His former club Benfica, where he played for 12 years, announced his death on Wednesday morning.
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A landmark footballer from the 1980s has passed away. Former Girondins de Bordeaux and Benfica player Fernando Chalana is dead, the Lisbon club announced on Wednesday August 10. The former attacking midfielder and Portuguese international was 63 years old. The causes of his death have not been disclosed.
Fernando Chalana, o nosso Pequeno Genial, faleceu, aos 63 anos, na madrugada desta quarta-feira, 10 de agosto. pic.twitter.com/uWUGZzgWVe
— SL Benfica (@SL Benfica) August 10, 2022
A great Benfica player, Chalana was twice voted “Portuguese footballer of the year”, in 1976 and 1984. His striking mustache and short height (1.65 m) earned him the nickname “Chalanix”, derived from Asterix. It is also in France that he had particularly shone, during Euro 1984. His selection had stopped in the semi-final against France. The attacking midfielder subsequently joined the Girondins de Bordeaux, then champions of France.
But, undermined by injuries, the pocket player never expressed the full extent of his talent on the banks of the Garonne. In three years, he has played around twenty matches. His name still remains in Bordeaux memories as the hero of an evening in March 1985.
In the quarter-finals of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup, Chalana scored the decisive shot on goal against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (3-5, 1-1 after extra time). With a shot in the skylight … with the right foot, the pure left-hander had qualified his team in the semi-finals of C1. The Girondins had not gone far from the feat against Juventus of Michel Platini (0-3, 2-0).