Ramón de la Fuente Leal, nicknamed Lafuente (31 December 1907 – 15 September 1973) 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 ...

for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

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 ...

and the Spanish national team.

Club career

He was born in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

. Lafuente began his sporting career in the ranks of

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 4, holding home matches at '' Lasesarre'', with a capacity ...

in 1924, at the age of just 16 years old. At Barakaldo, he stood out as an extraordinary forward, which eventually earned him a move to Athletic Bilbao in 1926, with whom he played for nine seasons. In 1928 he was one of the members of the Athletic Bilbao team that played in the first season of the Spanish Football League. At Bilbao, he was the most experienced member of what became a famous and successful forward line, along with

José Iraragorri José Iraragorri Ealo (16 March 1912 – 27 April 1983), nicknamed "Chato", was a Spanish football (soccer), footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Inside forward, inside left. Career Club Born in Basauri, Iraragorri initial ...

Chirri II Ignacio María Agirrezabala Ibarbia, nicknamed Chirri II (10 May 1909 – 11 September 1979) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. He played four times for Spain. Career At club level, he played for Athletic Bilbao for eight ...

, Bata and

Guillermo Gorostiza Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes (15 February 1909 – 23 August 1966) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. In a 14-year professional career, he played for Athletic Bilbao and Valencia, amassing La Liga totals of 255 games and 178 go ...

. The highlight of his career was scoring the winning goal of the 1930 Copa del Rey Final 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 ...

extra-time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

in a 3–1 win. In the Bilbao ranks he played a total of 211 official matches (96 in the League, 56 in the Cup and 59 in the Regional Championship), scoring a total of 64 goals (26 in the League, 17 in the Cup and 21 in the Regional Championship). In total, he won three Leagues and four Cups, forming part of the club's first historical striker. In 1934 he signed for Atlético de Madrid (then Athletic de Madrid), with whom he played his last La Liga season, playing 20 games and scoring just one goal. His career was cut short prematurely in the second leg of the

1935 Copa del Presidente de la República The Copa del Presidente de la República 1935 ''(President of the Republic's Cup)'' was the 35th staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition started in March 1935 and concluded on June 30, 1935, with the Fina ...

quarter-final tie between Madrid and

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 ...

, when a clash with

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Guillermo Eizaguirre caused Lafuente to fracture his

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

and

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

. The player did not heal well from the injury and was unable to play during the following season. When 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 ...

broke out in the

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

of 1936, Lafuente was still 28 years old, but by then he was already in transition to

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

International career

He earned 8

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 the Spanish national team, and participated in Spain's first-ever

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

, which ended in a quarter-final exit to the eventual champions

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Managerial career

As a coach, he managed

Atlético Aviación Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

during the first ten days of the 1940–41 season, while

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 14 February 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for both the Cata ...

was arrested and disqualified. Between 1943 and 1945, he coached

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

. He died in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

on 15 September 1973 at the age of 65.

Honours

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 ...

: 1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34 *

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 ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independence, against the wis ...

Biscay Championship The Biscay Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional de Vizcaya)'', also called the North Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional Norte)'' in its early editions, was an official football tournament in Spain organised by the North Football F ...

: 1926–27, 1927–28, 1928–29, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34

References

External links

Profile
* * 1907 births 1973 deaths Footballers from Bilbao Spanish footballers Spain international footballers 1934 FIFA World Cup players Barakaldo CF footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Atlético Madrid footballers La Liga players Spanish football managers Deportivo de La Coruña managers Association football forwards Basque Country international footballers {{spain-footy-forward-stub