the coach

Orlando Aravena Orlando Enrique Aravena Vergara (21 October 1942 – 21 March 2024) was a Chilean football player and manager. Career As a player, Aravena played for Magallanes, Deportes La Serena, Palestino, Colo-Colo and Ñublense. With Deportes La Serena, ...

and the team doctor Daniel Rodriguez. A Chilean inquiry found that Aravena had ordered Rojas and Rodriguez by walkie-talkie to remain on the ground and that Rojas was to leave the field on a stretcher. The team's co-captain,

Fernando Astengo Fernando Enrique Astengo Sánchez (born 8 January 1960) is a former footballer and current manager. Career During his years as footballer he played as centre back, position which was well considered after being featured in 1988's America Idea ...

, was banned from football for the next five years for deciding to remove the team from the field. In 2001, following a request for a pardon, Rojas' ban was lifted by FIFA.

Honors

Colo-Colo *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Copa Chile The Copa Chile (''Chile Cup'') is an annual cup competition for Chilean football teams. Due to time constraints and club pressure, the trophy was cancelled in 2000, but returned in 2008. Its precursor was the Campeonato de Apertura (''Opening Ch ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

São Paulo * Série A runner-up:

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

* Taça dos Campeões Estaduais Rio – São Paulo: 1987 Chile *

runner-up:

Individual * Copa América Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Roberto 1957 births Living people Footballers from Santiago, Chile Chilean men's footballers Chilean expatriate men's footballers C.D. Aviación footballers Colo-Colo footballers São Paulo FC players Chilean Primera División players Primera B de Chile players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Chile men's international footballers 1983 Copa América players 1987 Copa América players 1989 Copa América players Men's association football goalkeepers Association football goalkeeping coaches Chilean football managers Chilean expatriate football managers São Paulo FC non-playing staff São Paulo FC managers Comercial Futebol Clube (Ribeirão Preto) managers Boa Esporte Clube managers Club Guaraní managers Sport Club do Recife managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Paraguayan Primera División managers Expatriate football managers in Brazil Expatriate football managers in Paraguay Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Cheating in sports Association football controversies Doping cases in association football Sportspeople banned for life 20th-century Chilean sportsmen