Ramón Ignacio Unzaga Asla (18 July 1892 – 31 August 1923) was a
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
left-half
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 ...
. Born in Spain, he appeared for the
Chile national team at international level.
Life
Born in
Bilbao
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, Spain, he emigrated to
Talcahuano
Talcahuano () (From Mapudungun ''Tralkawenu'', "Thundering Sky") is a port city and commune in the Biobío Region of Chile. It is part of the Greater Concepción conurbation. Talcahuano is located in the south of the Central Zone of Chile.
Geo ...
, Chile, in 1906 at 14 years of age, with his parents. In 1912 the twenty-year-old Unzaga impressed the Talcahuano sports delegation with his football ability, so they signed him to the football club. He began his career and adopted the Chilean nationality. Unzaga is attributed as the first person to create the
bicycle kick
In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...
, devising the move playing for his club team in 1914 in ''El Morro'' stadium of Talcahuano. The kick is labeled the ''chorera'' in honor of the team he played for that was called the ''escuela chorera'' (chorera school) at the time. In the
Copa America
Copa or COPA may refer to:
COPA
COPA may refer to:
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of 1916 and 1920 playing for the
Chile national team, Unzaga repeated the kick on various occasions in which the Argentine press labels the kick as ''la chilena''.
Unzaga received many offers to play with international football clubs but always chose to stay with Club Atlético y de Fútbol Estrella de Mar of Talcahuano. On 15 May 2014, the municipality of Talcahuano inaugurated a monument of Ramon Unzaga in his honor.
Since that Unzaga's move was born in the ''El Morro Stadium'',
is in its honor that the stadium was renamed after him.
References
External links
Ramón Unzagaat PartidosdeLaRoja.com
Ramón Unzagaat NuevaEstrelladelMar.com
1892 births
1923 deaths
Footballers from Bilbao
Spanish emigrants to Chile
Spanish expatriates in Chile
Spanish men's footballers
Naturalized citizens of Chile
Chilean men's footballers
Chilean people of Basque descent
Chile men's international footballers
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Chile
Expatriate men's footballers in Chile
Men's association football midfielders
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