Miguel Ángel 'Periko' Alonso Oyarbide (born 1 February 1953) is a Spanish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

and manager. In his professional career he played mainly for

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 ...

(five years) and

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 ...

(three), amassing

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 ...

totals of 273 matches and 42 goals during ten seasons. A Spanish international for two years, Alonso represented the country at the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

Playing career

Born in Tolosa,

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

, Alonso played professionally for

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 ...

and

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Sabadell, a city in the province of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holdi ...

. With the first, he was instrumental in back-to-back

conquests (averaging 32 games and five goals in those seasons and not starting only once), and won 19 of his 20

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 Java ...

for

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 ...

in the process; his debut came on 24 September 1980 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

with

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

(2–2), in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. In 1982–83, having retired from the national team after the unsuccessful home World Cup campaign, Alonso joined Barcelona, being used relatively little during most of his spell. He won the league in his final year but only appeared twice, eventually retiring in 1988 with ''Barça'' neighbours Sabadell, helping the club achieve promotion from

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 ...

in his first season and scoring 12 goals – a career-best – in his second, as the modest

Catalans Catalans (Catalan language, Catalan, French language, French and Occitan language, Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian language, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance languages, Romance ethnic group native to Cataloni ...

ranked 17th after the first 34 matches, but eventually managed to avoid a drop after finishing third in their

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

group in the second stage.

International goals

Coaching career

Alonso started working as a manager immediately after retiring, mainly in the Basque Country. In 2000, after an unsuccessful spell at

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

(second division,

), he had a chance to coach Real Sociedad but only lasted ten games, after which he retired.

Personal life

Alonso's sons,

Mikel Mikel is the Basque adaptation of the given name Michael. Notable people with the name include: Footballers * Mikel Alonso (born 1980), Spanish Basque footballer and older brother of retired Spanish international Xabi Alonso * Mikel Álvaro ...

and Xabi, were also footballers and midfielders. Both followed in their father's footsteps representing Real Sociedad, and the latter also played with great success for

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

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 ...

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

and the Spain national team.

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 1980–81, 1981–82 Barcelona *

: 1984–85 *

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 footbal ...

: 1982–83 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

References

External links

Real Sociedad official profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Periko 1953 births Living people People from Tolosa, Spain Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers FC Barcelona players CE Sabadell FC footballers Spain B international footballers Spain international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players Basque Country international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tolosa CF managers Real Sociedad B managers SD Eibar managers Hércules CF managers Real Sociedad managers Alonso family (Gipuzkoa)