Teófilo Cubillas

**Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga** (; born 8 March 1949) is a Peruvian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. He was selected as Peru's greatest ever player in an IFFHS poll, in which he was also included in the world's Top 50. He was renowned for his technique, shooting ability and free kick ability. He was considered one of the best players in the world of the 1970s and the best in his position of the decade only behind the Dutch Johan Cruyff. Among his main achievements are the FIFA awards for the best young player and the bronze boot in the 1970 FIFA World Cup, as well as the silver boot and member of the ideal team of the 1978 FIFA World Cup, he was also champion and best player of the 1975 Copa América. He is regarded one of the best attacking midfielders in the history of football.

Nicknamed ***El Nene*** _(The Kid)_, he was part of the Peru national football team that won the 1975 Copa América. He helped Peru reach the quarter finals at the 1970 FIFA World Cup and again at the 1978 World Cup and was elected the South American Footballer of the Year in 1972.

In 2004, Pelé selected Cubillas as one of the FIFA 100, a list of 125 footballing greats. In February 2008, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Brazilian World Cup victory, he was selected in the _All-Star First Team_ of South America of the past 50 years. Cubillas is one of only three players to score five or more goals in two different World Cups, the other two being Miroslav Klose and Thomas Müller.

### Club

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|Cup|colspan="2"|Continental|colspan="2"|Total||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="8"|Alianza Lima|1966|rowspan="7"|Peruvian Primera División|23|19|–||||||
|1967|25|9|–|–|||||||||
|1968|26|19|–|–|||||||||
|1969|11|5|–|–|||||||||
|1970|27|22|–|–|||||||||
|1971|29|22|–|–|||||||||
|1972|29|14|–||||||||||
|FC Basel|1973–74|Swiss Super League|10|3||||2|||||
|rowspan="5"|Porto|1973–74|rowspan="4"|Primeira Liga|12|4|3|1|-|15|5||
|1974–75|30|9|6|4|4|2|40|15|||||
|1975–76|29|28|4|4|5|4|38|36|||||
|1976–77|14|7|3|2|2|1|19|10|||||
|rowspan="3"|Alianza Lima|1977|rowspan="2"|Peruvian Primera División|32|23|–||–|–|32|23|
|1978|15|12|–|–|10|7|25|19|||||
|rowspan="6"|Fort Lauderdale Strikers|1979|rowspan="5"|NASL|30|16|—|–|–|—|32|16|
|1980|34|18|–|–|–|–|34|18|||||
|1981|34|19|–|–|–|–|34|19|||||
|1982|18|4|–|–|–|–|18|4|||||
|1983|23|8|–|–|–|–|23|8|||||
|Alianza Lima|1984|Peruvian Primera División|4|4|–|–|–|–|4|4|||
|rowspan="3"|South Florida Sun|1984|rowspan="2"|USL|5|4|–||–|–|5|4|
|1985|2|1|–||||2|1|||||
|Alianza Lima|1987|Peruvian Primera División|13|3|||||13|3|||
|Fort Lauderdale Strikers|1988|ASL|12|7|–|–|–|–|12|7|||

### International

- _Scores and results list Peru's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cubillas goal._

|scope="col"|No.|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Venue|scope="col"|Opponent|scope="col"|Score|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="center"|1|8 May 1969|Bogotá, Colombia||align="center"|2–1|align="center"|3–1|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|2|rowspan="2"|9 July 1969|rowspan="2"|Lima, Peru|rowspan="2"||align="center"|1–0|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|2–1|rowspan="2"|Friendly|
|align="center"|3|align="center"|2–0|||||||||||
|align="center"|4|17 August 1969|Lima, Peru||align="center"|2–0|align="center"|3–0|1970 World Cup qualifier|||||
|align="center"|5|7 February 1970|Lima, Peru||align="center"|2–1|align="center"|2–1|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|6|9 February 1970|Lima, Peru||align="center"|1–1|align="center"|1–1|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|7|24 February 1970|Lima, Peru||align="center"|1–2|align="center"|5–3|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|8|2 June 1970|León, Mexico||align="center"|3–2|align="center"|3–2|1970 World Cup|||||
|align="center"|9|rowspan="2"|6 June 1970|rowspan="2"|León, Mexico|rowspan="2"||align="center"|1–0|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|3–0|rowspan="2"|1970 World Cup|
|align="center"|10|align="center"|3–0|||||||||||
|align="center"|11|10 June 1970|León, Mexico||align="center"|1–3|align="center"|1–3|1970 World Cup|||||
|align="center"|12|14 June 1970|Guadalajara, Mexico||align="center"|2–3|align="center"|2–4|1970 World Cup|||||
|align="center"|13|5 April 1972|Mexico City, Mexico||align="center"|1–1|align="center"|1–2|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|14|23 April 1972|Bucharest, Romania||align="center"|1–1|align="center"|2–2|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|15|rowspan="2"|4 March 1973|rowspan="2"|Lima, Peru|rowspan="2"||align="center"|2–0|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|5–1|rowspan="2"|Friendly|
|align="center"|16|align="center"|4–1|||||||||||
|align="center"|17|23 April 1973|Lima, Peru||align="center"|3–0|align="center"|4–0|Friendly|||||
|align="center"|18|20 August 1975|Lima, Peru||align="center"|2–0|align="center"|3–1|Copa America 1975|||||
|align="center"|19|30 September 1975|Belo Horizonte, Brasil||align="center"|2–0|align="center"|3–1|Copa America 1975|||||
|align="center"|20|rowspan="2"|17 July 1977|rowspan="2"|Cali, Colombia|rowspan="2"||align="center"|2–0|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|5–0|rowspan="2"|1978 World Cup qualifier|
|align="center"|21|align="center"|3–0|||||||||||
|align="center"|22|rowspan="2"|3 June 1978|rowspan="2"|Córdoba, Argentina|rowspan="2"||align="center"|2–1|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|3–1|rowspan="2"|1978 World Cup|
|align="center"|23|align="center"|3–1|||||||||||
|align="center"|24|rowspan="3"|11 June 1978|rowspan="3"|Córdoba, Argentina|rowspan="3"||align="center"|2–0|rowspan="3" style="text-align:center"|4–1|rowspan="3"|1978 World Cup|
|align="center"|25|align="center"|3–0|||||||||||
|align="center"|26|align="center"|4–1|||||||||||

