Guillermo Stábile

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Guillermo Stábile
Guillermo Stábile in 1933
Personal information
Full name Guillermo Stábile
Date of birth January 17, 1905(1905-01-17)
Place of birth    Buenos Aires, Argentina
Date of death    December 27, 1966 (aged 61)
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Playing position Forward
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1920-30
1930-35
1935-36
1936-39
Huracán
Genoa
S.S.C. Napoli
Red Star Paris
 ? (?)
41 (13)
20 (3)
? (?)   
National team
1930 Argentina 4 (8)
Teams managed
1931-32
1937-40
1939-60
1940-49
1949-60
Genoa (co-manager)
Red Star Paris
Argentina
Huracán
Racing Club

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Guillermo Stábile (January 17, 1905 - December 27, 1966) born in Parque Patricios, Buenos Aires was a Argentine footballer and coach. Stábile is remembered as a prominent figure in football history[1] and one of the first goalscoring heroes.

Stábile played for several clubs during his career; one in South America, three in Europe. He was, however most notable for being the top scorer in the first Football World Cup. His coaching career was also a success, leading Argentina to six Copa América titles.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Stábile started his football career in Argentina, he played for Club Atlético Huracán in his hometown of Buenos Aires while they were still an amateur club from 1920 till 1930 (the Primera División Argentina wasn't founded until 1931). Huracán won many competitions while Stábile played; eight in total.

[edit] World Cup

Prior to the first Football World Cup which was held in Uruguay; Stábile had never played for Argentina before at 25 years old. He did not play in Argentina's first match of the competition against France, as he was an unused substitute.

However, he got his international debut in the following game against Mexico because first choice striker Roberto Cherro couldn't play to due an anxiety attack. The game finished 6-3 to Argentina with Guillermo Stábile scoring a hat-trick on his debut. This was long thought to be the first World Cup hat-trick until 76 years later on November 10, 2006 world football's governing body FIFA declared that United States forward Bert Patenaude had scored the first hat-trick 2 days prior to Stábile.[2]

The final game of the group stages saw Argentina facing South American rivals Chile, they won the game 3-1 with Stábile scoring twice. This meant that Argentina had qualified for the semi-finals, against the United States. The South Americans breezed through, with a 6–1 victory; Stábile added two more goals to his account and his nation had qualified for the World Cup final.

On July 30, 1930 the first ever World Cup final took place, between Argentina and Uruguay. At half time Argentina were leading 2-1 (the second goal came from Stábile), however they went on to lose 4-2.

Despite losing the final; Guillermo Stábile had made history in only four games, becoming top scorer in the first ever Football World Cup. It turned out that he would never play for Argentina again, and thus scored in every game he played for his country, with a ratio of two goals per game.

[edit] Move to Europe

After capturing the world's attention with his impressive feats in the First World Cup, he was signed by Italy's oldest football club; Genoa Cricket and Football Club. He instantly became a fan favourite at Genoa, chalking up a hat-trick on his debut against rivals Bologna. He stayed with the Genoan club for a spell of five years, playing 41 games and scoring 13 goals.

During the 1935-36 season,he moved to S.S.C. Napoli with Antonio Vojak transferring the other way to Genoa. This was during the era where another South American legend played for Napoli; Attila Sallustro. The club finished 8th in the league with Guillermo scoring 3 goals in 20 games.

As a last act of his playing career, Stábile moved to Red Star Paris. Ironically, the club was founded by Jules Rimet the man who had set up the first World Cup back in 1930. He stayed with the club until 1939 with the last honour of his playing career being helping the club achieve promotion, from Ligue 2 back into Ligue 1.

[edit] Management

Stábile had received his first taste of coaching, way back in the 1931-32 season at Genoa, long before he retired from playing. Here he spent the aforementioned season as a co-manager alongside Luigi Burlando.

After a year at Red Star Paris, he became player-manager for the club; this included the season in which they were promoted from Ligue 2. Stábile left the French club, to coach the Argentine national team; He began his spell in 1939.

Stábile coached Argentina to six South American Championship trophies: in 1941, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1955 and 1957. With the Argentine national side, as a coach (just as he had as a player) Stábile, set records; he coached the club for 123 official matches gaining 83 victories, making him one of the few coaches with more than 100 international matches in charge.

While managing the national side, he also had spells coaching three other clubs, first the club where he began his career; Huracán and then later Ferro Carril Oeste and Racing Club. Stábile retired from management in 1960 and died six years later.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Playing honours

  • 1920 Copa Estímulo (Huracán)
  • 1921 Copa Río de La Plata (Huracán)
  • 1921 Argentina Amateur League (Huracán)
  • 1922 Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren (Huracán)
  • 1922 Argentina Amateur League (Huracán)
  • 1925 Copa Dr. Carlos Ibarguren (Huracán)
  • 1925 Argentina Amateur League (Huracán)
  • 1928 Argentina Amateur League (Huracán)
  • 1930 FIFA World Cup: Runner-up (Argentina)
  • 1939 Ligue 2 (Red Star Paris)

[edit] Coaching honours

[edit] References

Awards
Preceded by
FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe
1930
Succeeded by
Flag of Czechoslovakia Oldřich Nejedlý
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Flag of Argentina Ángel Fernández Roca
Argentina National Team Coach
1939 – 1960
Succeeded by
Flag of Argentina Victorio Spinetto