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Mario Kempes
Personal information
Full name	Mario Alberto Kempes
Date of birth	July 15, 1954 (age 52)
Place of birth	Bell Ville, Córdoba Province, Argentina
Height	182 cm (5'11¾")
Nickname	The Matador (el "Matador")
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	No Club (Retired)
Youth clubs
Age of 17	Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1971 - 1973 1974 - 76 1977 - 1981/1982- 1984 1981 - 1982 1984 - 1986 1986 - 1987 1987 - 1990 1990 - 1992 1995 1996	Instituto Rosario Central Valencia CF River Plate Hércules First Vienna VSE Sankt Pölten Kremser SC Fernandez Vial Pelita Jaya	? (?) 105 (85) 247 (146) 29 (?)
National team2
1973-1982	Argentina	43 (20)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 25 November 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Mario Alberto Kempes (born July 15, 1954 in Bell Ville, Córdoba) is an Argentine former football striker. His father, Mario, had been an ex-amateur footballer who made him want to be a footballer since his childhood. The 7 years it played for the first time in equipo and to the 14 years, it happened to form part of la cuarta de Talleres and, a year later played in the Biblioteca Bell, both clubs pertaining to the Bellvillense league.

Contents 1 Career 2 Clubs 2.1 Argentina 2.2 Spain 2.3 Chile 2.4 Austria 2.5 Indonesia 2.6 Argentina 3 Honors 4 References 5 External links

Kempes was nicknamed The Matador from his time with Valencia, he won two consecutive Pichichis, scoring 24 and 28 goals in 1976-77 and 1977-78. His career where started at a local club called Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba before quickly moving on to Rosario Central where he gained 85 goals in just 105 matches and established himself as a notorious goalscorer. Famous as a hard-working forward, he used to strike from outside the penalty area with his surging runs goalwards and was not the traditional center-forward operating solely inside the box. Many defenders found difficulties handling his attacking style. They never knew where they had him.

Before the 1978 World Cup, Kempes was the only foreign based player who on th list of coach César Luis Menotti national team in Argentina. The coach described him when announcing the squad he had selected for the 1978 tournament, "He's strong, he's got skill, he creates spaces and he shoots hard. He's a player who can make a difference, and he can play in a centre-forward position".

The skinny forward had been topscorer in La Liga in each of the past two seasons and was determined to show on home soil that he could deliver against the best on the sport's greatest stage as well. However, in 1974, at 20 years of age, he failed to get on the score-sheet in West Germany and after the first round groupstage in 1978, his name was still missing among goalscorers in the tournament. During his playing career he won 43 caps for Argentina and scored 20 times. He represented his country in three World Cups in 1974, 1978 and 1982, winning the competition in 1978. He was the leading goalscorer in the 1978 tournament, scoring six goals. He has also scored some very important goals for Argentina in his career.

In 1978 he was named South American Football Player of the Year ("El Mundo", Caracas, Venezuela). He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Kempes made his first title as coach came in 1999 with The Strongest (Bolivia), before he moved to another Bolivian club, Independiente Petrolero. Before then, he worked as assistant to their Uruguayan coach Héctor Núñez in Valencia, and as a player-manager of Indonesian League champions Pelita Jaya before hung up his boots for the last time at the age of 41 in 1996. He is currently an analyst on ESPN Deportes.

• Instituto Atlético Central Córdoba (1971 - 1973)
• Rosario Central (1974 - 76)
• Club Atlético River Plate (1981 - 1982)

• Valencia CF (1977 - 1981 and 1982- 1984)
• Hércules Club de Futbol (1984 - 1986)

• Fernandez Vial (1995)

• First Vienna FC (1986 - 1987)
• VSE Sankt Pölten (1987 - 1990)
• Kremser SC (1990 - 1992)

• Pelita Jaya (1996)

• Argentina national football team (1973 - 1982)
  • Debut against Bolivia (at La Paz)
  • Appearances: 43
  • Goals: 20

• World Cup Golden Boot (1978, 6 goals)
• Olimpia de Plata - 1978
• South American Coach and Player of the Year (By "El Mundo") - 1978
• Leading goalscorer of La Liga

1976 - 1977 (24 goals)

1977 - 1978 (28 goals)

Research: Soccer Net USA. Retrieved on November 25, 2006.

• Mario Kempes profile, detailed club and national team statistics and honours
• Argentine Glory Kempes the catalyst for Argentine glory
• Classic Players Mario Kempes

	Argentina squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup
1 Ardiles | 2 Baley | 3 Barbas | 4 Bertoni | 5 Calderón | 6 Díaz | 7 Fillol | 8 Galván | 9 Gallego | 10 Maradona | 11 Kempes | 12 Hernández | 13 Olarticoechea | 14 Olguín | 15 Passarella | 16 Pumpido | 17 Santamaría | 18 Tarantini | 19 Trossero | 20 Valdano | 21 Valencia | 22 Van Tuyne | Coach: Menotti

	Argentina squad - 1978 FIFA World Cup Champions (1st Title)
1 Alonso | 2 Ardiles | 3 Baley | 4 Bertoni | 5 Fillol | 6 Gallego | 7 L. Galván | 8 R. Galván | 9 Houseman | 10 Kempes | 11 Killer | 12 Larrosa | 13 Lavolpe | 14 Luque | 15 Olguín | 16 Ortiz | 17 Oviedo | 18 Pagnanini | 19 Passarella | 20 Tarantini | 21 Valencia | 22 Villa | Coach: Menotti

	Argentina squad - 1974 FIFA World Cup
1 Carnevali | 2 Ayala | 3 Babington | 4 Balbuena | 5 Bargas | 6 Brindisi | 7 Carrascosa | 8 Chazarreta | 9 Glaria | 10 Heredia | 11 Houseman | 12 Fillol | 13 Kempes | 14 Perfumo | 15 Poy | 16 Sá | 17 Squeo | 18 Telch | 19 Togneri | 20 Wolff | 21 Santoro | 22 Yazalde | Coach: Cap

Preceded by Zico	South American Footballer of the Year 1978	Succeeded by Diego Maradona
Preceded by Grzegorz Lato	FIFA World Cup Golden Shoe 1978	Succeeded by Paolo Rossi