Agustín Gaínza Vicandi (28 May 1922 – 6 January 1995) was a Spanish

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 ...

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and

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Club career

Nicknamed ''Piru'', Gaínza's entire career was spent with

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 ...

. Born in

Basauri Basauri is a major municipality of Biscay, in the Basque Country, an Autonomous Community in northern Spain. The town is a part of the Greater Bilbao conurbation, being only a few kilometers south of Bilbao. It is an industrial town that also in ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, he made his official debut and scored in a

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 ...

match on 15 January 1939 against

SD Erandio Club Sociedad Deportiva Erandio Club is a football club from the Basque Country, from the city of Erandio in Biscay (Spain). The club was officially founded in 1915 and they currently play in the Honor Division, though have played twice in the Spanis ...

, aged 16 years, seven months and 18 days. This made him the club's second-youngest debutant (behind

Domingo Acedo Domingo Gómez-Acedo y Villanueva (6 June 1898 – 14 September 1980), also known as Txomin, was a Spanish footballer who played primarily as a left-sided forward and sometimes as a left back. Acedo was in the Spain national team that competed ...

in 1914), a statistic which lasted until 2009 when

Iker Muniain Iker Muniain Goñi (, ; born 19 December 1992) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao, where he is captain, mainly as a left winger. Due to his style of play and stature, he was dubbed "the Spanish Messi" by the media. He has spe ...

surpassed the appearance record by seven days and equalled the scoring one the following week. Gaínza made his

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 ...

debut on 13 October 1940 in a 1–0 away loss against

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 ...

, then proceeded to play a total of 19 seasons in the competition with the same team, amassing totals of 380 games and 119 goals. During his spell with the ''Lions of San Mamés'' he won nine major titles, including two national championships and seven

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 ...

trophies, plus a Biscay Championship and a

Copa Eva Duarte The Copa Eva Duarte was a Spanish football tournament organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo. History In September 1940, a match with this format had the nam ...

(supercup). In May 1958, he received a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against English side

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

; coincidentally, the only goalscorer was

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 2 ...

who later became head coach of Athletic and organised further benefit matches between the clubs. Gaínza retired at the end of the 1958–59 campaign at the age of 37, having appeared in 494 official matches which was a club best at the time of his retirement. Such was his length of service that in addition to being one of its youngest goalscorers he was also the oldest, having found the net for the final time 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 ...

in March 1959, aged 36 years and 298 days; that record stood for 58 years, until

Aritz Aduriz Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia (; ; born 11 February 1981) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career with Athletic Bilbao, scoring 172 goals across all competitions for the team over three spel ...

surpassed it in December 2017. Gainza also set several Spanish Cup records: he won seven editions, appeared in nine finals, played most for one club in the competition (99 games), and was the highest scorer in a single match, having claimed eight goals in a 12–1 victory over

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 ...

in the 1947 quarter-finals after a 1–0 loss in the first leg. Gaínza coached Athletic during four seasons in the 1960s. He was sacked just six games into 1968–69, being replaced by former teammate

Rafael Iriondo Rafael Iriondo Aurtenetxea (24 October 1918 – 24 February 2016) was a Spanish football forward and manager. He amassed La Liga totals of 285 matches and 89 goals over 15 seasons, with Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad. He subsequently bec ...

who led the side to a domestic cup conquest.

International career

Gaínza won 33

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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 ...

, scoring ten goals. He made his debut on 11 March 1945 in a friendly against

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 ...

and, as with Athletic, was

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

in the

1950 FIFA 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 ...

as the country finished in fourth position.

Personal life

Gaínza's older brother, Miguel (1920–86), was also a footballer. A defender, he too played for Athletic Bilbao, and also for

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 ...

. It was reported that as a child Agustín was not interested in football and had to be encouraged to play the game by Miguel, and even when approached by Athletic in his teens was reluctant to take it up as a career, with his brother persuading him to agree terms. Two bronze busts of Gaínza were created by the sculptor José Manuel Alberdi in 1997. One was displayed outside his family home in Basauri (having been donated to the town by the local supporters' club), and the other was situated at the Athletic Bilbao training headquarters at

Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizka ...

Death

Gaínza died on 6 January 1995 in his hometown, at the age of 72.

Honours

Player

: 1942–43, 1955–56 *

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command French Army B, part of the Sixth United States Army Group in Nor ...

, 1944–45, 1949–50,

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

; runner-up 1948–49, 1952–53 *

: 1950

Manager

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

References

External links

* * *
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gainza, Agustin 1922 births 1995 deaths People from Basauri Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football forwards La Liga players Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players La Liga managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Athletic Bilbao managers Sportspeople from Biscay Spanish football managers