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Manuel Araya Díaz

Araya Díaz in 1978
Personal information
Full name	Manuel Enrique Araya Díaz
Date of birth	(1948-05-08)8 May 1948
Place of birth	Santiago, Chile
Date of death	4 July 1994(1994-07-04) (aged 46)
Place of death	Santiago, Chile
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
???–1967	Colo-Colo
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1971	Colo-Colo	66	(0)
1972	Lota Schwager
1973–1980	Palestino
1981–1984	Naval
1985	Palestino
International career
1979	Chile	2	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Manuel Enrique Araya Díaz (8 May 1948 – 4 July 1994) was a Chilean footballer. Nicknamed "Loco", played for Colo-Colo throughout the early 1970s as well as with Palestino for most of his career as he would earn several national titles with the two clubs as a goalkeeper. He also briefly represented his home country of Chile in 1979.

Club career

Araya began his career within the youth sector of Colo-Colo before making his senior debut on 30 June 1968 in a match against Santiago Morning. He would remain in the club from 1968 until 1971, playing in 66 matches in 4 seasons. He would be part of the winning squad for the 1970 Primera División de Chile and subsequently play in the 1971 Copa Libertadores. Despite wanting to further his career with the club, differences with the coaches would impede a long-term career with the club. This would result in him then playing for Lota Schwager in 1972 but would be short lived following an eight-game suspension following an ejection from a match.

He then played for Palestino in 1973 where he would experience his most successful seasons. He would be part of the winning squads for the 1975 and 1977 Copa Chile and would also win the 1978 Primera División de Chile. These successes would result in Araya playing in more editions of the Copa Libertadores where he would play in the 1976, 1978 and 1979 editions with the latter being notable as he would set a currently unbroken record of maintaining clean play for 510 total minutes within the Copa Libertadores in 44 matches. As a part of this football dynasty, he would play alongside other players such as Elías Figueroa, Óscar Fabbiani, Sergio Messen, Rodolfo Dubó and Manuel Rojas.

Following several years with Palestino, he would play for Naval beginning in 1981 and played alongside other players such as Jorge Aravena, Óscar Herrera, Marcelo Pacheco, Jorge Rodríguez and Juan Soto. Despite biefly playing for Aviación, he would play his final season with Palestino once more in 1985. He would play in the final of the 1985 Copa Chile against his old club of Colo-Colo but would end up losing. After retiring from professional football, he would play in a few brief amateur spells in Germany and the United States. He would also play futsal at several venues including the Teatro Caupolicán.

International career

Araya would briefly represent Chile on two occasions in 1979 with both of these being friendlies against Ecuador. Despite being selected by manager Luis Santibañez himself, his international career would be brief due to not being allowed to keep sporting his long hair.

Personal life

Known for having excellent reflexes and hands with good grip, he was known for having an exuberant, intelligent and alert personality, despite being noted as being relatively introverted outside of the field. This reputation would lead to Araya being recognized as being one of the best goalkeepers within the history of Chilean football. His life was noted with various highlights as he would sometimes sit on the crossbar of the goal to watch the rest game when he was bored. Another notable incident occurred in 1972 in where a match was delayed due to Araya peeling an orange and couldn't start until he had finished eating it. In 1994, he entered the Noche Alba in a straitjacket. Following several familial disputes including a divorce and Araya losing custody of his sons as they lived all the way in Como, Lombardy, he would commit suicide on the night of 4 July 1994.

References

1. "Ídolos Albos: Manuel Araya". Colo-Colo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 17 July 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
2. "El arquero que en pleno partido se subía arriba del arco a ver fútbol". Fútbol y Fútbol (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 December 2024.
3. ^ "MANUEL "LOCO" ARAYA: (qepd) 1972". Aguantelota (in Spanish). 6 July 2010. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
4. "Manuel "Loco" Araya, un arquero distinto, que dejó huella donde estuvo". HISTORIAS DEL FÚTBOL (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 September 2022.
5. "Partidos de la Roja: Manuel Araya Díaz". Partidos de la Roja (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 December 2024.
6. "Ficha Manuel Araya". Solo Fútbol. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
7. "Tributo a Manuel "Loco" Araya". La Rompieron (in Spanish). 26 January 2009. Archived from the original on 31 August 2011.
8. "Las extravagancias de Manuel "Loco" Araya". La Tercera (in Spanish). 6 August 2011. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
9. Casa Editorial El Tiempo (26 July 1994). "SE SUICIDA FUTBOLISTA:". El Tiempo (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 August 2021.

• 1948 births
• 1994 deaths
• 1994 suicides
• Footballers from Santiago, Chile
• Chilean men's footballers
• Men's association football goalkeepers
• Chilean Primera División players
• Colo-Colo footballers
• Lota Schwager footballers
• Club Deportivo Palestino footballers
• Naval de Talcahuano footballers
• C.D. Aviación footballers
• Chile men's international footballers