Jorge Campos

Jorge Campos (nicknamed El Brody or Chiqui-Campos) (born October 15, 1966 in Acapulco) is a retired Mexican footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

One of the most notable Mexican players of the 1990s, Campos was a particularly eccentric player, known for his constant play outside the penalty area, his acrobatic style in goal, and his colorful attire. His strength in goal was his leaping ability and speed, which made him able to overcome his relatively short height of 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m).

Campos also made for an effective striker, an example of rare versatility in football. At times, he would start a game in goal, and transfer upfield later in the match, mostly at the club level. His trademark, self-designed bright kits contributed to his popularity.

Career

Club

Campos started his career in 1988 in Mexico with Pumas. At that time the club's first-choice goalkeeper was Adolfo Rios but, because Campos desired first-team opportunities, he asked to be used as a striker. He performed notably in his first season, scoring 14 goals and even challenging for the title of top-goalscorer. In the following seasons he earned the position of first-choice goalkeeper and won the 1990-1991 championship with Pumas.

He also won the championship with Cruz Azul in the 1997 winter season, though he was forced to play second-fiddle to first-choice goalkeeper Oscar Perez. He was regularly used as a substitute striker during this period.

As well as Pumas and Cruz Azul, Campos also played for such clubs as Atlante, Tigres, and Puebla. He scored a notable bicycle kick goal for Atlante in the 1997 season. In that game, he started as goalkeeper, but as the forwards were failing to score a goal, the coach replaced a field player with another goalkeeper to send Campos to the attack.

He also played in the United States, where he starred in Major League Soccer's first three seasons for the Los Angeles Galaxy and Chicago Fire.

International

On the international stage, Campos started for Mexico in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups as the first choice goalkeeper, and went on to collect 130 caps for his country.

At the 1999 New Year's Cup in Hong Kong, in which Mexico was invited as well as Egypt and Bulgaria, Campos' father was kidnapped back home and Campos returned to Mexico to attend to the matter.^[1] Campos was invited several times to play with the Rest of the World Team against clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Milan.

His last game with Mexico was in 2004 when they played a friendly against Tecos.

Career statistics

^[2]

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Mexico			League		Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1988-89	Pumas		7	0
1989-90			40	14
1990-91			44	2
1991-92			37	3
1992-93			7	1
1993-94			34	2
1994-95			36	6
1995-96	Atlante		23	1
USA			League		Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1996	Los Angeles Galaxy	Major League Soccer	24	0
Mexico			League		Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1996-97	Atlante	Primera División	16	0
USA			League		Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1997	Los Angeles Galaxy	Major League Soccer	19	0
Mexico			League		Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1997-98	Cruz Azul	Primera División	2	0
1997-98	Pumas	Primera División	10	0
USA			League		Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1998	Chicago Fire	Major League Soccer	8	0
Mexico			League		Cup		League Cup		North America		Total
1998-99	Pumas	Primera División	33	6
1999-00			16	0
1999-00	Tigres	Primera División	17	0
2000-01	Atlante	Primera División	26	0
2001-02	Pumas	Primera División	33	0
2002-03	Puebla	Primera División	26	0
2003-04			2	0
Total	Mexico		409	35
	USA		51	0
Career Total			460	35

Post-Football Career

After retiring from both club and international football in the early 2000s, Campos became an assistant coach to Ricardo Lavolpe, the former head coach of the Mexican National Team. He was an assistant director of the National team that played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He also owns a fast food franchise, Sportortas-Campos , specializing in tortas. He is also a commentator for TV Azteca

Campos appeared in Nike's "Diablo" ad wearing with a simple black jersey (in contrast to the colorful jerseys he wore in games). He appeared in the ad with Ronaldo, Figo, Eric Cantona, Rui Costa, Paolo Maldini, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Tomas Brolin, and Ian Wright.

A homage to Jorge Campos appears in the internationally famous Japanese comic Captain Tsubasa, as Ricardo Espadas, captain and goalkeeper of the Mexican football team. Espadas scores Mexico's only goal in their match against Japan, which ended 2-1.