Carlos Horacio Salinas

Carlos Horacio Salinas was born on February 20, 1956, in San Miguel de Tucuman, Argentina, and grew up in barrio Ciudadela a few blocks from the San Martin stadium. He was the youngest of seven children in a humble household headed by dona Angelica and don Francisco. His older brother Domingo Ricardo Salinas also became a professional footballer and captained Gimnasia y Esgrima de Jujuy. Carlos himself spent youth time with Gimnasia in Jujuy. In 1973, still a teenager, he impressed in a friendly with the so-called Seleccion Fantasma preparing for a World Cup qualifier against Bolivia in La Paz. Telegram offers followed from River Plate and San Lorenzo. Federico Vairo and Martin Pando tested him at River. He signed, lived for about two years in the club concentration above the Monumental confiteria, jumped quickly from youth sides into Primera, and debuted in 1974.

At River he logged limited minutes (Clarin cites about 12 first-team matches across two seasons) and was part of the wider 1975 squad that ended an 18-year Primera drought with Nacional and Metropolitano titles. Temperament already made headlines. After a Superclasico that finished 1-1 he swapped shirts with Boca's Marcelo Trobbiani and appeared in River's coffee shop wearing blue and gold, a provocation for a River dressing room because Salinas was openly a Boca fan. He moved on to Chacarita Juniors for 1976-1977, where Infobae and Clarin credit a strong run of about 96 matches and 19 goals. A late-1977 clash with Boca left scars on both sides. Versions differ on details, but Boca captain Ruben Chapa Sune and Jorge Ruso Ribolzi went looking for Salinas in San Martin after the match; punches flew and police intervened. Boca's official tribute later retold the story as the origin of the Loco nickname in club memory.

Early in 1978 Juan Carlos Toto Lorenzo still wanted the tucumano's dribbling, ball retention, and late runs into the box. Lorenzo checked with Sune first so the new signing would not wreck dressing-room peace. Salinas repaid the trust. Historia de Boca records 83 official matches and 13 goals for Boca between 1978 and 1980. In the 1978 Copa Libertadores he scored in a 2-0 semi-final win at River and again in the 4-0 home leg against Deportivo Cali on the way to the continental title. He also scored twice in the Copa Interamericana. On August 1, 1978, at Wildparkstadion in Karlsruhe, in the return leg of the 1977 Intercontinental Cup (Liverpool having declined; Borussia Monchengladbach stood in as European Cup runners-up), Boca won 3-0 after a 2-2 first leg at La Bombonera. Dario Felman and Ernesto Mastrangelo scored first. Salinas then beat defenders and finished across goalkeeper Wolfgang Kneib for 3-0, sealing Boca's first world club crown. Months later, on November 5, 1978, against Huracan, he assaulted referee Abel Gnecco after a red card. AFA's disciplinary tribunal handed him a 25-match ban, among the longest single suspensions in Argentine football history. El Grafico's photograph undermined his denial at the hearing. He still managed further Boca contributions before leaving after 1980.

His exit formed part of the multi-player package that helped Boca acquire Diego Maradona from Argentinos Juniors. Salinas, Carlos Randazzo, Eduardo Rotondi, and goalkeeper Osvaldo Santos went the other way. On August 15, 1981, the same Saturday Maradona lifted Boca's Metropolitano title, Salinas converted a penalty for Argentinos against San Lorenzo at Ferro that kept the Bicho up and sent San Lorenzo into Primera B, the first of Argentina's traditional big five clubs to be relegated. He told interviewers teammates hid behind the goal posts rather than take the kick, and that he already knew Independiente had bought him. Clarin cites roughly 23 matches and 9 goals at Argentinos, then 22 matches and 6 goals at Independiente in 1981-82. He later played for Independiente Medellin and Deportivo Pereira in Colombia, indoor soccer in the United States (sources name Miami or Fort Lauderdale Sun), Alumni de Villa Maria, another Medellin spell, Racing de Cordoba in 1985-86, and finished in 1987 with Deportivo Junin in Peru. Spanish Wikipedia and Argentine obituaries also note a bronze medal with Argentina at the 1975 Pan American Games in Mexico City.

After retirement the money he said he once earned (multiple transfers, apartments, BMW cars) largely vanished. In 1987 he spent about three to four months in Devoto prison after a party raid linked him to drug possession and trafficking accusations he denied; he said he was released when authorities could not prove involvement. Clarin records that he also denied an alleged 1988 suicide attempt reported in the press. In later interviews with El Grafico he described loneliness with the famous line that he felt "more alone than the Magi kings' substitutes," and Boca's 2026 tribute noted he survived with help from the club's Mutual de Ex Jugadores. He was father to two daughters and grandfather to three granddaughters, lived in Caballito, and left each daughter a flat according to his own account. He died on September 1, 2026, in Buenos Aires at age 70. Boca Juniors confirmed the death on its official site. The medical cause was not made public.