Hugo Sotil

Hugo Alejandro Sotil Yerén (born 18 May 1949 ) is a Peruvian former professional football player.

Nicknamed El Cholo, he played as a striker or midfielder.

He made his professional debut in 1967, standing out with Deportivo Municipal and became one of the most popular players in Peru.

In 1968, Sotil made his debut at the professional level for Municipal in the Peruvian Second Division, which he helped to obtain promotion to the First Division that year.

Together with Teófilo Cubillas and Héctor Chumpitaz, he was one of Peru's most recognized football players of the 1970s.

He also was a popular player in Peru, and a biopic on his life was released in that decade.

He was international with the Peruvian team, with which he played two editions of the FIFA World Cup: those of 1970 and 1978, where he reached the quarterfinals in both World Cups.

Sotil made his debut for the Peru national football team on 4 February 1970, in a friendly game against Bulgaria at Lima, he scored a hat-trick for Peru in a 5–3 win.

He made a total of 62 appearances for Peru between 1970 and 1978, scoring 18 goals,.

He was part of the Peru national football team in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and although he was used most often as a substitute in the tournament, he was still able to play in a 3–2 win against Bulgaria, a 3–0 win against Morocco and a 1–3 loss to West Germany.

He was also in the quarterfinal loss against eventual champions Brazil by 2–4.

Hugo Sotil has been one of the most popular athletes in his country, to the point that in 1972, he starred in a film directed by Bernardo Batievsky (his great admirer) entitled Cholo.

In 1973 he gained international fame by signing for FC Barcelona forming a historic attacking duo with the Dutch star Johan Cruyff winning the Spanish League in his first season after 14 years of drought for the Catalan club.

He became the first Latin American player to wear the "10" for FC Barcelona.

Carrying the number 10 on his back in addition to getting 2 league runners-up and one in the Copa del Rey after 4 seasons with the Barça shirt.

In 1973 he joined the starting team of the America National Team that faced the Europe team of Johan Cruyff, Eusébio and Giacinto Facchetti The match ended 4 to 4, and Sotil scored the third goal for his team, then in a penalty shootout the American team won 7 to 6.

That night he played alongside other South American figures such as Rivellino, Fernando Morena, Miguel Brindisi, Víctor Espárrago, Teófilo Cubillas and others.

Sotil also played and scored the opening goal in an all-star match between Europe and South America in 1973 at the Camp Nou in Barcelona.

Football greats such as Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Rivellino and Teófilo Cubillas took part in that game.

The game finished 4–4 and in Penalty kicks, South America won 7–6.

In 1973, he was transferred to FC Barcelona of Spain, where he was teammate of the stars Johan Cruyff, Juan Manuel Asensi and Carles Rexach, among others.

He was the club's striker, holding the number ten shirt.

He made his debut for Barça on 22 August, winning the Joan Gamper Trophy after beating Borussia Mönchengladbach 4–2 in penalties (2–2 in normal time), with Sotil scoring the opening goal.

In the 1973–1974 season, Barcelona won the Spanish League after 14 trophyless seasons.

Sotil was part of the team which demolished Real Madrid 5–0 in the Spanish League game played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where he scored the fifth goal.

He stayed with FC Barcelona for three seasons (1973 to 1976), played 111 games, and scored 33 goals.

On 21 Aug 1974 Sotil won his second Gamper Trophy after a 4–1 victory against Rangers F.C. By then, he was one of the Spanish League's most recognized football players.

Barcelona's hiring of Dutchman Johan Neeskens, who took a foreigner slot, resulted in his relegation from the first team in the 1974–1975 season.

He was a member of the Peruvian team that won the 1975 Copa América and reached the quarterfinals in Mexico 1970 and Argentina 1978.

"Cholo" Sotil was a skilled forward, with great dribbling.

He also played as attacking midfielder and was a great assistant of football, due to the large number of goal passes he offered to his teammates.

On a continental level, he won the Copa América in 1975—, where he scored the only goal of the final match against Colombia, giving the Inca team the title of Champions of America.

FC Barcelona occupied third place, and Catalan people demanded the return of Sotil to the team first for 1975–1976 season.

In 1977 he returned to Peru and became two-time national champion with Alianza Lima in 1977 and 1978.

In 1977, he returned to Peru and played for Alianza Lima, Sotil had a brief resurgence in form that lasted for two seasons, showing that, although he had lost some of his pace, he retained his skills.

He helped the team to win the 1977 and 1978 titles leaving a trail of 23 goals in 48 matches and a good 1978 Copa Libertadores.

In 1979, Sotil went to Colombia, where he did not perform well.

Constantly in and out of the lineup and only able to score 8 goals in 33 matches Sotil considered retiring from football.

But Sotil decided he would make one final push going back to Municipal and playing there until 1982, and returning briefly to football in 1984, playing for Espartanos, a small provincial team.

He currently works in Peru training youngsters.