Antonio Carbajal

Antonio Carbajal began his football goalkeeping career with Club Oviedo in 1942 and was first selected to represent Mexico internationally for the 1948 London Olympics. At the Games, however, Mexico lost its first match against South Korea 5-3 and was eliminated, thus denying Carbajal the opportunity to play. Nonetheless, that same year he was recruited to Real Club España and played 45 matches with them until they were dissolved in 1950 for political reasons.

The year 1950 was to be a momentous one for Carbajal. Domestically he joined Club León, where he would remain until his 1966 retirement, 364 matches later. More importantly, however, he made his official début for Mexico at that year’s World Cup, his first of a record-setting five selections for the World Cup, a feat replicated by only two other men since (as of 2018): Germany’s Lothar Matthäus in 1998 and Rafael Márquez of Mexico in 2018. In none of Carbajal’s consecutive appearances, however, did Mexico advance beyond the group stage. Following his retirement from active competition, he had a lengthy career as a manager, most notably with Monarcas Morelia from 1984 through 1994.