José Nasazzi Yarza (24 March 1901 – 17 June 1968) was a Uruguayan footballer who played as a defender. He captained his

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when they won the inaugural

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

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 b ...

Career

He was born in Bella Vista, Montevideo to Giuseppe, an Italian immigrant from Esino Lario (near

Lecco Lecco (, , ; lmo, label= Lecchese, Lècch ) is a city of 48,131 inhabitants in Lombardy, northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). ...

), and María Jacinta Yarza from the Basque Country of Spain. Nasazzi is regarded by many as Uruguay's greatest ever football player. He was known as ''El Gran Mariscal'' ("The Great Marshal"), and had already won the gold medal at the

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

and 1928 Olympic Games, as well as the

South American Championship A South American Championship is a top level international sports competition between South American athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships * ATP Buenos Aires, a tenni ...

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

, and

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of Viet ...

, by the time of the first

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 ...

. On individual level, he was selected as best player at FIFA World Cup 1930 and twice (1923 and 1935) at South American Championship (the predecessor of Copa America). During the 1930 FIFA World Cup tournament, Uruguay's only serious rivals were their neighbors

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

. After defeating

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and

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in the first round, Uruguay defeated

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

6–1 in the semi-finals to set up a final against Argentina. Although his team were 2–1 behind at half-time, Nasazzi rallied his teammates in the second half, leading them to a 4–2 victory and making himself the first captain to lift the

Jules Rimet Trophy The World Cup is a solid gold trophy that is awarded to the winners of the FIFA World Cup association football tournament. Since the advent of the World Cup in 1930, two trophies have been used: the Jules Rimet Trophy from 1930 to 1970, before ...

. Although Uruguay refused to defend their title in 1934, Nasazzi won the South American Championship again (in 1935), before retiring in 1937 with 41 international appearances. Throughout his career at Nacional, he played 110 matches and scored 10 goals, including friendlies.

Nasazzi's Baton

''Nasazzi's Baton'' is an unofficial title named after José similar to the Unofficial Football World Championship. It is said to have been held by Uruguay after the first World Cup, and subsequently to have been taken over by any team to beat the holders over 90 minutes in a full international match.

Honours

Club

;Lito * Uruguayan Intermedia: 1917, 1920 ;Roland Moor * Uruguayan 3era Extra: 1921 ;Bella Vista * Primera División: 1922 -1932 ;Nacional * Primera División: 1933 – 1937; 1925: European Tour with Nacional; 1927: US Tour with Nacional;.

International

;Uruguay *

Football at the Summer Olympics Football at the Summer Olympics, referred to as the Olympic Football Tournament, has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 (the inaugural Games) and 1932 (in an attempt to promote the new FIFA Wo ...

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

, 1935

Individual

*Best player at the

, 1935 * FIFA World Cup Golden Ball:

* France Football's

Top-100 1930–1990, 56th: 1994 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

South American Footballer of the Century, 26th: 1999 * World Soccer's 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time, 75th: 1999 *

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around th ...

Uruguay All-Time Team: 1999

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nasazzi, Jose 1901 births 1968 deaths Footballers from Montevideo 1930 FIFA World Cup players Uruguayan footballers Association football central defenders Uruguayan Primera División players C.A. Bella Vista players Club Nacional de Football players Uruguay international footballers Olympic footballers of Uruguay Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1924 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Uruguay FIFA World Cup-winning captains FIFA World Cup-winning players Uruguayan football managers Uruguay national football team managers Uruguayan people of Basque descent Uruguayan people of Italian descent Olympic medalists in football Copa América-winning players Uruguayan people of Lombard descent