Mario Kempes
Centre-Forward · Valencia · Argentina
About Mario Kempes
Mario Kempes — "El Toro" — is Argentina's 1978 World Cup hero: the tournament's top scorer with 6 goals (including two in the final against the Netherlands), who dragged a Menotti-managed side to their first World Cup title on home soil. He won the European Golden Boot in 1977, played for Valencia (ESP), and is one of the few players to have won both a European Golden Boot and a World Cup in consecutive seasons.
Mario Kempes's story
El Toro
Kempes was born in Bell Ville, Córdoba — the same town as Ossie Ardiles — and came through Instituto before moving to Valencia (ESP) in 1976. He won the European Golden Boot in 1977 with 28 La Liga goals — the top-scoring European that season — then returned to Argentina for the 1978 World Cup having been excluded from the preliminary squad by César Menotti, who then included him after pressure from fans.
1978
At Argentina's home World Cup, Kempes scored 6 goals — including a brace in the final against the Netherlands that won Argentina their first World Cup. His first final goal — dribbling through multiple defenders before toe-poking past Jan Jongbloed — is the defining individual moment of Argentina's 1978 tournament. He was voted the tournament's best player. He then returned to Valencia (ESP) and scored 116 goals across his Spanish career.
The Beard
Kempes's dark, shoulder-length hair and thick moustache became the visual signature of Argentina's 1978 World Cup — as recognisable as the blue-and-white confetti that rained down on the Estadio Monumental. He represents a generation of Argentine football — direct, powerful, technically accomplished — that predated the Maradona era while creating the expectation it needed to exceed.
Did you know?
- 🏆 He scored 6 goals — including 2 in the final — to win the 1978 World Cup Golden Boot and lead Argentina to their first World Cup on home soil.
- 🥇 He won the 1977 European Golden Boot with 28 La Liga goals for Valencia — the only player to win the European Golden Boot and the World Cup in consecutive seasons until Ronaldo achieved the same in 2002.
- 👨👩👧👦 Married twice; has children. He settled in Spain and worked as a TV analyst, remaining the hero of Argentina's 1978 World Cup triumph.
- 🌟 César Menotti initially excluded him from Argentina's 1978 World Cup squad before public pressure forced his inclusion. He repaid the faith by winning the tournament's Golden Boot. It is football's finest case of a player silencing a manager's doubters.
- 💇 His dark hair, moustache, and beard made him one of the most visually distinctive players of the 1970s — the face of Argentina's World Cup triumph as completely as Pelé was the face of Brazil's.
- 📊 He scored 116 La Liga goals for Valencia across eight seasons — one of the finest records by a South American player in Spanish football in the pre-modern era.
- 🇪🇸 His Valencia career (1976-1984) coincided with the club's finest era — winning the Copa del Rey and Cup Winners' Cup — and he remains one of the most celebrated players in the club's history.
- 🤝 His striking partnership with Daniel Bertoni for Argentina at the 1978 World Cup — Kempes as the physical focal point, Bertoni as the creative partner — produced the finest Argentine attacking combination until Maradona and Caniggia.
- 🎖️ He is Argentina's second-highest World Cup final scorer — only Maradona's 1986 final assist record compares — and the only Argentine to score twice in a World Cup final.
Honours
- FIFA World Cup: Argentina (1978) — Golden Boot, 6 goals including 2 in the final
- European Golden Boot: 1977 — top scorer in European football
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: Valencia (1980)
- Copa del Rey: Valencia (1979)
- World Cup Final Brace: Two goals in the 1978 World Cup Final against Netherlands
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