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Elías Ricardo Figueroa Brander (born October 25, 1946 in Valparaíso) is a Chilean former football player. He is generally regarded as his country's best footballer of all time, as well as one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game. Figueroa played for several clubs during his long career, notably his hometown club Santiago Wanderers, Brazilian club Internacional and Uruguayan club Peñarol. He also represented Chile 47 times, appearing in three world cups, in 1966, 1974, and 1982. Figueroa was noted for his elegant style of play, his calmness in the centre of defence and his ability to cut out opposition attacks and immediately launch counterattacks from the back. He was also praised throughout his career for being a gentleman on and off the pitch. He was twice awarded the Bola de Ouro, the Brazilian Player of the year award whilst playing for Internacional in 1972 and 1976. He was also awarded the South American Footballer of the Year three times in a row by Venezuelan newspaper ''El Mundo'' in 1974, 1975 and 1976. He was designated Best Player in Uruguay in 1967 and 1968 and Best Player in Chile in 1977 and 1978. He has subsequently been voted into the world's 125 best living soccer players and was also voted 8th best South American and 37th best player in the world of the 20th Century by the IFFHS in 1999. In March 2011 he revealed that he was considering entering the FIFA Presidential election. ==Playing Style== "Don Elias" was noted as a player for having a keen ability to neutralize attacks with his great reading of the game. Figueroa also had the ability to start counter-attacks from defence thanks to his vision and good range of passing. There were comparisons with Beckenbauer, but while the German often looked for long, killer balls upfield, Figueroa typically used shorter, incisive passes to spring his team-mates forward. Figueroa was also a threat in the final third of the pitch, often marauding forward to lay on goals for other players. Figueroa remembers: "when I played in Brazil, always we did a play in which the wing back and the winger retained the ball and all marked us until that I entered free by the center to attack".〔http://www.capital.cl/vida-y-estilo/2014/05/16/120515-don-elias-nunca-me-gusto-ser-defensa〕 A great technical footballer, Figueroa was also a physical presence, good in the air and strong in one-on-ones. He had a reputation of being a clean and fair player. Only once in his entire career was he shown a red card and was selected as captain for every team he played for. According to journalist Nelson Rodrigues, Figueroa was "elegant, as an earl dressed in suit, and dangerous as a Bengal Tiger. Elias Figueroa was the perfect defender."〔http://www.libero.pe/figueroa-es-la-leyenda-viva-del-futbol-chileno-2012-01-23〕〔http://www.clarin.com/deportes/futbol/stylecolorBF1424Planeta-RedondoibrElias-Figueroa-dueno-area_0_406759581.html〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Elías Figueroa」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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