Raúl Orvañanos turned 75: how he went from goalkeeper to stellar narrator on Televisa and Fox Sports

One of the best-known football narrators in Mexico is Raúl Orvañanos, who shone on open television between 1994 and 2006 under the shelter of Televisa, and who later consolidated himself in the private company of Fox Sports, where he has already accumulated more than a decade of work in front of the microphone.

This April 14, Orvañanos was celebrated by the media because of his 75th birthday, with which he confirmed an enormous career in Mexican football, so much so that a large sector of the new generations place him solely as a narrator; however, in the past he also lived a brief career as a Primera footballer Division.

Raul emerged from the basic forces of Club America and always served as goalkeeper; however, it was Atlante who gave him his first professional opportunity in 1963, when he was just 17 years old, a team with which he became a starter and where he had outstanding moments.

Among his most memorable days is the day he played a friendly match against Brazil's Santos in 1966, led by O Rei Pele, who was stopped by two strikes, so he was able to maintain the draw of a match that ended 2-2 with the Iron Colts.

In addition to wearing the shirt of the Mexican National Team at some point, he was sheathed in the shirt of Zacatepec and Atlético Español, although none could establish a long career.

It was precisely in Atlético Español that his career ended, because when he was just 26 years old, they closed the door of renewal due to extra court problems and he decided to dedicate himself to work outside the football fields, so he had to rethink his life path.

In 1972 he ended his era as a player and accepted job offers in advertising companies, until a meeting with Carlos Alazraki opened the doors of the media definitively.

The good relations of the young former footballer were key to opening a path for him in the sports media, because according to his account for Antonio de Valdés on YouTube, one day at the Fronton Mexico changed his path.

“One day I went to Fronton Mexico with my compadre Gonzalo Vega (actor), may he rest in peace, and there I met Carlos Alazraki, I said: 'Give me a chamba, mano' and he says 'From what? ' , 'Well, at football matches',” the now-narrator mentioned on Fox.

“He connected me with José Ramón Fernández and they put me to work on a news program called Noti Trece, I started reporting there. Then they hired Veracruz and the Pumas, I started to make a field, little by little we started to climb there.”

At that time he was at Imevisión for several years, until he had differences with José Ramón Fernández, so he left for Cablevisión, a company that eventually joined Televisa, although not homogeneously.

With the connections established, Emilio Azcárraga Jean was in charge of placing it fully in a Televisa program, called El Despertar, with Javier Alarcón and Toño de Valdés. Once inside, he began to grow in the company and with the creation of La Jugada, where he had a great influence in terms of ideas and development, he became one of the main voices.

Between 1994 and 2006 he covered four World Cups with the Chapultepec company and was one of the star names in important matches, until he had differences due to his exclusion from certain programs, so after Germany 2006 he left for Fox Sports, where he has already accumulated more than 15 years as the lead voice of Mexican football.

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