José María Zárraga Martín (15 August 1930 – 3 April 2012) 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 ...
who played 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 ...
.
Club career
Born in
Las Arenas,
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 ...
, Zárraga signed for
Real Madrid in 1949, spending the following two seasons with the
reserve team
In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...
. He 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 14 October 1951 in a 3–1 home win against
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...
, finishing his first two years with the club with 48 games and two goals combined but failing to collect any silverware.
From 1953–60, Zárraga was an important midfield unit as the ''Merengues'' won 11 major titles, including five consecutive
European Cups (that record would only be bettered by
Francisco Gento
Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish footballer who played as an outside left. He was voted by IFFHS (International Federation of Football History and Statistics) as the greatest Spanish footballer ...
, who won six) – he played in all the finals, and totaled 31 appearances combined in those victorious campaigns.
[Adiós a José María Zárraga (Farewell to José María Zárraga)](_blank)
Público, 4 April 2012
Zárraga continued to add to his trophy cabinet in his final two seasons with Real (notably back-to-back national championships), but only played in five matches combined. He retired in June 1962 at nearly 32, having appeared in 306 official games, and went on to have brief coaching spells in the decade, including six matches with
CD Málaga in
1968–69 (after replacing
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian
Otto Bumbel), which ended in top flight relegation; he also worked as a
director of football
A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...
with Valencia and
Deportivo Alavés
Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it ...
.
[Muere Zárraga, ganador de cinco Copas de Europa con el Real Madrid (Zárraga, winner of five European Cups with Real Madrid, dies)](_blank)
Marca, 3 April 2012
International career
Zárraga won eight
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 Ja ...
in the
Spain national team, his debut coming in 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 ...
at the
Chamartín. In his last international appearances, Zárraga played as
captain.
Style of play
A midfielder, Zárraga was known for his strength and bravery on the pitch.
Death
Zárraga suffered a stroke in early October 1993, having to be admitted to the Zarzuela Clinic in
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
. On 3 April 2012, he died at the age of 81, also in the Spanish capital.
Honours
;Real Madrid
*
European Cup:
1955–56,
1956–57,
1957–58,
1958–59,
1959–60
*
Intercontinental Cup:
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events
January
* Jan ...
*
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, 1957
*
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' ...
:
1953–54,
1954–55,
1956–57,
1957–58,
1960–61,
1961–62
*
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 ...
: 1961–62
References
External links
*
*
National team dataat BDFutbol
*
Real Madrid biography
at
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zarraga, Jose Maria
1930 births
2012 deaths
Spanish footballers
Footballers from Getxo
Association football midfielders
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Tercera División players
Arenas Club de Getxo footballers
Real Madrid Castilla footballers
Real Madrid CF players
Spain B international footballers
Spain international footballers
Spanish football managers
La Liga managers
CD Málaga managers
Real Murcia managers
UEFA Champions League winning players