Eduardo Reguera Andreu (13 October 1891 – 20 December 1977) 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 defender for FC Espanya and

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. Founded ...

. Reguera was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of FC Espanya, being a pivotal piece in turning FC Espanya into an important team in

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 ...

. He then joined rivals Barcelona, with whom he played for six years between 1914 and 1920, helping the club win three Catalan Championships and one

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 ...

in 1920.

Club career

Born 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 ...

, he began his career in 1910 at his hometown club

FC Espanya de Barcelona FC Espanya de Barcelona, was a Spanish Catalan football club based in Barcelona. They enjoyed a golden age during the 1910s and were Catalan champions three times during the decade. They were also Copa del Rey runners-up in 1914. By 1923 the club ...

, where he formed a great defensive partnership with

Hermenegild Casellas Hermenegild Casellas Bosch (1890 – 1969) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder and later as defender. Together with Alfredo Massana, he was considered the best Catalan midfielder at the time. Although history seems to have blurred ...

. Unlike most teams, whose sources of power is either the attack or the midfield, FC Espanya's biggest strength was this back-line, which was the fundamental piece behind the team's rise in

, competing head-to-head against the likes of

and

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, and winning two back-to-back Catalan championships in 1912–13 and 1913–14, thus qualifying to the

in which he helped the club reach the

1914 Copa del Rey Final The 1914 Copa del Rey Final was the 14th final of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey. The final was played at Costorbe in Irun on May 10, 1914. The match was won by Athletic Bilbao, who beat España FC 2–1. Details Refe ...

, which still stands as the only cup final of the club's history, but Reguera missed it due to injury and without him, FC Espanya were beaten 1–2 by

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 ...

. His great defensive performances eventually drew the attention of

, who signed him in 1914. At Barça, he teamed up with

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 ...

Luis Bru, and helped the club win three Catalan championships (1915–16, 1918–19 and 1919–20) and to reach the

1919 Copa del Rey Final The 1919 Copa del Rey Final was an association football match between Arenas Club de Getxo and FC Barcelona on 18 May 1919 at the Martínez Campos stadium in Madrid. It was the deciding match of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey. Bot ...

, in which his defense conceded 5 goals in a 2–5 loss to

Arenas Club Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at Campo Mu ...

. This humiliation caused him to lose his place in the starting line-up, and so, on 19 October 1919, he was the subject of a tribute match along with Luis Bru, which took place at the

Camp de la Indústria Camp de la Indústria () or Campo de la calle Indústria was a multi-use stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It was initially used as the home venue of FC Barcelona, until the team moved to Camp de Les Corts in 1922. The capacity of the stadium was 6,000 ...

between Barça and FC Espanya, ending in a 2–2 draw. In total, he played 235 matches and scored 6 goals, although only 74 games and 1 were official. At the end of the twenties, he promoted the Barça football school, trained the lower categories of the club, and served as second

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 ...

of the first team.

International career

Like many other

players of that time, Reguera played a few matches for the Catalan national team in 1915, netting one goal in a 2–2 draw with Basque Country on 7 February 1915. Reguera was a member of the side that participated in the first edition of the

Prince of Asturias Cup The Prince of Asturias Cup (, ) was an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain – selections of players from clubs from the region in question, meaning that players did not need to be native to the region ...

, an inter-regional competition 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 ...

Honours

Club

; FC Espanya * Catalan championship: **Champions (1): 1912–13 and 1913–14 *

Pyrenees Cup The Pyrenees Cup (), officially Challenge International du Sud de la France, was an international football competition contested by Spanish and French clubs based in the territories of Pyrénées (Catalonia, the Basque Country, Languedoc, Midi-Py ...

: **Champions (1):

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

: **Runner-up (1):

;

* Catalan championship: **Champions (3): 1915–16, 1918–19 and 1919–20 *

: **Runner-up (1):

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the c ...

International

;

: **Runner-up (1):

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". *January 1 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reguera, Eduardo 1891 births 1977 deaths Footballers from Barcelona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders FC Barcelona players Catalonia men's international footballers