Agustín Gaínza
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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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
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) ** Smal ...
and
manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...
.


Club career

Nicknamed ''Piru'', Gaínza's entire career was spent with
Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...
. Born in
Basauri Basauri is a major municipality of Biscay, in the Basque Country (autonomous community), 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. ...
,
Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...
, 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 Footbal ...
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 play in , though have played twice in the Spanish second division. Erandio Club ...
, 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 Acedo, 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 co ...
in 1914), a statistic which lasted until 2009 when
Iker Muniain Iker Muniain Goñi (, ; born 19 December 1992) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays mainly as a winger but also as a forward for Argentine Primera División club San Lorenzo. He began his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, deb ...
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 as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
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 List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...
, 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 , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...
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 n ...
(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 (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...
; 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 19 years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League and scoring 276 goals. ...
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 association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...
in March 1959, aged 36 years and 298 days; that record stood for 58 years, until Aritz Aduriz 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 Vigo, 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), the club was fou ...
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 became ...
who led the side to a domestic cup conquest.


International career

Gaínza won 33
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
Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, scoring ten goals. He made his debut on 11 March 1945 in a friendly against
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
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 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...
as the country finished in fourth position.


Personal life

Gaínza's older brother,
Miguel --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disamb ...
(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 Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...
. 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

*
La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...
: 1942–43, 1955–56 *
Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...
:
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 France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...
, 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 after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...
,
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 thir ...
; runner-up 1948–49, 1952–53 *
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 n ...
: 1950


Manager

*
Copa del Generalísimo The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...
:
1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...


See also

* List of one-club men


References


External links

* * *
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gainza, Agustin 1922 births 1995 deaths People from Basauri Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players La Liga managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Athletic Bilbao managers Footballers from Biscay Spanish football managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen