Honorino Landa



Honorino Landa Vera (1 June 1942 – 30 May 1987) was a Chilean footballer who played as a forward.

Club career
Once Landa received his high-school diploma in 1959, he went to play for the Unión Española team. In 1961, he scored 24 goals in the national championship; thanks to this, he was called up for the national team of his country. He stopped playing soccer in 1975.

International career
Landa was the youngest player of the Chile national team that won a third place medal at the 1962 FIFA World Cup on home soil; during the tournament, he was one of the disgraced players directly involved in the Battle of Santiago incident during the Group 2 match between Chile and Italy. After only 12 minutes, Italy's Giorgio Ferrini committed a hard foul on Landa and was sent off, but refused to leave the pitch and had to be dragged off by policemen; Landa retaliated with a punch a few minutes later, but was not sent off. Chile won the match 2–0. Landa also represented Chile at the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

Coaching career
From 1982 to 1983, he served as coach of Unión Española.

Personal life
Landa was born in Puerto Natales to a Chilean mother and a Spanish father. His father, Javier Landa, was a trader who came to Chile at the end of the 1920s, starting a hardware store called Sociedad Landa y De Carlos (Landa and De Carlos Company).

He had two brothers, Javier Jr. and Félix. Félix was also a footballer.

Death
Landa Vera died of cancer in a hospital in Santiago two days before his 45th birthday.