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Luis Ramírez Zapata

Luis Baltazar Ramírez Zapata (born 6 January 1954) is a retired Salvadoran football forward, who played for the El Salvador national team for nearly two decades.

Club career[edit]

Nicknamed El Pelé, he spent nearly 20 years playing for Salvadoran club Águila. He started with Águila, after being recommended by Brazilian technical director Arnaldo Da Silva, under the legendary Juan Francisco Barraza,^[1] before leaving to join other clubs and later in his career make a return to the San Miguel-based club. He also would go on to play for Atlético Marte and Alianza in his homeland El Salvador and spent time abroad playing for Cartaginés in Costa Rica, scoring 11 goals,^[2] and Puebla in Mexico. In 1990, he played for the Washington Diplomats of the American Professional Soccer League.^[3]

International career[edit]

Ramírez represented El Salvador at the 1975 Pan American GamesinMexico.^[4] He also represented his country in 24 FIFA World Cup qualification matches^[5] and was a member of the El Salvador team at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. During the tournament, he scored their only goal in World Cup history.^[6] It came in the infamous 10–1 defeat to Hungary on 15 June 1982, which remains the single biggest loss for a team in the competition's history.

Ramírez Zapata scored 16 goals for the El Salvador national team from 1971 to 1989.^[7]

His final international game was an August 1989 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Trinidad & Tobago.

International goals[edit]

Scores and results list El Salvador's goal tally first.^[8]

No	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	15 September 1971	Estadio Nacional Flor Blanca, San Salvador, El Salvador	Nicaragua	1–0	1–0	1971 CONCACAF Championship qualification
2.	9 February 1976	Estadio Nacional Flor Blanca, San Salvador, El Salvador	Hungary	1–?	1–2	Friendly
3.	2 May 1976	Estadio Revolución, Panama City, Panama	Panama	1–0	1–1	1977 CONCACAF Championship qualification
4.	1 August 1976	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Panama	1–0	4–1	1977 CONCACAF Championship qualification
5.				2–0
6.				4–0
7.	15 December 1976	Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1–1	1–1	1977 CONCACAF Championship qualification
8.	8 October 1977	Estadio Tecnológico, Monterrey, Mexico	Canada	1–0	2–1	1977 CONCACAF Championship
9.				2–0
10.	30 September 1980	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Guatemala	2–1	3–2	Friendly
11.	15 June 1982	Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero, Elche, Spain	Hungary	1–5	1–10	1982 FIFA World Cup
12.	27 June 1984	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Guatemala	3–1	3–1	Friendly
13.	5 August 1984	Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium, Bayamón, Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico	1–0	3–0	1985 CONCACAF Championship qualification
14.	27 February 1985	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Suriname	2–0	3–0	1985 CONCACAF Championship
15.	16 October 1988	Estadio Cuscatlán, San Salvador, El Salvador	Netherlands Antilles	4–0	5–0	1989 CONCACAF Championship qualification
16.				5–0

Managerial career and personal life[edit]

His first job as a manager was at Águila, where he replaced Panamanian coach Gary Stempel in 2007. After his own dismissal, he coached Atlético Balboa and Salvadoran second division side ADI F.C., before joining the Department of Culture and Sports of the San Miguel mayorship.^[9] He was sacked by the municipal council in October 2011.^[10]

Honours[edit]

• Águila
  • Primera División (5): 1972, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1983, 1987–88
  • CONCACAF Champions' Cup (1): 1976

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Biography – El Gráfico (in Spanish)
• Honored by City of San Miguel Article (in Spanish)
• Luis Baltazar Ramírez『Pelé』Zapata – C.D. Atlético Marte (in Spanish)