Jorge Roldán

Popularly known as “El Grillo” (“the cricket”) Jorge Roldán was a Guatemalan footballer who played as a midfielder and later became a coach. Apart from a very brief spell in Spain Roldán played his entire club career for Aurora FC. He also had a lengthy spell playing for the national side.

Roldán was 18 when he joined Aurora in 1958 and would remain with the club until 1973. Whilst at Aurora he helped the team to win three league titles (1964, 1966, and 1967–68) and went on to score 111 goals for the club in 380 matches. In 1972 Roldán became the first Guatemalan footballer to play professionally in Spain when he signed for Hércules CF. His career in Spain was short with him only playing in seven matches.

As a junior Roldán played in Guatemala’s youth team and won the gold medal at the 1958 Central American Games. Three years later he made his senior international début playing in the 1961 CCCF Championship tournament in Costa Rica. In 1967 Roldán was the captain of the national side as they won the CONCACAF Championship for the first and only time. The following year he was part of the Guatemalan side that played at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, scoring a goal in the team’s 4–1 win against Thailand. Guatemala were eliminated in the quarter-finals when they lost 1–0 to the eventual champions Hungary. Roldán’s international career ended in 1973 after playing in 43 matches for his country.

After his retirement as a player Roldán became a coach with his former club Aurora, helping them to win the league title on three occasions (1975, 1986, and 1992–93). His coaching spell with Aurora was interspersed with two years managing Once Municipal in El Salvador, helping them to gain promotion to the First Division in 1976. During 1988 and 1989 Roldán was the coach of the Guatemalan national team, including when they played in the football tournament at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. He also coached the team briefly during the qualification process for the 1990 FIFA World Cup.