Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo (Spanish pronunciation: [kwawˈtemok ˈblaŋko]; born 17 January 1973) is a Mexican politician and former professional footballer serving as a member of the Chamber of Deputies.

[5] Blanco started his career with América in 1992, where he won various awards, both team-based and individual, and had various loan stints with Necaxa, Spanish club Real Valladolid, and Veracruz.

[6] Having played most of his career in América, with 333 appearances and 135 goals, Blanco has become an idol to the club's supporters and an important figure in the history of the team.

He had a knack for scoring great goals in La Liga, with most notable, a free-kick against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

[9] Blanco was the second-highest paid player in Major League Soccer, after LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham, earning $2.7 million a year.

On 19 November 2008, it was announced that Santos Laguna signed Blanco on a loan to play only for the Apertura 2008 championship, after the injury of their Ecuadorian striker Christian Benítez.

Blanco was formally presented to the press the next day, wearing the number 9 jersey, and stated that he looked forward to giving Santos a back-to-back championship.

[11][12][13] On 29 November 2008, Blanco scored his first goal with Santos, a penalty in the second leg of the championship quarter-finals against San Luis.

In October 2009, Blanco announced he would not be renewing his contract with Chicago Fire and would instead sign with Veracruz of the Ascenso MX beginning in January 2010.

[15] Led by Blanco, Irapuato won the 2011 Clausura, but the team failed to advance to the Primera División, losing to Tijuana in the promotional final.

[19] During the match, Blanco demonstrated his signature move, the Cuauhtemiña, and had two shots on goal, one of which hit the crossbar from the outside of the penalty box.

Blanco made his debut with the senior national team under Bora Milutinovic in a friendly match against Uruguay on 1 February 1995.

While the ostensible reason given was that Blanco was frequently injured and not in good form, some people considered this to be a consequence of the previous year's constant bickering, due to on-going personal problems between coach and player.

On 13 September 2008, he earned his 100th cap for his country in its 2–1 World Cup qualifier victory over Canada at Tuxtla Gutiérrez, coming on with only 15 seconds left in regulation time.

On 17 June 2010, he scored a penalty in the 78th minute of the 2–0 win against France at the World Cup's second round of group stage matches in South Africa.

[27][28] Blanco played a tribute game in 2014 against Israel at the Estadio Azteca, which symbolized his official retirement from international football.

[38] The trick is easy to perform but is eye-catching and has been incorporated as a special skill into the FIFA series of football video games.

In a 2005 interview with Mexican newspaper El Universal, Blanco explains that while watching a Spanish league game accompanied by his teammate Germán Villa, both players agreed to celebrate their next goal by imitating the "Archer" gesture.

[39] However, the Chicago Fire official website claimed that Blanco celebrates scoring a goal by acting like the Prehispanic Tlatoani Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc, "in order to show respect for the Mexican people, and their indigenous Amerindian heritage".

[41] Tom Marshall of ESPN states "the battles, brawls, golazos, insults, intensity and passion with which Blanco [...] lived both on and off the pitch, he left a deep imprint on the Mexican game and a colorful story painted by the kind of character arguably lacking at present.

"[42] [43][44] In January 2015, Blanco registered as a Social Democratic Party candidate for the municipal presidential elections of the city of Cuernavaca, the capital of the Mexican state of Morelos,[45] and was formally nominated two months later.

[47][48] As municipal president, Blanco struggled with accusations about his residency in the city,[49][50] allegations that he had accepted a bribe to run for office,[51] and even murder.

[66] On 13 February 2019 Blanco formally charged his predecessor, Graco Ramirez, with organized crime, operations with resources of illicit origin, and tax fraud.

[78] He appeared on the North American front cover of the FIFA 10 video game along with Frank Lampard and Sacha Kljestan.