| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Teodoro Fernández Meyzán | ||
| Date of birth | 20 May 1913 | ||
| Place of birth | Cañete, Peru | ||
| Date of death | 17 September 1996 (aged 83) | ||
| Place of death | Lima, Peru | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Playing position | forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Universitario de Deportes | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1931-1953 | Universitario de Deportes | 180 | (157) |
| National team | |||
| 1935-1947 | Peru | 32 | (24) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Teodoro Fernández Meyzán (born 20 May 1913 in Cañete — died September 17, 1996 in Lima), nicknamed "Lolo", was a Peruvian football striker. Arguably one of Peru's two most important football players (along with Teófilo Cubillas),[1] he was part of the Peruvian squad that reached quarter-finals in the 1936 Olympic Games and won the 1939 Copa America, a tournament in which he emerged as the top scorer. He was captain of the Peruvian national team between 1935 and 1947.
Fernández is the most emblematic player in the history of club Universitario de Deportes for which he played his whole career, winning six times the Peruvian league. Known as "El Cañonero" ("The Cannoneer"), due to his excellence as a centre-forward and his strong shooting, Fernández was the Peruvian league's top-scorer seven times.
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Lolo was the seventh of Raymunda Meyzan and Tomas Fernandez's eight children. He learned to play football in primary school and was soon picked up by local club Huracán de Hualcará where he immediately stood out.
At the age of 16, his parents sent him to Lima to continue his studies. Lolo lived with his brother Arturo Fernandez who was the goalkeeper for Ciclista Lima. When Arturo transferred to first division's Universitario de Deportes, he brought Lolo along to play a bit of football in training and introduced him to the club’s President, former 1930 World Cup player Placido Galindo.
He made his professional debut with Universitario de Deportes on November 29, 1931, and would remain with the club during his 22 years as a professional footballer,.[3] His first game was against Club Deportivo Magallanes of Chile. Lolo was the game's only scorer with a header to win the game, 1-0. That season he was Peruvian top scorer, but the team finished second. The following year, they were runners-up again and Lolo again was the top scorer.
The 1933-1934 season saw Lolo again lead the division in scoring, but this time his team won the Peruvian First Division trophy for only the second time in its history. He obtained 6 local leagues as player in total, all with Universitario de Deportes: 1934, 1939, 1941, 1945, 1946 and 1949.
Several times during his career he rejected offers from teams in Chile, Argentina, and Europe among others. He became the main symbol of his club.
Some say he was once offered a "blank check" from Chile, in which he would write down the amount of money he wished to be paid and his would-be new club would pay it, whatever that amount was, but he didn't accept it.
Lolo played his last game for Universitario on the Aug. 20, 1953 at the age of 40 in the Peruvian Super Classic. He scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 win to retire after playing for 23 years.
Lolo is the top goalscorer for the club with 157 goals in 180 matches.
He played for the Peruvian national team from 1935 to 1947, and scored 24 goals in 32 matches. Lolo is the second top scorer in the history for his country.
In 1936, he represented his country at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. Peru made its way into the quarterfinals after defeating Finland (7-2) and Austria (4-2). Lolo Fernandez scored a total of 6 goals in the two games.[4]
In the 1938 Bolivarian Games in Bogotá, Fernandez and the Peruvian team won gold.[5]
In 1939, he won the Copa America with the national Team.[6] The final was played against Uruguay (2-1) which was arguably the best team in the world at the time. Uruguay had won gold in the 1924 and 1928 Summer Olympics and won the first World Cup in 1930, but had not participated in international events since then due to arguments with European nations over where competitions should be played.[2]
Lolo was top scorer of the competition with 7 goals.
| Championship | Venue | Position | Matches played | Goals scored |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935 Copa América | Peru | 3º place | 3 | 1 |
| 1936 Summer Olympics | Germany | Semifinal | 2 | 6 |
| 1937 Copa América | Argentina | 6º place | 4 | 2 |
| 1938 Bolivarian Games | Colombia | Gold medal | 4 | 3 |
| 1939 Copa América | Peru | Champion | 4 | 7 |
| 1941 Copa América | Chile | 4º place | 4 | 3 |
| 1942 Copa América | Uruguay | 5º place | 6 | 2 |
| 1947 Copa América | Ecuador | 5º place | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 32 | 24 |
Fernández was part of the "Combinado del Pacífico" (Peru-Chile XI) a squad of Peruvian and Chilean footballers of Alianza Lima, Atlético Chalaco, Colo-Colo and Universitario de Deportes that played 39 friendly matches in Europe between September 1933 and March 1934 against teams such as FC Barcelona, Celtic FC, Hearts FC, Newcastle United FC, West Ham United FC and FC Bayern Munich. With 48 goals, Fernández was the team´s main goalscorer during the European tour.[7]
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1938 Bolivarian Games | NA |
| Season | Team | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 1938 | Peru National Team | Bolivarian Games |
| 1939 | Peru National Team | Copa America |
| Team | Goals | Matches | Goal average |
| Universitario de Deportes | 157 | 180 | 0.87 |
| Pacific All-Stars Team | 48 | 39 | 1.23 |
| Peru National Team | 24 | 32 | 0.75 |
| Total | 229 | 251 | 0.91 |
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