Leonel Sánchez

Leonel Sánchez is a retired Chilean football player. He was born on April 25th of 1936. He is the son of former boxing champion, Carlos Sánchez.

He started playing football on the junior leagues of Universidad de Chile, when he was 11. When he was 16, although he wasn’t in good shape, he started to gain reputation for his powerful left leg and playing like a veteran.

He played on the main team of Universidad de Chile for 16 years, earning 6 titles. In 1969, he switched teams to play for Colo-Colo for 2 seasons (1969 and 1970). In 1971 he played for Club Deportivo Palestino, and finally for Ferroviarios. He retired in 1973.

He also played on the Chilean national team, where he debuted on September 18 of 1955, and played in the world cups of 1958, 1962 and 1966.

He played 526 matches and made 194 goals.

He is especially remembered for punching the Italian player Mario David during the 1962 World Cup, where his team obtained the Third place of the tournament.

Since he has retired, he wrote on the newspaper “La Nacion” and was the godfather on the wedding of his teammate Rubén Marcos.

He is considered to be among the best Chilean football players in history, and is still admired and loved by the fans of Universidad de Chile.

(Written by Mario Cárdenas - 3°J - 7,0)