José Luis Carranza
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José Luis Carranza Vivanco, nicknamed El Puma (born January 8, 1964 in Rimac, Lima) is a famous Peruvian footballer who played for Universitario de Deportes in Peru.
He made his professional debut with La U on May 13, 1986 in Bolivia against Club Bolívar. Carranza would remain with the club during his 19 years as a professional footballer. Several times during his career he rejected offers from teams in Argentina, Ecuador, and Spain among others who wanted to contract his services. He always preferred to stay loyal to his favorite team, and became a symbol of the club. His jersey number 22 is legendary in Peru and has been retired by the club.
Carranza helped win the national championships in 1987, 1990, 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, 2000. Furthermore, he is the player who played the most clasicos — classic games against Universitario's traditional rival Alianza Lima.
He got another 4 metropolitan titles and participated in 10 Copa Libertadores. With over 51 games in this competition, Carranza surpassed Hector Chumpitaz, another Universitario symbol, in number of games played in the prestigious competition. In addition, Carranza participated in 3 Copa América and 3 World Cup qualification tournaments. His first game with the Peruvian national team was in 1989.
His last encounter as professional was played on December 26, 2004, where he scored a goal. His good-bye-game was on April 6, 2005, in a game attended by South American star players. After retiring he opened a youth football academy, runs a popular cebicheria (sea food restaurant) and is also studying to be a coach. Rumors claim that he might also take a shot in politics and run for public office sometime in the future [citation needed]. He is one of the biggest idols of Universitario de Deportes.
