Historical profile
Career overview
Mario Alberto Kempes (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈmaɾjo alˈβeɾto ˈkempes]; born 15 July 1954) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker or attacking midfielder. A prolific goalscorer, he finished as La Liga's top goalscorer twice with Valencia where he amassed 116 goals in 184 league games. He is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time. At international level, Kempes was the focal point of Argentina's 1978 FIFA World Cup win where he scored twice in the final and received the Golden Boot as top goalscorer. He also won the Golden Ball for the player of the tournament, making him one of only three players to have won all three awards at a single World Cup, along with Garrincha in 1962 and Paolo Rossi in 1982. Kempes won South American Footballer of the Year, Onze d'Or European Footballer of the Year and World Cup Golden Ball in 1978. In 2004, he was n