Nicknames!

April 10th, 2006 | by: Trent | Comments(2)

Footballers and nicknames go together like sportsmen and sobriquets. Or something. Anyway, the pantheon of football history is jam-packed with great nicknames (apodos)—every country and every club has their own. Ecuador is of course no different. The two greatest players in Ecuadorian football history, after all, are Alberto “Cabeza Magica” Spencer and Alex “El Maestro” Aguinaga. So what does the current crop of Ecuadorian players have to offer in the nickname department? A list after the jump.

Here is a list I’ve compiled of some of the Ecuadorian players and their nicknames:

Roberto Mina – The Raging Bull

Ivan Kaviedes – El Nine (The Kid, but also because his youth team had shirts with the number written out in English-thus, El Nine)

Franklin Salas – El Mago (The Magician)

Carlos Tenorio – Super Teno

Augustin Delgado – El Tin

Armando Gomez – La Bomba

Felix Borja – El Canguro (The Kangaroo)

Héctor Boderone – El Tanque (The Tank)

Gustavo Figueroa – El Potro (The Colt)

Walter Iza – El Conejo (The Rabbit)

Ivan Hurtado – Bam-Bam

Walter Ayovi – Macaco (Monkey)

Giovanny Espinoza – La Sombra (The Shade)

Geovanny Ibarra – El Gato (The Cat)

Luis Saritama – Correcaminos (Roadrunner)

Cristian Mora – Flaco (Skinny)

Edwin Villafuerte – Don Villa

Moises Candalario – La Candela (The Candle)

And in a great triumph of hard-hitting journalism, El Comercio took a survey that suggested that goalkeeper Juan Francisco Cevallos has the country’s best nickname. Maybe so, but when you go by “Las Manos del Ecuador” (the hands of Ecuador) you had better perform heroically.

So. What other Ecuador players have great nicknames? What are your favorite nicknames from other countries?