Antoni Torres García (29 June 1943 – 24 February 2003) was a Spanish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He was active during the 1960s and 1970s, and was officially recognized as a legendary player for FC Barcelona. He was born on 29 July 1943 in Balaguer, Lerida, Spain. He died of cancer in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

on 26 February 2003, at the age of 59.

FC Barcelona

Born in

Balaguer Balaguer () is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Noguera, in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain. It is located by the river Segre, a tributary to the Ebre. The municipality includes an exclave to the east. Balaguer also has a sister city i ...

, Lleida,

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

, Torres spent most of his career at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

, playing 479 games as a starter between 1965 and 1976. He mainly played as a traditional defender or a libero. Before signing for Barcelona, Torres played for Hercules de Alicante, where he established himself as a central defender. In the 1964–65 season he received the award for the best footballer of the Spanish League. After three years at Barcelona he found his way in to the national team, and earned five caps with le selecíon between 1968 and 1969. He retired at end of the 1975–1976 season. On 1 September 1976, he received a tribute organized by FC Barcelona, along with his teammates Joaquim Rifé, and Salvador Sadurní. After retiring, he took the up coaching. In 1984, he founded a football youth school in Barcelona, TARR Escuela, which is named after the initials of its four founders, all former players of Barcelona: Torres, Asensi, Rexach and Rifé.

Honours

* 1 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1965–1966. * 2

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

: 1967–1968, 1970–1971 * 1 Liga: 1973–1974

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Antoni 1943 births 2003 deaths People from Noguera (comarca) Sportspeople from the Province of Lleida Spanish footballers Association football defenders La Liga players CF Balaguer footballers FC Barcelona players Hércules CF players Spain amateur international footballers Spain international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers FC Barcelona Atlètic managers CD Castellón managers Hércules CF managers Catalonia international footballers