Adolfo Pedernera

Adolfo Pedernera
Pedernera with the Argentina national team, c. 1945
Personal information
Full name Adolfo Pedernera
Date of birth 15 November 1918
Place of birth Avellaneda, Argentina
Date of death 12 May 1995(1995-05-12) (aged 76)
Place of death Avellaneda, Argentina
Position(s) Inside forward
Youth career
1932 Huracán
1933–1934 River Plate
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1935–1946 River Plate 278 (131)
1947 Atlanta 28 (4)
1948–1949 Huracán 20 (2)
1949–1954 Millonarios 81 (33)
1954–1955 Huracán 10 (0)
Total 417 (170)
International career
1940–1946 Argentina 21 (7)
Managerial career
1951–1953 Millonarios (player-manager)
1954 Huracán (player-manager)
1955 Nacional
1955 Gimnasia y Esgrima LP
1955–1956 Huracán
1957 Independiente
1960–1961 América de Cali
1961–1962 Colombia
1962 Gimnasia y Esgrima LP
1963–1964 Boca Juniors
1966–1967 Boca Juniors
1968 Quilmes
1969 Independiente
1969 Argentina
1970 Huracán
1975 Talleres (Córdoba)
1976 Banfield
1977 América de Cali
1978 San Lorenzo
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Adolfo Alfredo Pedernera (15 November 1918 – 12 May 1995)[1] was an Argentine football player and coach. Nicknamed "El Maestro" ("The Teacher"), he was widely considered to be one of the best world football players in the 1940s[2][3] and one of the greatest Argentine players of all time.[4] Pedernera was the natural conductor of both the famous River Plate team known as La Máquina ("The Machine"), with whom he won several Argentine and South American titles, and the Millonarios team called Ballet Azul ("Blue Ballet") that won the Small Club World Cup in 1953 among many others Colombian titles.

Pedernera's play with the Argentina national team, helped win the Copa América in 1941 and 1946, the latter tournament being named the Best Player.[5] He also was elected the 12th-best South American footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS in 2000,[6] and his name appears in the list of the 100 greatest all time footballers selected from the magazine FourFourTwo in 2017, in which he holds the 58th place.[7]

Pedernera usually played as an inside forward and was renowned for his technique and ability to create chances for other players, whilst also being a prominent goalscorer.

  1. ^ "Adolfo Pedernera". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 25 June 2021.
  2. ^ FIFA.com
  3. ^ "7 Greatest Footballers of the 1940's". 22 April 2018.
  4. ^ Chiesa, Carlo F. (22 August 1999). "We are the champions - I 150 fuoriclasse che hanno fatto la storia del calcio" [The 150 champions that made football's history]. Calcio 2000 (in Italian). Action Group S.r.l. p. 128.
  5. ^ "The Copa América Archive - Trivia".
  6. ^ IFFHS' Century Elections - rsssf.org - by Karel Stokkermans, RSSSF, 2000.
  7. ^ Yorkhin, Michael (25 July 2017). "FourFourTwo's 100 Greatest Footballers EVER: 60 to 51". FourFourtwo. Retrieved 2 August 2017.