## Honours

**Porto**
- Taça de Portugal: 1976–77

**Alianza Lima**
- Peruvian Primera División: 1977, 1978

**Fort Lauderdale Sun**
- United Soccer League: 1984, 1985

**Peru**
- Copa América: 1975

**Individual**
- Peruvian Primera División top scorer: 1966, 1970
- FIFA World Cup Best Young Player: 1970
- FIFA World Cup Bronze Boot: 1970
- Copa Libertadores top scorer: 1972
- South American Footballer of the Year: 1972
- CONMEBOL All-Star Team: 1973
- Copa America Best Player: 1975
- FIFA World Cup Silver Boot: 1978
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1978
- NASL All-Star teams, all-time: 1980, 1981
- NASL Best Midfield: 1981
- Fort Lauderdale Strikers top scorer, all time: 1984
- France Football: World Cup top 100 1930–1990: 2000
- World Soccer The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time: 2000
- Placar The 100 Players of the Century: 2000
- Placar The 100 Players FIFA World Cup: 2000
- FIFA 100: 2004
- IFFHS' Best Players of the Century for Peru: 2006
- World – Player of the Century Nº 48: 2006
- South American – Player of the Century Nº 17: 2006
- The Best of The Best – Player of the Century Top 50: 2007
- CONMEBOL All-Star first team 1958–2008: 2008
- Peru national team all-time scoring leader: 2008

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Teófilo Cubillas
- **image**: Teófilo Cubillas.JPG
- **image size**: 270px
- **caption**: Cubillas in 2009
- **fullname**: Teófilo Juan Cubillas Arizaga
- **birth place**: Lima, Peru
- **position**: Attacking midfielder
- **youthclubs1**: Alianza Lima
- **years1**: 1966–1972
- **clubs1**: Alianza Lima
- **caps1**: 175
- **goals1**: 117
- **years2**: 1973
- **clubs2**: FC Basel, Basel
- **caps2**: 10
- **goals2**: 3
- **years3**: 1974–1977
- **clubs3**: F.C. Porto, Porto
- **caps3**: 85
- **goals3**: 48
- **years4**: 1977–1978
- **clubs4**: Alianza Lima
- **caps4**: 47
- **goals4**: 35
- **years5**: 1979–1983
- **clubs5**: Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–83), Fort Lauderdale Strikers
- **caps5**: 139
- **goals5**: 65
- **years6**: 1983
- **clubs6**: Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–83), Fort Lauderdale Strikers _(indoor)_
- **caps6**: 9
- **goals6**: 9
- **years7**: 1984
- **clubs7**: Alianza Lima
- **caps7**: 4
- **goals7**: 4
- **years8**: 1984–1985
- **clubs8**: South Florida Sun
- **caps8**: 7
- **goals8**: 5
- **years9**: 1987–1988
- **clubs9**: Alianza Lima
- **caps9**: 13
- **goals9**: 3
- **years10**: 1988
- **clubs10**: Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–94), Fort Lauderdale Strikers
- **caps10**: 12
- **goals10**: 7
- **years11**: 1989
- **clubs11**: Miami Sharks
- **caps11**: 8
- **goals11**: 1
- **totalcaps**: 506
- **totalgoals**: 297
- **nationalyears1**: 1968–1982
- **nationalteam1**: Peru national football team, Peru
- **nationalcaps1**: 81
- **nationalgoals1**: 26
- **manageryears1**: 1988
- **managerclubs1**: Alianza Lima