How many people in this country have ever dreamed of play for Boca Juniors? Although the career of Victor Ormazábal was not so outstanding, the person born in Buenos Aires can tell everyone that he was able to fulfill that dream, which many people had.
The former midfielder’s career had endless spices that make it something special. Ormazábal traveled the world thanks to football and today his reality is very different: Do you remember him?
What was Víctor Ormazábal’s football career like?
Logic indicates that “the icing on the cake” comes last. On the other hand, for Víctor Ormazábal it was the other way around. The former midfielder, born on April 2, 1985, debuted in Boca under the guidance of the most important coach in the club’s history: Carlos Bianchi. However, he was not the most missed. After the first team has been crowned champion of the Copa Libertadores 2003, Boca had to appear 4 days after the final with Santos, to meet date 19 of the Clausura tournament. It was in Arroyito, in a duel against Central where Víctor made his presentation in a historic match, where those from Rosario overwhelmed the Ribera team 7-2.
That day, Carlos Bianchi decided to give the starters a (deserved) rest and took a team full of youth players to the local tournament match. Despite the result, Boca was toasting with drinks and Ormazábal fulfilled the dream of many.
Despite his debut, it was difficult for the former midfielder to have an important place in a team full of figures like Carlos Tevez, Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Martin Palermo. It was until the arrival of Jorge “Chino” Benitez that Ormazabal was going to have more participation, especially in the South American Cup 2004, where he played a large number of minutes and later became champion. For the 19-year-old it was touching the sky with his hands.
A year later, he arrived at the Xeneize bank Abel “Chueco” Alves, coach who told him to look for another club. That’s when he was presented with the opportunity to play in the Maccabi Haifa by Isarael. Despite the new opportunity, a back injury did not allow him to continue and that was why he suspended the loan to return to Ribera.
After making a recovery in Boca, in 2006 the possibility opened up for the former player in minor teams in Spain. Until 2012 Ormazábal wore the shirts of Pontevedra CF, Cadiz CF and AD Ceuta.
After several years in Europe, in 2012 Víctor returned to the country to play for promotion, more precisely in Temperley, a club that the B Metro was active in. Without having much success in his career, the former player decided to hang up his boots at the age of 27, but months later Admiral Brown It gave him the opportunity to return to the fields.
Already in 2014, the former Boca soccer player had to live a quite traumatic experience: going to play in a country at war. In that year, the Argentine went to play Erbil CS of Iraq. “I wanted to go back and I was afraid of the war. For them it is something natural and normal. I saw on television that ISIS was entering the city and killing people. I was very scared. I said: “I’m not from here, I don’t know how to handle myself.” When the Islamic State entered the city they were looking to kill you, organize an attack or force you to join the terrorist group. The first ones they grabbed were always foreigners,” the player said in an interview with Infobae in 2022.
The war, added that he had signed a contract of only 6 months and the little experience that football had, made Ormazábal leave Iraqi football to go to another part of Asia: Vietnam.
In the Asian country he played 3 seasons: two in the Ha Noi and one in Ho Chi Minh City. In 2017, at the age of 32, the Argentine player felt a “low mood”, he could not arrange for his continuity in Vietnam and he had to return to the country to be a father. The great sum of things caused the Former midfielder, champion with Boca, will hang up his boots again at an early age.
What happened to Víctor Ormazábal’s life after his retirement from football?
When he was abroad, without job opportunities in the world of football, Víctor accepted a job opportunity offered by his father: a bakery. Since his retirement from football, Ormazábal is dedicated to serving “La Nueva Reina”, a bakery in San Isidro. According to the former player, sometimes he serves people and other times he collaborates with production. In turn, Víctor assumes that customers do not recognize him, except for the occasional Xeneize fanatic.
In short, life’s paths often take strange turns. Some former players need to stay connected to professional sports, and others just dedicate themselves to more mundane and “normal” things. The latter is the case of Víctor Ormazábal: from becoming champion with Boca to the resilience of moving away from sports to run a bakery.
Source: Ambito
I am Pierce Boyd, a driven and ambitious professional working in the news industry. I have been writing for 24 Hours Worlds for over five years, specializing in sports section coverage. During my tenure at the publication, I have built an impressive portfolio of articles that has earned me a reputation as an experienced journalist and content creator.
