Mariano Gonzalvo Falcón (22 March 1922 – 7 April 2007), also referred to as Gonzalvo III or – especially as of late – by the Catalan rendition of his given name, Marià Gonzalvo, was a Spanish footballer who spent most of his career at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. Gonzalvo was regarded as one of the most talented midfielders in

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 ...

during the 1940s and early 1950s. On 7 December 1962 Barcelona played a testimonial game against

C.A. Peñarol CA or ca may refer to: Businesses and organizations Companies * Air China (IATA airline code CA) * CA Technologies, a U.S. software company * Cayman Airways, a Cayman Islands airline * Channel America, a defunct U.S. television network * Classi ...

in his honour. He also played for both

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and the Catalan XI. His two older brothers were also notable footballers. Juli Gonzalvo, known as ''Gonzalvo I'' played for

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

while

José Gonzalvo José Gonzalvo Falcón (16 January 1920 – 31 May 1978), sometimes referred to as Gonzalvo II or – especially as of late – by the Catalan rendition of his given name Josep Gonzalvo, was a Spanish Catalan footballer and manager. Gonzalvo played ...

, known as ''Gonzalvo II'', also played for CF Barcelona and Spain.

Career

Club career

Born in

Mollet del Vallès Mollet del Vallès () is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Oriental in Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the valley of the Besòs river, and is an important communications hub from Barcelona towards the north: the AP-7 Motorwa ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

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 north ...

, Gonzalvo began his career a youth with his local team in Mollet, before joining

CE Europa Club Esportiu Europa is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Gràcia, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1907, it plays in the Segunda División RFEF, Segunda ...

. He then signed for

but initially was unable to establish himself in the first team. He spent the 1941–42 season at

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 La ...

, playing alongside his brother

Juli Juli may refer to: * Juli (band), a rock/pop band from Germany * "Juli", by Ryan Adams from the album '' Prisoner (B-Sides)'' * Juli District, one district of the province Chucuito in Puno Region, Peru ** , the capital of Juli District * Juli (foo ...

, and helped them gain promotion to

after they finished as runners-up in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

. He returned to FC Barcelona and made his Primera División debut on 13 December 1942 in a 4–2 away defeat 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 Euro ...

. Over the next thirteen seasons he was a prominent member of a very successful Barcelona team, playing 331 games and scoring 56 goals in all competitions. Together with a team that included, among others

Antoni Ramallets Antoni Ramallets Simón (1 July 1924 – 30 July 2013) was a Spanish football goalkeeper and manager. He spent most of his career at FC Barcelona, during the 1950s and early 1960s, winning the Ricardo Zamora Trophy as the best goalkeeper in ...

, Velasco, Josep Escolà,

Joan Segarra Joan Segarra Iracheta (15 November 1927 – 3 September 2008) was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender. He spent 16 seasons with FC Barcelona between 1950 and 1964, in which he played 299 matches in La Liga and served as the team's cap ...

Estanislao Basora Estanislau Basora Brunet (also Estanislao; 18 November 1926 – 16 March 2012) was a Spanish footballer who played as a winger or striker. Most of his 15-year career was spent at FC Barcelona for which he appeared in more than 300 official ga ...

, César,

Ladislao Kubala Ladislao is a given name, a Hispanic variant of Vladislav. Notable people with the name include: * Ladislao Cabrera, Bolivian hero during the War of the Pacific * Ladislao Diwa, Filipino patriot * Ladislao Martínez, Puerto Rico musician * Lászl ...

and his brother,

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced differently in each language: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced , is an old vernacul ...

, he helped Barcelona win five La Liga titles and the

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 ...

three times in a row. In the 1951 Copa final he scored the third goal in 3–0 win over

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. Gonzalvo finished his career playing one season each at

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 '' ...

and

CD Condal Club Deportivo Condal was a Spanish football club based in Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1934 and dissolved in 1970, it held home games at ''Camp de Les Corts'', with a capacity of 25,000 spectators. History ...

. The latter team were originally 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 ...

of FC Barcelona but became a separate club during the 1950s. After winning promotion from the Segunda División, they briefly played in La Liga and were joined by the veteran Gonzalvo.

International career

Between 1946 and 1954 Gonzalvo also played 16 times for

. He made his debut for Spain in a 1–0 defeat against

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

on 23 June 1946 and went on to represent them at the

1950 World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

. Between 1947 and 1955 he also played three times for the Catalan XI. His first game was a 3–1 win against Spain on 10 October 1947. On 26 January 1955 he played alongside

and guest player

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo (, ) is a cognate of the Anglo-Saxon name Alfred and a common Italian, Galician, Portuguese and Spanish language personal name. People with the given name include: *Alfredo (born 1946), Brazilian footballer born as Alfredo Mostarda Filho ...

in a game against

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

at ''Les Corts''.

Honours

FC Barcelona * Spanish Champions (5): 1945, 1948, 1949, 1952, 1953 *

(3): 1951, 1952, 1953 * Copa Latina: 1949 * Copa de Oro Argentina/Copa Eva Duarte (4): 1945, 1949, 1952, 1953 * Copa Martini Rossi (2): 1952, 1953 Real Zaragoza *

runners-up: 1942

References

External links

Spain stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalvo, Maria 1922 births 2007 deaths People from Vallès Oriental Sportspeople from the Province of Barcelona Association football midfielders Footballers from Catalonia Spanish footballers Spain international footballers La Liga players CE Europa footballers FC Barcelona players Real Zaragoza players UE Lleida players 1950 FIFA World Cup players Catalonia international footballers CD Condal players

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...