Carlos Ruiz Herrero (born 7 June 1948), known simply as Carlos, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He spent 11 seasons in La Liga with

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

, appearing in 275 competitive games and scoring 115 goals.

Club career

Born in Bilbao, Biscay, the third of ten sons in a large family, Carlos played for eleven seasons with

, plus one with the reserves, having been signed in 1969 from Basque neighbours CD Getxo. On 12 September 1970 he made his debut for the first team, playing the dying minutes of the 1–1 home draw against FC Barcelona. In the following years, Carlos continued to be used regularly by the club, although he was not always an undisputed starter. In the 1974–75 season, however, he scored a career-best 19 goals in 32 games (winning the Pichichi Trophy in the process), for a tenth place in La Liga; on 18 May 1977 he netted the goal to put his side 2–1 up at home against Juventus FC in the campaign's final of the UEFA Cup – his last of five during their continental run – but the Italians won the trophy on the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

. Carlos still enjoyed two seasons in double digits until he left Athletic, including 1977–78 with 16 goals, but also had to deal with several injuries. He retired from the game in the summer of 1982 at the age of 34 after a spell with RCD Español, amassing top flight totals of 234 matches and 83 goals.

International career

Carlos was never capped by Spain at senior level, but did play for the under-21 side once, in a match against Yugoslavia played in Elche, at the Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero.

Later life

Having studied medicine at the University of Bilbao at Leioa (now part of the University of the Basque Country during his playing career, Ruiz subsequently went into practice as a doctor specialising in the treatment of athletes. He performed roles assisting various sports teams, including basketball club CB Cajabilbao and the Spanish national squads in

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

and

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football (hannah jones ). Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's ...

. In 2011, Ruiz was part of the team behind the unsuccessful campaign of Fernando García Macua to be re-elected as club president of Athletic Bilbao.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao * Copa del Generalísimo: 1972–73; runner-up 1976–77 * UEFA Cup: runner-up 1976–77 Individual * La Liga: Top scorer 1974–75

References

External links

*
Athletic Club Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Carlos 1948 births Living people Footballers from Getxo Footballers from Bilbao Spanish footballers Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players CD Getxo players Bilbao Athletic footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Pichichi Trophy winners University of the Basque Country alumni 20th-century Spanish physicians 21st-century Spanish physicians