Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) 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 ...

who played as an

outside left Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. He was voted by IFFHS (

International Federation of Football History and Statistics The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

) as the greatest Spanish footballer and 30th greatest world footballer of the 20th century. Gento began his career at

Racing Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syste ...

in 1952 and moved to

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 ...

the following season. He appeared in a joint record eight

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

finals, winning a record six, as well as winning a record 12 La Liga titles. In a 14-year international career, Gento earned 43 caps for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, playing at the World Cup in 1962 and 1966. Following the death of

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Fil ...

in 2014, Gento was appointed the Honorary President of Real Madrid.

Club career

Gento debuted in the ''Primera División'' with

in the 1952–53 season. He was still playing mostly for the B team at Santander when a flu virus saw him promoted to the first team ahead of a home game against

. Such was his performance in the match, that Madrid signed him three days later.Ball 2011, 135 La ''Galerna del Cantábrico'' (The Gale of the Cantabrian Sea), as he was known, played

and was noted for his exceptional pace, his skills with the ball and his scoring prowess from the midfield position. In 1967, following

's departure and

Ferenc Puskás Ferenc Puskás (, ; born Ferenc Purczeld; 1 April 1927 – 17 November 2006) was a Hungarian football player and manager, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and the sport's first international superstar. A forward, ...

's retirement, he became the captain of a young side, known in Spain as '' Ye-yé'', because of the popularity of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

at that time.Ball 2011, 136 Gento did not score in his first season and was under pressure from club president Santiago Bernabéu. The president was won over by Di Stéfano's argument "he is quick and hits the ball like a cannon. That can't be learned, it's innate. We can teach him the rest". Among other honors, Gento won the

a record six times with Real Madrid between 1955 and 1966, being the only Madrid player to figure in all of the wins. He contributed with 31 goals in 88 European Cup career matches. Gento played in eight European Cup finals, with a 6–2 record, and he also appeared in a ninth European final appearance in the 1970–1971 Cup Winners' Cup final that Real Madrid lost to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. He holds this record jointly with

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...

, who has an inferior 5–3 record. Gento's legendary Real Madrid teammate, Alfredo Di Stéfano's 5–2 record comes third. Domestically, Gento collected 12

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

titles during his time with Madrid. He scored 128 times in 428 league appearances for the club, a strong return for a winger, especially as he was often providing goals for teammates Di Stéfano and Puskás. He won 23 trophies for the club, which remained an outright record until equalled by

Marcelo Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to: * Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...

days before Gento's death. After he retired from football in 1971, he coached various lower-league teams, such as Castilla, Castellón,

Palencia Palencia () is a city of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Palencia. Located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, in the northern half o ...

, and

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

. In 1978–79, he led Palencia to promotion to the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

for the first time in their history. He later took up a role as an ambassador for Real Madrid throughout Europe, alongside Di Stéfano. After Di Stéfano died in 2014, Gento became the honorary president of the club.

International career

Gento played for the Spain national team from 1955 to 1969, winning 43

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

and scoring five times. His debut came on 18 May 1955 in a 1–1 draw with

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 ...

in Madrid. He was initially known as "''La tercera G''" (the third G) for succeeding Agustín Gaínza and

Guillermo Gorostiza Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes (15 February 1909 – 23 August 1966) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. In a 14-year professional career, he played for Athletic Bilbao and Valencia, amassing La Liga totals of 255 games and 178 go ...

in his position. His rival for his position was his friend

Enrique Collar Enrique Collar Monterrubio (born 2 November 1934) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He earned 16 caps and scored 4 goals for the Spain national football team from 1955 to 1963. He played in the 1962 FIFA ...

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 ...

, and the pair played together at the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

in Chile. In 1964 European Nations' Cup qualification, Gento was included alongside Collar under new manager José Villalonga, but was dropped after a home defeat to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

on 1 December 1963;

Carlos Lapetra Carlos Lapetra Coarasa (29 November 1938 – 24 December 1995) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. He spent ten of his 11 years as a professional with Zaragoza, appearing in 279 official games (62 goals) and winning three major ti ...

took his place for the finals which Spain won. Due to improved form and fitness in the second half of the 1965–66 season, he was recalled for the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 July to 30 July 1966. The England national football team defeated West Germany 4-2 in the ...

in England, playing all three games of a group-stage elimination. Shortly before turning 36, Gento was given his 43rd and final cap on 15 October 1969 by his former teammate

László Kubala László Kubala ( sk, Ladislav Kubala, es, Ladislao Kubala, 10 June 1927 – 17 May 2002) was a Hungarian-Slovak professional footballer who also had Spanish citizenship. He played as a forward for Ferencváros, Slovan Bratislava, Barcelona, ...

