José Francisco 'Txetxu' Rojo Arroitia (28 January 1947 – 23 December 2022), also known as Rojo I, was a Spanish football player and coach. During his career the forward played solely for Athletic Bilbao, in a professional spell which spanned nearly 20 years. He was one of the club's most iconic players, and later also worked as a coach with the team. Rojo was given the nickname the "Mozart of football" by composer

Carmelo Bernaola Carmelo Alonso Bernaola (16 July 1929 5 June 2002) was a Spanish composer and clarinetist from Basque Country. A member of the Generation of '51, he was one of the most influential composers in the Spanish musical scene of the second half of t ...

Club career

Born in

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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 ...

, Rojo joined local giants Athletic Bilbao's youth ranks at an early age. In 1965 he started playing for its reserves but, after only three appearances, was promoted to the first team, and stayed there until his professional retirement 17 years later. Rojo made 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' ...

debut on 26 September 1965 in a 1–0 away loss against Córdoba CF, and helped Athletic to win two

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 footb ...

trophies in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: ...

. He played a total of 414 games in the Spanish top flight, becoming the player with the second-most appearances in the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

side's history, only behind

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Populus, Poplar"), is a Spanish retired Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and Manager (association football), manager. ...

; for several seasons he shared teams with younger brother José Ángel, with the pair being thus referred to as 'Rojo I' and 'Rojo II'.

International career

Rojo played 18 times for

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, his debut coming on 26 March 1969 in a friendly with Switzerland held in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

. During his nine years as an international he scored three goals, but never took part in any major international tournament; he and his brother José Ángel appeared together in a friendly with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

on 17 October 1973, in the latter's sole

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

Coaching career

In 1982, aged 35, Rojo retired as a footballer and began a coaching career – a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

was held in his honour, with Athletic Bilbao hosting the England national team. His first managerial experience would be with the former's reserves, and he was promoted to first-team duties early into the 1989–90 campaign, being sacked at its conclusion. After a four-year spell at RC Celta de Vigo from 1991 to 1994, achieving promotion to the top level in his second season, Rojo returned to the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

for the next three years, coaching

CA 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 S ...

and

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with '' ...

. For 1997–98 he was appointed at

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and blac ...

, helping the modest club retain its first division status, and the following season he joined

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

, leading them to the fourth place in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

– but failed to qualify for the

UEFA Champions League 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 competi ...

because of a controversial decision to instead award their place to Real Madrid, winners of the

1999–2000 UEFA Champions League The 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League was the 45th season of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA's premier European club football tournament, and the eighth season since its rebranding from the "European Champion Clubs' Cup" or "European Cup". The com ...

. Rojo returned to Bilbao for one season, but moved back to Zaragoza for another season and then left again, being replaced by Luis Costa on 22 January 2002 after a 4–2 away loss against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

, and ultimately being relegated from the top level. He then took a sabbatical year, subsequently joining

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

in division two and again dropping down a tier.

Personal life and death

Rojo died on 23 December 2022, at the age of 75, in

Leioa Leioa ( es, Lejona) is a municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is located south of Getxo and Berango delimitating east and south with Erandio, Portugalete and Sestao. Today it is part of the Bilbao conurbation. Its populat ...

. Athletic Bilbao released the following statement upon his death:

"There are not enough words in the world to describe Txetxu Rojo and what he means for our Club. Those who enjoyed his unique style on the left wing for 17 seasons will remember the amazing runs, the surgical and unexpected passes, exquisite controls, beautiful goals, but, above all, the aura of an inimitable footballer, an artist, a creator of beauty, perhaps lacking in the brawn of other Athletic legends, but nonetheless possessing the enormous heart of a Lion. Although Txetxu's heart has stopped beating in his mortal body, it will continue to beat forever in the hearts of our fans."

Career statistics

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

Honours

Player

Athletic Bilbao *

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 ...

, 1972–73; runner-up 1965–66, 1966–67, 1976–77 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: runner-up 1976–77

Manager

Celta * Segunda División: 1991–92

References

External links

* * *
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojo, Txetxu 1947 births 2022 deaths Spanish footballers Footballers from Bilbao Association football forwards La Liga players Bilbao Athletic footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain youth international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain international footballers Basque Country international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Athletic Bilbao managers RC Celta de Vigo managers CA Osasuna managers UE Lleida managers UD Salamanca managers Real Zaragoza managers Rayo Vallecano managers