Porfirio Armando Betancourt

Porfirio Armando Betancourt
	Betancourt in 1981
Personal information
Full name	Porfirio Armando Betancourt Carranza
Date of birth	10 October 1957
Place of birth	Lima, Honduras
Date of death	28 July 2021 (aged 63)
Place of death	San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1976	Honduran Brewery
College career
Years	Team
1979–1981	Indiana University
Senior career*
Years	Team
1977–1978	Marathón
1981–1982	Real España
1982–1984	Strasbourg
1984–1985	St. Louis Steamers (indoor)
1985–1986	Logroñes
1987–1988	Kansas City Comets (indoor)
1988	Marathón
International career
1982–1985	Honduras
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Porfirio Armando Betancourt Carranza (10 October 1957 – 28 July 2021) was a Honduran professional footballer.

Youth

Born in

All American

honours. That season, the Hoosiers went to the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.

Betancourt joined the Honduran Olympic team for the 1980 Summer Olympics qualification tournament. When Honduras joined the US-led boycott of the games, Betancourt returned to Indiana.

For the 1980 collegiate season, Betancourt saw a drop off in his scoring, bagging 17 goals and assisting on 16 others. However, this was good enough to earn him second team All American honours. While Betancourt saw a personal slump, his team made it to the

first team All America, and winning the Hermann Trophy as the best collegiate player that year. While Betancourt left Indiana University after his junior year to play for Honduras in the 1982 FIFA World Cup

, he is still considered one of the greatest collegiate players ever.

Soccer America Magazine named him the Player of the Decade (1980s) and placed him on its College Team of the Century

. In 1992, Indiana University inducted Betancourt into its Hall of Fame.

Professional

On 27 October 1981, the

José de la Paz Herrera

called up Betancourt to replace the injured Jimmy James Bailey. Betancourt would go on to play every minute of Honduras’ three games (0–2–1 record) during the cup.

After the World Cup, Betancourt moved to France to pursue a professional career with

Racing Club Strasbourg, which played in the French First Division

at the time. He joined Strasbourg in June 1982 and remained with the team until June 1984. During his time with Strasbourg, he played 38 league games, scoring five goals. He played another seven cup games, but scored no goals in them.

Betancourt returned to the US and signed with the

Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) for the 1984–85 season. In 1985, he was on the roster of Spanish club CD Logroñés, then playing in the Spanish Primera División

.

In 1985, Betancourt was called up to the Honduras national football team for its qualification campaign for the

Kansas City Comets

of MISL during the 1987–88 pre-season.

He then returned to Honduras where he played for

Marathón

in 1988. He then moved to Florida where he lived for several years before returning to Honduras to enter politics.

International career

Betancourt was called up by

1977 FIFA Youth Cup

. Betancourt scored 11 goals while leading Honduras to an undefeated record and a berth in the Cup. Honduras went 2–1 in group play, but failed to qualify for the second round.

He made his debut for the Honduras seniors in an April 1982

friendly match against El Salvador and has earned a total of nine caps, scoring five goals. He has represented his country in four FIFA World Cup qualification matches^[1] and played all three matches at the 1982 FIFA World Cup

.

His final international was a September 1985 World Cup qualification match against Canada.

Death

Betancourt died of COVID-19 on 28 July 2021, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.^[2]^[3]

International goals

Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Betancourt goal.

List of international goals scored by Porfirio Armando Betancourt
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	18 April 1982		El Salvador	3–0	2–3	Friendly match
2	22 April 1982		El Salvador	1–0	1–1	Friendly match
3	11 August 1985	Estadio Ricardo Saprissa, Costa Rica, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	2–1	2–2	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
4	8 September 1985	Estadio Tiburcio Carías Andino, Tegucigalpa, Honduras	Costa Rica	1–1	3–1	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	14 September 1985	, St. John's, Canada	Canada	1–1	1–2	1986 FIFA World Cup qualification

References

^ Porfirio Armando Betancourt – FIFA competition record (archived)
^ "World Cup player with Honduras dies in Spain 82 Porfirio Armando Betancourt, victim of Covid-19 – Diez". East Africa News Post. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.
^ "COVID-19: Falleció de covid-19 el mundialista hondureño Porfirio Armando Betancourt". TVN (in European Spanish). 28 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

External links

Porfirio Armando Betancourt at National-Football-Teams.com
MISL stats

[1] Porfirio Armando Betancourt – FIFA competition record (archived)

[2] "World Cup player with Honduras dies in Spain 82 Porfirio Armando Betancourt, victim of Covid-19 – Diez". East Africa News Post. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

[3] "COVID-19: Falleció de covid-19 el mundialista hondureño Porfirio Armando Betancourt". TVN (in European Spanish). 28 July 2021. Retrieved 29 July 2021.

[1]

[2]

[3]

v t e Soccer America College Team of the Century
Brad Friedel (Goalkeeper)
Erik Imler Paul Caligiuri Adubarie Otorubio (Defenders)
Andy Atuegbu Claudio Reyna Mike Fisher Bruce Murray (Midfielders)
Angelo DiBernardo Ken Snow Porfirio Armando Betancourt (Forwards)