José María Rivas, Salvadoran footballer, Died at 57

  Sports

José María Rivas Martínez was born on May 12, 1958, and died on January 9, 2016.

He was a football player from El Salvador.

He was nicknamed Mandingo, Rivas played several years for Independiente De San Vicente and Atlético Marte, with whom he won a League Championship in 1985.

Jose joined San Pedro of Belize in 1990 and after leaving them had short spells at the end of his career in the Salvadoran second division with Huracán and Cojutepeque.

Martinez won the 1985 award for the Top league goal scorer and also won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball in that year

In 1980, the moustached Rivas made his official debut for El Salvador in friendly game against Panama and has represented his country for over 10 years, played in 17 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and featured in all three of El Salvador’s games at the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.

Overall, Jose has scored 22 goals for the El Salvador national football team from 1979 to 1989 and is second on his country’s all-time top scorer list.

Rivas scored 42 goals in 97 matches including non-official games.

Following his final international game was a November 1989 FIFA World Cup qualification match against the United States.

Following his retirement, he was in charge of Arabe Marte and took the reins at FAS in 1999 along with José Luis Rugamas.

During his official football career, he had obtained his medical diplomas to become a doctor and was currently part of the El Salvador national football team medical staff.

In June 2011, Jose was diagnosed and needed a marrow operation.

They had a match to raise funds in which the funds would be donated to him, by former players who were reunited to help Rivas.

José María Rivas passed away at 57 years old due to leukemia.