Adolfo Pedernera
Adolfo Alfredo Pedernera (15 November 1918 – 12 May 1995) 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 and one of the greatest Argentine players of all time. 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.
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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 (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 | |||
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. He also was elected the 12th-best South American footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS in 2000, 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.
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.