Francisco Campos Salamanca (8 March 1916 – 8 September 1995) 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. With 127 goals, 120 of which were for

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, he is the highest scoring player from the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

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 ...

Club career

Born in Las Palmas,

, he began his career in 1934 with Marino F.C., one of the clubs which fused to create

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. After the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, lin ...

, he moved to Atlético Aviación (now

), with whom he debuted on 7 January 1940 in a Madrid derby against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. His first goals were a brace on 4 February in a 4–1 win against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

, and on 8 March he scored a hat-trick against

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 ...

as Atlético won 5–1. He finished his first season with 8 goals from 17 appearances, and Atlético won the league. Atlético retained the league the following season, and Campos scored 16 in 24 games. His most prolific season was 1941–42, with 20 goals in 25 games. In the late 1940s, he was part of the ''Delantera de la Seda'' frontline with José Juncosa, Alfonso Silva, Antonio Vidal Caturla and

Adrián Escudero Adrián Escudero García (24 November 19277 March 2011) was a Spanish footballer who played as a striker. He is the second the all-time leading goalscorer for Atlético Madrid with 169 goals, having appeared for the club in 13 La Liga seasons a ...

. He scored 12 goals in Madrid derbies, the most by an Atlético player. (nine in the league, and another three in the cup). After nine seasons at Atlético, he joined

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

who had just been relegated to 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 was their player-manager for the second half of the 1949–50 season, and the following season was part of their team which gained promotion. He scored 7 goals in 11 games on their return to

in 1951–52 and then retired.

International career

Campos made his debut on 12 January 1941 in a 2–2 friendly draw with

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. He followed this game with five goals in his next four internationals, including a brace in a 4–0 win against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the

Estadio de Nervión Estadio de Nervión was a multi-use stadium in Seville, Spain. It was used mostly for football matches and hosted the home matches of Sevilla FC. The stadium was able to hold 20,000 people and opened in 1928. It was closed in 1958 when Estadio ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

on 15 March 1942, eventually finishing with 5 goals from 6 internationals.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first.''

Managerial career

In his native Canary Islands, Campos managed

in the 1961–62 Segunda División and CD Tenerife in the same league in 1963–64.

Honours

;Atlético Madrid *

: 1939–40, 1940–41 * Copa de Campeones: 1940 ;Real Gijón *

: 1950–51

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campos, Paco 1916 births 1995 deaths Footballers from Las Palmas Association football forwards Spanish footballers Spain international footballers Atlético Madrid footballers Sporting de Gijón players La Liga players Segunda División players Spanish football managers Sporting de Gijón managers CD Badajoz managers UD Salamanca managers UD Las Palmas managers CD Tenerife managers