José María Martín Laca Salcedo (11 November 1898 – 22 September 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 ...

who played primarily as a

midfielder 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 ...

. Laca spent his entire 10-year career with Athletic Bilbao, and thus be part of the so-called one-club men group. Laca also earned one

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 ...

for the Spain national team in 1924.

Club career

Laca began his career at Athletic Club, and he quickly became one of the club's benchmarks at the time. Together with the likes of

Domingo Acedo Domingo Gómez-Acedo y Villanueva (6 June 1898 – 14 September 1980), also known as Txomin, was a Spanish footballer who played primarily as a left-sided forward and sometimes as a left back. Acedo was in the Spain national team that compet ...

José María Belauste José María de Belausteguigoitia Landaluce (3 September 1889 – 4 September 1964), known as Belauste, was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Bilbao, Biscay, Belauste played with Athletic Bilbao from ages 15� ...

and Pichichi, he helped the club win five regional North/Biscay championships and reach three

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 ...

finals in 1920, 1921 and

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

, winning the latter two. In the 1921 final, he netted twice in a 4–1 win over Athletic Madrid to help Bilbao win the first meeting between the 'two Athletics'.

International career

With Athletic playing in the local league, he was summoned to play for the Biscay national team, and was a member of the team that participated in the

1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup The 1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup was the sixth tournament of the Prince of Asturias Cup, which is an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain. The pre-favourites to win were the Catalan team because a ...

, an inter-regional

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indiv ...

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 ...

. In the quarter-finals against

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensiv ...

on 18 November 1923, Laca scored a goal to help his side to a 4–2 win, thus reaching the semi-finals where they were eliminated by

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 nort ...

0–1 due to a goal from

Cristóbal Martí Cristóbal Martí Batalla (born 22 May 1903 – 28 July 1986) was a Spanish football player and manager. Career Born in Granollers, Catalonia, Martí began playing football with CE Sabadell FC before joining FC Barcelona. He made more than 250 o ...

. Laca earned his only international

for the Spain national team on 9 March 1924, in an friendly against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

which ended in a 0–0 draw.

International goals

:''Biscay's team score listed first, column indicates score after each Laca goal.''

Honours

Club

Athletic Club *

(2): 1921,

; runner-up: 1920. * North/Biscay Regional Championship (5): 1919–20, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laca, José María 1898 births 1977 deaths Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Bilbao Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Basque Country men's international footballers