Delfín Benítez Cáceres

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Benítez and the second or maternal family name is Cáceres.

Delfín Benítez Cáceres
Benítez Cáceres while playing for Boca Juniors
Personal information
Full name Delfín Benítez Cáceres
Date of birth (1910-09-24)24 September 1910
Place of birth Asunción, Paraguay
Date of death 8 January 2004(2004-01-08) (aged 93)
Place of death Caracas, Venezuela
Position(s) Striker
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1930–1932 Libertad
1932–1938 Boca Juniors 162 (108)
1939–1941 Racing Club 84 (65)
1942–1944 Ferro Carril Oeste 66 (20)
1944–1952 Sporting de Barranquilla[1]
International career
1929–1933[2] Paraguay 15 (3)
1934 Argentina[citation needed] 1 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Delfín Benítez Cáceres (24 September 1910 – 8 January 2004) was a Paraguayan football striker.

Benítez started his career in Libertad of his native country. As one of the key players of the Paraguay national football team in the early 1930s, he gained the attention of Argentinian club Boca Juniors and signed with them in 1932. He soon became one of the key players in the team and during the seven years he spent at the club he scored 107 goals in 162 matches, making him the fifth all-time top scorer in Boca Juniors' history [1]. Boca fans consider Benítez as "perhaps the best foreign player to ever wear the blue and gold jersey of Boca Juniors" [2].

Near the end of his football career, Benítez also played for Argentinian sides Racing Club (1939–41) and Ferro Carril Oeste (1941–44). During his time at Racing he became the top scorer in the Primera División Argentina and in South American football for 1940 with 33 goals, tied with Isidro Lángara of San Lorenzo.

He earned 15 caps for Paraguay, including his participation at the 1929 South American Championship[3] and both of the team's matches at the 1930 World Cup against the United States and Belgium; he scored three goals for Paraguay. Later, he appeared once for the Argentina national football team in 1934, scoring one goal.

After retiring from football as a player, he became a coach and led Independiente Medellín to a Colombian national championship in 1955. He also managed Sporting de Barranquilla, Boca Juniors de Cali and Millonarios.[4] He also coached several Venezuelan football teams. He is the father of the footballer Delfín Edmundo Benítez.

References

  1. ^ Sporting statistics Archived 21 February 2013 at archive.today @ Golgolgol.net
  2. ^ "Players Appearing for Two or More Countries". Archived from the original on 3 August 2008. Retrieved 27 June 2014.
  3. ^ "Southamerican Championship 1929".
  4. ^ Ruiz M., Juan Guillermo (8 January 2012). "Un día como hoy en el fútbol: Enero 8" [On this day in football: January 8]. GolGolGol Futbol. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
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