Noticias de Chile

In the third installment of my global interview series, South America is the destination, with Carlos A. Almazán from Chile.

The web log documents a local team of friends and is called 525 Baby Futbol Club. My thanks.



FC: What are the football leagues like in Chile and what other countries do most Chilean players play in?

CA: 1. Brazil of course ..., Argentina, the Spanish League, the Italian League, the Premiership.

There are also Chilean players in Mexico, Israel, Portugal, Russia, and the Netherlands (preferably)

FC follow-up: Why a preference for the Netherlands?

CA: Holland, because we remember well those Dutch sides of Johan Cruyff “la naranja mecánica” remember? We have two are three Chileans there, at Feyenoord.

FC: Recently Chile has had better results internationally, and you are not far off a World Cup qualifying place, what accounts for the improvement? What's your opinion of Chile's chances to qualify for Germany 2006?

CA: Thanks for considering us in contention! We’re not so optimisitic, it’s important to win all the home games we have left, but we have not performed well at home thus far.

FC: What was Chile's best ever team?

CA: Historically, the 1962 World Cup, which we hosted in our country, was the best result we’d ever demonstrated (Some players: Escuti, Jorge Toro, Leonel Sanchez, Tito, Fuilloux, el “Fifo” Eizaguirre, etc.)

FC: Would you support a South American league made up of the top two teams from each country? What if it meant losing the 2 best teams from your country in a continental league?

CA: If I understand that would mean not playing in the Chilean league and instead a professional league from all of South America? If so, yes, I think its an interesting project, and I would like to see it.

FC: How is football supported in Chile? What foriegn leagues do they watch?

CA: We have a mix from several countries and now the Chilean Football Federation is trying to build 'Anonimas', societies, that means private enterprises open to '*accionistas'. An example is the Colo Colo team. We watch a lot of leagues here, but we try to do a mix.

* Accionista: A person which buys the rights to be owner of a club. It can also be as a group, as long as they acquire 50% of the shares. The 'accionista' can decide the future of the clubs partners.

FC: Who are some Chilean footballers who I've never heard of but you think might make an impact on the game?

CA: I don’t know how much you know about Chilean player’s, but in our under 20 youth team we have players like Valdivia, Rubio, and Matias Fernandez.

See a list of all the interviews published so far

Please email if you'd like to conduct an interview (over email) or if you know the name of a weblog in your country.