Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) Playing position | Years Team Name Jose Rivas | |
Full name Jose Maria Rivas Martinez Date of birth (1958-05-12) May 12, 1958 (age 57) Place of birth San Salvador, El Salvador | ||
Jose maria rivas groot
José María Rivas Martínez (12 May 1958 – 9 January 2016) was a football player from El Salvador.
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Club career
Nicknamed Mandingo, Rivas played several years for Independiente De San Vicente and Atlético Marte, with whom he won a League Championship in 1985. In 1990 he joined San Pedro of Belize and after leaving them had short spells at the end of his career in the Salvadoran second division with Huracán and Cojutepeque.
He won the 1985 Top league goal scorer award and also won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball in that year.
International career
The moustached Rivas made his official debut for El Salvador in a March 1980 friendly match against Panama and has represented his country for over 10 years, played in 17 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and featured in all three of El Salvador's games at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain. He scored 22 goals for the El Salvador national football team from 1979 to 1989 and is second on his country's all-time top scorer list. He scored 42 goals in 97 matches including non-official games.
His final international game was a November 1989 FIFA World Cup qualification match against the United States.
Retirement and illness
After he retired, he was in charge of C.D. Árabe Marte and took the reins at FAS in 1999 along with José Luis Rugamas.
During his playing career, he had obtained his medical diplomas to become a doctor and was part of the El Salvador national football team medical staff. In June 2011, it became clear Rivas was seriously ill and needed a marrow operation, for which funds would be raised with a benefit match. A lot of former players were reunited to help Rivas. Rivas died of leukemia on 9 January 2016 at the age of 57.