Pinula Contreras

Francisco López Contreras was born on 17 September 1934 in Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala. The municipality's name became his lifelong nickname, Pinula, and later the name of the municipal stadium dedicated to him.

He learned the game on local pitches and in the amateur Liga El Esfuerzo from about age 16. Scouts then moved him into university football before the decisive step to Comunicaciones in Guatemala City.

Pinula made his Liga Nacional debut with C.S.D. Comunicaciones in 1955 as an outside right. He would spend fourteen seasons at the club, becoming one of the Cremas' defining attackers of the mid-century era.

Under coaches such as Federico La Chapuda Morales he shared dressing rooms with remembered teammates including Culiche, Masella, Chivo Andrade and Pishaco Lemus, figures later cited together as part of Comunicaciones' golden generations.

In 1956 Pinula scored the championship-winning goal against CSD Municipal that gave Comunicaciones their first ever Liga Nacional title. Club histories and later obituaries treat that strike as the founding goal of the Cremas' league dynasty.

Supporters also remembered other decisive moments against Municipal, including a corner-kick goal that slipped between defenders, a play retold as folklore in Crema matchday culture.

Across fourteen seasons he helped Comunicaciones win four league championships, one domestic cup and four Campeón de Campeones trophies. Two seasons after the 1956 breakthrough he scored in a 3-0 title-clinching win over Xelajú M.C. at the Estadio Mario Camposeco.

In the 1959-60 title match against Municipal he scored the equaliser in a 2-1 Comunicaciones victory. Press tallies after his death put his career scoring near 75 goals.

On 18 January 1959 Comunicaciones hosted Santos FC, with Pelé in the visiting side, at the Estadio Mateo Flores. Santos led 2-0 through Pelé and Pepe before Pinula pulled a goal back to 2-1 late in the match.

On 20 August 1960 he was part of the Comunicaciones squad that played an exhibition against Real Madrid in Guatemala City, another landmark friendly that marked Guatemalan club football's mid-century ambition.

The 1959-60 title put Comunicaciones into the first CONCACAF Champions' Cup in 1962. Pinula scored against C.D. Águila of El Salvador in the first round and helped the Cremas reach the tournament final against Guadalajara.

Those continental matches extended his reputation beyond the Liga Nacional and fixed him in early CONCACAF club history.

Pinula represented Guatemala in World Cup qualifying for 1958, the country's first campaign, and again for 1962. In a 4-4 draw with Costa Rica during the 1962 cycle he scored three goals, still recalled as the only Guatemalan hat-trick against Costa Rica in World Cup qualification.

He finished with five goals in six World Cup qualifiers and also played at the 1961 CCCF Championship and the 1963 CONCACAF Championship. Guatemala were CONCACAF Championship runners-up in 1965 during the same national era.

Contemporaries remembered Pinula as a classic outside right and national-team forward: wide, decisive in the penalty area, and comfortable in collective attacking patterns rather than isolated individualism.

Obituaries called him one of the great right-sided attackers in Guatemalan football history, a judgment repeated by federation and club tributes after his death.

After retiring as a player he coached Comunicaciones' youth sides and the senior team in 1979-80 and again in 1992. He also managed lower-division and municipal clubs including Coatepeque, Nueva Santa Rosa, Santa Catarina Pinula, Mixco, Fraijanes, Villa Canales and Boca del Monte.

Coaching kept him inside Guatemalan football long after his playing peak and deepened his bond with the communities that had first watched him as Pinula.

Public reporting after his death focused on his football life and on family farewells shared on social media. Relatives described him as a national pride and an indelible memory for Guatemalan sport.

In later interviews he spoke frankly about wanting proper payment for his work while still thanking Comunicaciones fans for lifelong affection. He remained closely identified with Santa Catarina Pinula and with the white shirt of Comunicaciones.

Francisco López Contreras died in Guatemala on 13 September 2026 at the age of 91, four days before what would have been his ninety-second birthday.

Comunicaciones confirmed the news with an institutional esquela. The Federación de Fútbol de Guatemala published a note of mourning, and national media including Prensa Libre, Publinews, Emisoras Unidas and La Red carried obituaries the same day. The cause of death was not made public.

Pinula is remembered as the scorer of Comunicaciones' first league title goal, a fourteen-season Crema forward, a World Cup qualifier who hat-tricked Costa Rica, a coach of the club and its youth ranks, and the namesake of Estadio Pinula Contreras in Santa Catarina Pinula.

Club, federation and press tributes in September 2026 placed him among the emblematic attackers of Guatemalan football's mid-century golden age, a Crema legend whose nickname outlived the pitch.