# Mario Cordero

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Costa Rican footballer (1930-2002)

Mario Cordero Personal information Full name Mario Cordero Brenes Date of birth (1930-04-07)7 April 1930 Place of birth San José, Costa Rica Date of death 10 July 2002(2002-07-10) (aged 72) Place of death San José, Costa Rica Position Defender Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 1949–1951 Saprissa 1951–1952 Marte 1952–1964 Saprissa International career 1950–1963 Costa Rica 41 (7) Managerial career 1964–1967 Saprissa 1965 Costa Rica 1968–1970 Saprissa 1980 Saprissa * Club domestic league appearances and goals

In this [Spanish name](/source/Spanish_name), the first or paternal [surname](/source/Surname) is *Cordero* and the second or maternal family name is *Brenes*.

**Mario Cordero Brenes**(7 April 1930 – 10 July 2002) was a Costa Rican [football](/source/Association_football) player and coach; he is still considered in his country as one of the top [defenders](/source/Defender_(football)) to have played the game.[1]

## Club career

Better known as *Catato* or *Piernas de Oro*,[2] he was part of the [Deportivo Saprissa](/source/Deportivo_Saprissa) team that embarked on a World Tour in 1959, becoming the first [Latin American](/source/Latin_America) team to do so. Catato was the leader and captain of Deportivo Saprissa during the 1950s and early 1960s. He spent one season in the Mexican league, with Atletico Marte. He retired after a match against the Argentinian team Banfield on 25 December 1964.[2] Catato is remembered for his sportsmanship on and off the field, as well as his excellent positioning, powerful shoot and defensive reliability.

## International career

During those years, he played the same role in the [Costa Rica national football team](/source/Costa_Rica_national_football_team), making 41 appearances.[3]

## Managerial career

As coach, Catato guided Saprissa to four national titles in the 1960s, adding up to the four he had won previously as a player. He also managed [Costa Rica's national team](/source/Costa_Rica_national_football_team).[4]

## Death

He died of [respiratory arrest](/source/Respiratory_arrest) on 10 July 2002 in the Rafael Angel Calderon Guardia Hospital in San José.[2]

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["MARIO CORDERO BRENES (CATATO)"](http://www.salfadeco.or.cr/miembros/046.html). Salón de la Fama del Deporte Costarricense. Retrieved 15 March 2018.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-Obituary_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-Obituary_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-Obituary_2-2) Rodrigo Calvo C. (11 July 2002). [""Catato" murió ayer Mario a la eternidad (Obituary)"](http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/2002/julio/11/deportes12.html). *[La Nación](/source/La_Naci%C3%B3n_(Chile))* (in Spanish). Retrieved 15 March 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Mamrud, Roberto. ["Costa Rica – Record International Players"](https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/cos-recintlp.html). RSSSF. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090706072055/http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/cos-recintlp.html) from the original on 6 July 2009. Retrieved 2 June 2009.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Arnoldo Rivera Jiménez (23 May 1999). ["Grandes figuras del deporte Nadie como Catato Mario Cordero, el mejor defensa central de todos los tiempos"](http://wvw.nacion.com/ln_ee/1999/mayo/23/deportes5.html) [Great sports figures: Nobody is like Catato Mario Cordero, the best central defender of all time]. *La Nación*. Retrieved 15 March 2018.

## External links

- [Mario Cordero](https://www.national-football-teams.com/player/55501.html) at National-Football-Teams.com

Costa Rica squads v t e Costa Rica squad – 1953 CCCF Championship 1 C. Alvarado 2 H. Alvarado 3 Sanabria 4 Cordero 5 Williams 6 W. Jiménez 7 Molina 8 Chacón 9 Quesada 10 Valenciano 11 Esquivel 12 I. Jiménez 13 Roldán 14 Herrera 15 Á. Murillo 16 Goñi 17 Rodríguez 18 Zeledón 19 Láscarez 20 É. Murillo 21 Solano 22 Campos Coach: Bumbe v t e Costa Rica squad – 1955 CCCF Championship 1 H. Alvarado 2 Pérez 3 C. Alvarado 4 Villalobos 5 Solís 6 Cordero 7 Orozco 8 Sánchez 9 Williams 10 Quesada 11 Esquivel 12 Rodríguez 13 Quirós 14 Herrera 15 Gobán 16 M. Murillo 17 Monge 18 Montero 19 Ulloa 20 Bejarano 21 Jiménez 22 Murillo 23 González Coach: Piedra v t e Costa Rica squad – 1960 CCCF Championship 1 H. Alvarado 2 C. Alvarado 3 Induni 4 Chaves 5 Cordero 6 McDonald 7 Sánchez 8 G. Rodríguez 9 J. L. Quesada 10 M. Rodríguez 11 Quirós 12 E. Quesada 13 Gámez 14 Valenciano 15 Cortés 16 Armijo 17 Ulloa 18 Monge 19 Jiménez 20 Bejarano 21 Herrera 22 Guillermo Padilla 23 Rojas Coach: Amorín v t e Costa Rica squad – 1963 CONCACAF Championship (1st title) 1 Sagot 2 Pérez 3 Meneses 4 Cordero 5 Zúñiga 6 Grant 7 Sánchez 8 Rodríguez 9 Hernández Astorga 10 Quesada 11 Gámez 12 Marín Segura 13 Madriz 14 Quirós 15 Córdoba 16 Marín Levi 17 Hernández Valerín 18 Jiménez 19 Pearson 20 Vázquez 21 Coto 22 Elizondo 23 González Coach: Piedra v t e Costa Rica squad – 1965 CONCACAF Championship third place 1 Sagot 2 Pérez 3 Gutiérrez 4 Elizondo 5 Cháves 6 Jiménez 7 Zúñiga 8 Grant 9 Briceño 10 Brenes 11 Boyer 12 Quirós 13 Gámez 14 Chacón 15 López 16 Marín 17 Daniels 18 Peña 19 Córdoba 20 Hernández 21 González 22 Sáenz 23 Bosques Coach: Cordero, Piedra and Viso

v t e Costa Rica national football team – managers Rosabal (1921) Rodríguez (1930) Saprissa (1935 & 1938) Morera (1941 & 1943) Rojas (1943) Bolaños & Galloway (1946) Bonilla (1950) Bumbel (1953) Tassara (1960) Toba (1960–61) Piedra (1961–63) Cordero (1965) Viso (1965–6x) Maschio (1972) Etchegoyen (1975) Gámez (1976) Moyano (1980–84) Grant (1985) Odir Jacques (1985–87) De Simone (1987–89) Rodríguez (1989) Milutinović (1990) Villalobos (1991–92) Núñez (1992) Gámez (1993) Grant (1993) Rojas (1993–95) Vieira (1996) Cordero (1997) Hernández Fuertes (1997) Villalobos (1998) Maturana (1999) Rodríguez (1999–2000) Gílson Nunes (2000) Guimarães (2001–02) Kenton (2002) Sampson (2002–04) Pinto (2004–05) Guimarães (2005–06) Medford (2006–08) Kenton (2008–09) Simões (2009) González (2010) La Volpe (2010–11) González (2011) Pinto (2011–14) Wanchope (2014–15) Ramírez (2015–18) González i (2018) Matosas (2018–19) Sequeira i (2019) González (2019–21) Suárez (2021–23) Vivas i (2023) Alfaro (2023–24) Vivas i (2024–25) Herrera (2025) Batista (2026–) (i) = interim head coach

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mario Cordero](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Cordero) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Cordero?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.