Francisco Pagazaurtundua González-Murrieta (22 October 1894 – 18 November 1958), better known as Pagaza, 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

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 was a member of the Spanish team that won the silver medal in the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

as well as a

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 ...

winner with

Arenas Club de Getxo 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Santurtzi Santurtzi ( es, Santurce; eu, Santurtzi ) is a port town in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, Spain. It is located in the Bilbao Abra bay, near the mouth of the Nervión river, on its left bank, 14 km dow ...

to an architect and a piano teacher, Pagaza began playing football at Colegio Orduña and during his time as a student 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 ...

. He began his career with

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 ...

in 1912, where he stood as a phenomenal winger, so he was signed by Athletic Club de Madrid in 1916. After two years he returned to Arenas in 1918, where he played a pivotal role in helping the club win the

Biscay Championship The Biscay Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional de Vizcaya)'', also called the North Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional Norte)'' in its early editions, was an official football tournament in Spain organised by the North Football F ...

and the

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 ...

, starting in 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 ...

as Arenas defeated the powerful

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 ...

5-2. At that time living exclusively out of football wasn't easy, and therefore he had a second job, working in the harbor of

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

, which is why he signed for

Real Racing Club de 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 1920. He also spent a season at

Gimnástica de Torrelavega Real Sociedad Gimnástica de Torrelavega is a Spanish football team based in Torrelavega, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded on 28 September 1907 it is the oldest football club in the region, and currently plays in Tercera Divisi ...

and Racing Club de Madrid, finishing his career with the latter in 1928.

International career

Being an

player, he was eligible to play for the Biscay representative team, and he was one of the eleven footballers that played in the team's first-ever game on 13 December 1914 against fellow Basques

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, held at San Mamés, and Pagaza scored the winning goal in a 2-1 victory. During this time he was also summoned to play for the Norte team, a side consisting of Basque players including

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

, but usually featured only players from the Basque provinces of

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

and

, each of which also organized their own representative matches occasionally such as the one mentioned before. Pagaza was one of the eleven footballers that played in Norte's first-ever game on 3 January 1915 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 ...

, and once again he scored in a 6-3 win. In May of 1915, he was selected to represent the Norte team 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 ...

. He played both games as the Basque team secured the first-ever trophy of the competition with a win over Catalonia and a draw with the Centro team (a Castile/Madrid XI). He also represented

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 ...

in the nation's international debut at the

, being one of the eleven footballers who participated in Spain's first-ever victory (1-0) over

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 ...

on 28 August 1920. He featured in all of Spain's first four internationals at the Summer Olympics, but missed the decisive game against the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, which saw Spain win 3-1 to win the silver medal. In total, he earned seven caps for Spain, four at the 1920 Olympics and three 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 ...

, the last of which was on 17 December 1922 at

Estádio do Lumiar Estádio do Lumiar was a multi-use stadium in Lisbon, Portugal. It was initially used as the stadium of Sporting Clube de Portugal matches. It was replaced by the Estádio José Alvalade in 1956. The capacity of the stadium was 35,000 spectato ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

in a 2-1 win over

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. When he joined

Racing de 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 system ...

, he become eligible to play for the Cantabria representative team, and he was one of the eleven footballers that played in the team's first-ever game on 9 March 1924, but this time he failed to score in a 3–0 win over

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

. This means he was a member of the first-ever line-ups of four different teams, Biscay, Norte (Basque Country), Cantabria and Spain, which is probably an unmatched feat.

As a manager

After his retirement as a player, he began a career as a coach. He coached Racing de Santander thrice, as well as the likes of

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

(1930-1931),

Real Sporting de Gijón Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010) ...

(1933-1934),

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

(1939-1941),

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

(1944-1945) and

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

(1945-1946).

Honours

Club

;

**Winners (1): 1918–19 *

**Champions (1):

;

* Cantabrian Championship **Champions (4): 1922–23, 1924–25, 1925–26 and 1926–27

International

;

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: **Silver medal (1):

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

; Basque Country *

: **Champions (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

* *

External links

* 1894 births 1958 deaths Spanish men's footballers Spain men's international footballers Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Arenas Club de Getxo footballers Atlético Madrid footballers Racing de Santander players Spanish football managers Racing de Santander managers CA Osasuna managers RCD Mallorca managers Hércules CF managers Elche CF managers Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Men's association football forwards Basque Country men's international footballers Footballers from Biscay People from Santurtzi {{spain-footy-forward-stub