José Francisco Cevallos

Who is José Francisco Cevallos?

José Francisco Cevallos Villavicencio is an Ecuadorian retired football goalkeeper and current Minister of Sports in Ecuador. Nicknamed Las Manos del Ecuador, Cevallos is considered by many to be the greatest goalkeeper in the history of Ecuadorian football. He has won three national titles with Guayaquil based club Barcelona, with whom he has spent the majority of his professional career. As the goalkeeper for LDU Quito, he was a key figure in the team's 2008 Copa Libertadores title, where he saved three penalties in the deciding penalty shoot-out. That same year, he was voted as the Best Goalkeeper in South America by Montevideo based newspaper El País. As a member of the national team, he has participated in four Copa Américas and Ecuador's first World Cup participation. Having represented his national team 89 times, he is the highest capped goalkeeper in the history of the team.