Alberto Spencer

Alberto Pedro Spencer Herrera (December 6, 1937 in Ancon, Guayas Province, † November 3, 2006 in Cleveland, USA) is considered the best Ecuadorian soccer player in history.

As a striker, Peñarol Montevideo and Barcelona SC Guayaquil he is with 54 goals 1960-1972 still record scorer in the Copa Libertadores. His nickname was due to his heading ability Cabeza Mágica (Eng. "Magic Head" ).

He was born as one of 13 children in a working-class family in a petroleum refinery located in Guayaquil. His father Walter Spencer originated in Jamaica ( his grandfather was an Englishman ), his mother América Herrera was Ecuadorian.

Playing career

Club football

Spencer played for the club Los Andes in Ancon. In 1955 he was for Everest ( Guayaquil ), in which his older brother Marcos played his debut in the Ecuadorian football at the highest level. His achievements as a scorer ( 101 goals in official games for Everest ) took him to the Ecuadorian national team, for which he took up at the Copa America 1959 in their own country (all matches took place in the now named after Spencer Estadio Modelo Alberto Spencer Herrera instead ). In 1960 he moved to Uruguay Peñarol Montevideo, a South American top team, who had become aware of him, as Spencer had accrued as Players out on loan in 1959 for Barcelona SC Guayaquil against Peñarol. . He played for Peñarol to 1971 During this time, in the Spencer due to a meniscus operation in November 1964 had to temporarily pause about half a year, the team eight times Uruguayan champion (1959 - the final was held in March 1960 -, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968). Spencer himself was in 1961 and 62 in 1968 and 69 as well as top scorer of Uruguay. Overall, in 519 league games scoring 326 goals.

He won in the years 1960, 61 and 66 times the Copa Libertadores, where Spencer was 62 in 1960 and top scorer of the competition. With its 54 made ​​1960-1972 gates he's still time leading scorer in the history of the Copa Libertadores.

1961 and 1966 won Spencer and his teammates also against Benfica and Real Madrid the World Cup. In 1960 they lost the finals against Real Madrid. In the seven finals, where Spencer took part, he scored six of the twelve gates Peñarols, two against Benfica and four against Real Madrid.

1971, he moved back to Ecuador and played two years for the top club in Barcelona Guayaquil. Here he was once a champion of Ecuadorian and scored in 17 matches of the Copa Libertadores six goals, making him, along with the existing 48 ( in 70 games ) for Peñarol 's record scorer of this competition.

National

Alberto Spencer played more or less the same for the national teams of Uruguay and Ecuador. In 1959, he debuted in the Ecuadorian national team since 1962, he played unofficial, since its debut on May 6, 1964 official appearances for Uruguay ( he scored in 1964 at Wembley Stadium the first goal for Uruguay against England at all). In 1965 he again played for Ecuador in 1967 again for Uruguay, for which he most recently ran aground in the Celeste on July 30, 1967 and again to 1972 for Ecuador. Overall, he played eleven official caps for Ecuador ( 4 goals) and five for Uruguay ( 1 goal), although he was never Uruguayan citizen.

Because of the English ancestors of his father he was also been considered a candidate for the English national team, but this never manifested itself.

A trainer

In 1979 he held the coach of the Ecuadorian club Liga de Porto Viejo for about a year.

Diplomat

After the end of his career in 1973 he returned to Montevideo, where he lived ever since. 1982 he was appointed by the then President Osvaldo Hurtado Ecuadorian Consul General of Ecuador in Uruguay, an office that Spencer held until his death.

Spencer was married to a Chilean woman, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. He died in 2006 of heart failure while he was recovering from heart surgery, in which it had been placed four bypasses.