Cándido Martínez Collar (1 September 1899 – 16 June 1960) 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. He was one of the great goalkeepers of Real Madrid's early history, playing with them for seven years.

Club career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, he joined the ranks of his hometown club

in 1920, playing for one year as a substitute. Cándido began to appear as Real Madrid's starting

in 1921 at the hand of

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Juan de Cárcer Juan de Cárcer y Disdier (1892 in Málaga – October 1962 in Madrid) was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper and was also a referee, and manager. As a player, he represented both Madrid FC (Now ''Real Madrid'') and Athletic Madri ...

, taking over from Hernández Coronado, after the latter had a bad 1920–21 season in which Real failed to win a single trophy. He quickly become an undisputed starter, forming a great defensive partnership with

Félix Quesada Félix Quesada Mas (1 July 1902 – 9 July 1959) was a Spanish professional association football player. He was born in Madrid, Spain. He played as a defender spending the entire of his career at Real Madrid C.F. He scored 33 goals in 244 matche ...

and

Pedro Escobal Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for '' Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meani ...

, and together with them, Cándido helped the club to win six regional championships (1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1926–27 and 1927–28). Cándido played a pivotal role in helped the club reach the

1924 Copa del Rey Final The 1924 Copa del Rey Final was the 24th final of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey. The final was played at Atotxa Stadium, in San Sebastián, on 4 May 1924. Real Unión beat Real Madrid 1–0, winning their third title.

, which was Real's first

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 footbal ...

final in 7 years, losing 0–1 to

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF ...

, courtesy of a goal from

José Echeveste José Echeveste Galfarsoro (19 March 1899 – 7 December 1982) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Real Unión and for the Spain national team. He spent all 13 seasons of his playing career with Real Unión, thus being a histor ...

. In the summer of 1925 he went out on a tour in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

with Real Madrid, and on his return to Madrid, Cándido spoke wonders about the European public and the great influx in the

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

s. On numerous occasions Cándido played for other Spanish clubs as a guest in

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against foreign teams, such as when, on August 1925, Cándido played for Deportivo de La Coruña against

Nacional de Montevideo Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mo ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, in a match which was basically a heroic fight between the

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

defense and the Uruguayan forward line, and such was Cándido's performance and the enthusiasm that he aroused among the fans that at the end of the match he was carried out on their shoulders. However, he remained loyal to Real Madrid until 1928, when the club's board of directors decided that the poor performances of an aging Cándido did not allow him to continue defending Madrid's goal, and so, he ended up in the neighboring club,

, with whom he played for one year before retiring at the end of the 1928–29 season.

International career

Like many other

players of that time, he was summoned to play for the 'Centro' (Madrid area) representative team, and he was part of the Madrid side that reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the

1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup The 1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup was the sixth tournament of the Prince of Asturias Cup, which is an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain. The pre-favourites to win were the Catalan team because at ...

, an inter-regional

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

organized by the

RFEF The Royal Spanish Football Federation ( es, Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. It was founded on 14 October 1909 ...

. Cándido started in the infamous final against

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 north ...

where he conceded 4 goals in a 4–4 draw, and in the replay in the following day, he again conceded 3 goals as his side lost 2–3.

Honours

Club

;Real Madrid * Campeonato Regional Centro: **Champions (6): 1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1926–27 and 1927–28 *

: **Runner-up (1):

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

International

;

* Prince of Asturias Cup: **Runner-up (1): 1923–24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Candido 1899 births 1960 deaths Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Real Madrid CF players Atlético Madrid footballers