Isacio Calleja García (6 December 1936 – 4 February 2019) was a Spanish professional

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.

Club career

Calleja was born in Valle de Cerrato,

Province of Palencia Palencia is a province of northern Spain, in the northern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. It is bordered by the provinces of León, Cantabria, Burgos, and Valladolid. Overview Of ...

. Save for a very brief loan spell with

CD Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

he spent his entire 14-year professional career with

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 ...

, making his

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 ...

debut on 4 January 1959 in a 0–1 away loss against

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

and finishing his first season with only nine games (albeit all complete). From there onwards, Calleja became an important defensive member for the ''Colchoneros'', helping the team to back-to-back

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 ...

trophies from 1959 to 1961, both won against

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 ...

at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. In the

1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1961–62 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Atlético Madrid of Spain in a replayed final against holders Fiorentina. It was the first season of the tournament to be directly organised by UEFA. Bracket ...

, which also ended in conquest, he contributed nine appearances. On 19 April 1970, Calleja scored his only goal of the campaign in a 2–0 win at CE Sabadell FC, which granted Atlético the national championship. He retired from football in July 1972 at the end of 1971–72 after winning his fourth Spanish Cup, at the age of 35. During his spell with his main club, he appeared in 425 official matches (76 in the domestic cup and 45 in

European competition The European Competition is a student competition in which students of all ages submit creative, artistic, or written pieces of work on the activities of the European Union. Tendered by European Movement Germany, it is the oldest student competition ...

International career

Calleja was a Spanish international for more than one decade. He made his debut on 19 April 1961, in a 2–1 win in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

for 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 ...

qualifiers. Calleja helped the national side win the

1964 European Nations' Cup The 1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of the UEFA European Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over the defending champions, the Soviet Union. The tournament was a knockout compet ...

on home soil, playing four matches the qualifying phase and the finals combined. In total, he earned 13 caps.

Post-retirement and death

After retiring, Calleja, who majored in law, worked as a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

. On 4 February 2019, he died at the age of 82 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 ...

Honours

Club

Atlético Madrid *

: 1965–66, 1969–70 *

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 footbal ...

: 1959–60, 1960–61, 1964–65, 1971–72 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1961–62

International

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calleja, Isacio 1936 births 2019 deaths Sportspeople from the Province of Palencia Spanish footballers Footballers from Castile and León Association football defenders La Liga players Tercera División players Atlético Madrid footballers CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers Spain B international footballers Spain international footballers 1964 European Nations' Cup players UEFA European Championship-winning players