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

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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)
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

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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)
Marca, 3 April 2012

International career

Zárraga won eight

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in the Spain national team, his debut coming in 1955 in a 1–1 draw with

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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 *

: 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 data
at 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