Julio Salinas Fernández (; born 11 September 1962) is a Spanish former

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, rugb ...

who played during the 1980s and 1990s. A tall, lanky centre forward with skills, he was best remembered for his spell at

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 c ...

– having started his career 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 football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los L ...

– while he was also a prolific goalscorer for club and

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

. Salinas earned 56 caps for Spain, and represented the nation in three World Cups and two European Championships.

Club career

Athletic and Atlético

Salinas 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 ...

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. ...

, joining

's youth academy at the age of 11. In 1983–84 he won the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish football, the Trofeo Pichichi is awarded by the sports newspaper '' Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Rafael "Pichichi" Moreno, the trophy has been awarded annually since the ...

award, as he helped the reserves finish runners-up to

Castilla CF Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capa ...

. He also played 13 games for the first team over two seasons, scoring his first

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 Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

goal on 26 March 1983 in a 4–0 home win against RC Celta de Vigo as the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Ba ...

captured back-to-back league titles and added the 1984

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 footb ...

. After two more seasons with Athletic, scoring a total of 12 goals for two-third-place finishes, Salinas moved to Atlético Madrid, where he found the net at an impressive rate (this included a brace on 7 February 1988 in a 7–0 home thrashing of RCD Mallorca).

Barcelona

Salinas signed 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. Found ...

for 1988–89, linking up with several other Basque players, including veteran José Ramón Alexanko, José Mari Bakero, Txiki Begiristain and Jon Andoni Goikoetxea – these would help form the backbone of the legendary ''Dream Team''. He scored 20 league goals in his debut campaign as ''Barça'' finished second to Real Madrid, and he also netted in both the 1989 Cup Winners' Cup final against

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

and in the following year's domestic cup 2–0 win over Real Madrid. In the subsequent seasons, Salinas appeared sparingly for the club due to his age and the emergence of attacking players as Hristo Stoichkov, but would still manage to grab some important goals in spite of limited playing time. On 30 January 1994, after coming in as a second-half substitute against Albacete Balompié, he scored both goals in a 2–1 home victory, as he only played six games more during the season, with Barcelona eventually achieving four league titles in a row.

Late career

Upon leaving

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

, Salinas joined Deportivo de La Coruña, helping to a runner-up finish in his only season. Although not a regular in the starting lineups he finished with 12 league goals, only surpassed by club great

Bebeto José Roberto Gama de Oliveira (born 16 February 1964), known as Bebeto (), is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian General Elections and was elected to the Le ...

. As a late replacement at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Bar ...

on 3 December, he netted in a 1–1 draw after a header from José Luis Ribera. After the signing of, among others, Russian Dmitry Radchenko, Salinas was deemed surplus to requirements, agreeing to a contract at

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, ...

where he scored 18 times in the 1995–96 campaign, crucial in helping the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who we ...

avoid relegation. He was held in high regards in the city during his one-and-a-half-year spell, with the fans often singing: ''"Bota de oro, Salinas bota de oro!"'' ("Golden boot, Salinas, golden boot!"). Salinas then had a stint abroad with Yokohama F. Marinos in Japan, where he again showcased his scoring skills, teaming up with former Barcelona teammate Goikoetxea. He then returned close to home, having played his last two seasons with Deportivo Alavés where he notably scored in 1999–2000's opener, a 2–1 home defeat of Málaga CF; his team finished sixth, and would go on to reach the following year's UEFA Cup final. On 19 May 2000, Salinas played his last professional match, scoring in a 2–1 loss at his first team Athletic Bilbao. He retired at nearly 38 with 417 matches and 152 goals, in the Spanish top flight alone.

International career

Salinas represented the Spain national team over a decade, scoring 22 goals. His debut was on 22 January 1986 as he netted in a 2–0 friendly win over the Soviet Union, in Las Palmas. Salinas went on to represent the country at three

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 has ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

(where he scored against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

(netting in the second-round loss to

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

) and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

, as well as two

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

s, 1988 and 1996. In the 1994 World Cup quarter-final against

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 ...

, after he had found the net in a 2–2 draw against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Salinas missed the chance to put Spain into the last-four stage. With 1–1 and less than ten minutes to go, he marred a fast-break, with only

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 ...

Gianluca Pagliuca Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his c ...

to beat; Roberto Baggio sealed the 2–1 final result minutes later, and the Spaniard was ultimately more remembered for this miss rather than the massive number of goals scored during an 18-year professional career.

Post-retirement

Immediately after retiring, Salinas began working as a

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...

, first for

RTVE The Corporación de Radio y Televisión Española, S.A. (; ), known as Radiotelevisión Española or RTVE, is the state-owned public corporation that assumed in 2007 the indirect management of the Spanish public radio and television service kno ...

and then on laSexta.

Personal life

Salinas' younger brother, Francisco, was also a professional footballer (centre back), and played for Athletic Bilbao and Celta. Both made their top division debut in the 1982–83 season.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Salinas goal.''

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 1982–83, 1983–84 *

: 1983–84 *

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 ...

: 1984 Barcelona *La Liga: 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94 *Copa del Rey: 1989–90 *

: 1991, 1992 * European Cup: 1991–92 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

: 1988–89 * European Super Cup: 1992 Deportivo *Copa del Rey: 1994–95 Individual *

: 1983–84 ( Segunda División)

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Salinas, Julio 1962 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Bilbao Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Bilbao Athletic footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Atlético Madrid footballers FC Barcelona players Deportivo de La Coruña players Sporting de Gijón players Deportivo Alavés players J1 League players Yokohama F. Marinos players Spain under-21 international footballers Spain international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Basque Country international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Japan Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Japan Spanish beach soccer players Spanish television presenters