, in a 6–0 win over already eliminated Finland in

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

. He ended short of the record of 46 caps by

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 14 February 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for both the Cata ...

Personal life and death

Gento's two younger brothers,

Julio Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) *Julio (surname) *Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation albu ...

(1939–2016) and

Antonio Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

(1940–2020) also played football professionally; the latter played for Real Madrid, too, but they were not as successful as their older brother Francisco. His nephews were also athletes –

José Luis Llorente José Luis Llorente Gento (born 6 January 1959 in Valladolid, Spain) is a Spanish retired basketball player. He played 112 matches for the Spain national team. Clubs * 1979-83: Real Madrid * 1983-85: Cajamadrid * 1985-87: CB Zaragoza * 1987-92: ...

and Toñín Llorente played basketball, whilst Paco Llorente and

Julio Llorente Julio Llorente Gento (born 14 June 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a right-back. Club career Born in Valladolid, Castile and León, Llorente finished his development with La Liga giants Real Madrid, makin ...

were footballers. Grand-nephew

Marcos Llorente Marcos Llorente Moreno (born 30 January 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or a right-back for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Spain national team. Developed at Real Madrid, he appeared in 39 competitiv ...

, son of Paco Llorente, is also a footballer. Gento died in his sleep on 18 January 2022, at the age of 88. Real Madrid announced in a statement, "Real Madrid would like to express its condolences and its love and affection to his wife Mari Luz, his sons Francisco and Julio, his granddaughters Aitana and Candela and all his relatives, colleagues and loved ones, he will always be remembered by Madridistas and all football fans as one of their greatest." FIFA President

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (; born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss football administrator with Italian citizenship and the current president of FIFA. He was elected President of FIFA during the 2016 FIFA Extraordinary Congress in February 2016. H ...

said, “I am deeply saddened to learn of Paco Gento’s passing today at the age of 88. One of the greatest players of his generation, Paco leaves behind a lifetime of memories for all fans of football, but especially those of Spain and Real Madrid. Our thoughts and best wishes go to Paco’s family and friends, to Real Madrid, to the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and to all those who treasure memories of this great player.”

Legacy

Regarded as one of the greatest Spanish players of all time and one of the greatest ever players in his position, Gento was an extremely fast

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, which made him an effective assist provider with high accuracy in his crosses.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gento goal.''

Honours

Real Madrid *

(12): 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69 *

Copa del Generalísimo 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 ...

: 1961–62, 1969–70 *

(6): 1955–56, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1965–66 * Intercontinental Cup: 1960 ;Semi-official *

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

;Non-official *

Small Club World Cup The Small Club World Cup ( es, Pequeña Copa del Mundo) was a football tournament held in Venezuela between 1952 and 1975 (with some journalists considering 1952–57 the period of greatest relevance, and the second period that took place between ...

: 1956 Individual * World Soccer World XI: 1960, 1961, 1962 * Golden Foot Legends Award: 2004 * World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Legends Records *Most La Liga titles: 12 *Most European Cup titles: 6 *Most European Cup final appearances: 8 (tied with

)

References

* Ball, Phil (2011) ''Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football''. WSC Books.

External links

* * *
Francisco Gento
at

Biography at Real Madrid Fans

National team data

at RSSSF

at RSSSF {{DEFAULTSORT:Gento, Francisco 1933 births 2022 deaths Spanish footballers Footballers from Cantabria Association football forwards La Liga players Rayo Cantabria players Racing de Santander players Real Madrid CF players Spain B international footballers Spain international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Spanish football managers Real Madrid Castilla managers CD Castellón managers Granada CF managers UEFA Champions League winning players People from the Bay of Santander Gento family SD Unión Club players