Agustín Sancho Agustina (18 July 1896 – 25 August 1960) was a Spanish professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Born in Benlloc ( province of Castellon,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

), he moved to

Sants Sants is a neighbourhood in the southern part of Barcelona. It belongs to the district of Sants-Montjuïc and is bordered by the districts of l'Eixample, Eixample to the northeast, Les Corts (district), Les Corts to the northwest, and by the mun ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of 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 ...

as a child, and there he played for various clubs in the neighborhood such as Gladiator de Sants, who was later effectively relaunched as the CE Sants. His good performance with Sants aroused the interest of the main Barcelona clubs and, although he had a pre-agreement with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

, he joined

in 1916, for whom he played in the next 12 seasons (Sept 1922-23, because he returned to Sants to defend the newly founded UE Sants). He was a member of the legendary

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

team, coached by

Jack Greenwell John Richard Greenwell (2 January 1884 – 20 November 1942) was an English football manager and former player. He is Barcelona's longest serving manager, having coached the club for ten consecutive seasons (initially as player-coach, then as ma ...

, that also included

Paulino Alcántara Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a Filipino and Spanish professional footballer and manager who played as a forward. He spent most of his playing career at FC Barcelona, and also represented Catalonia, the ...

, Sagibarba,

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 21 January 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 Spain. As a man ...

and

Josep Samitier Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, the Catalan XI, and Spain. He later ...

, and together with them, he helped Barcelona to win 9 Catalan championships and four

Copa del Rey 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 Spanis ...

titles in

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

1925 Events January * January 1 – The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria (1925–1930), State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini m ...

and

1926 In Turkey, the year technically contained only 352 days. As Friday, December 18, 1926 ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Saturday, January 1, 1927 '' (Gregorian Calendar)''. 13 days were dropped to make the switch. Turkey thus became the ...

. In the 1925 final, Sancho scored Barça's second goal of the night in a 2-0 win over

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in , holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-se ...

. Annoyed after receiving criticism, especially for his overweight, Sancho asked to leave Barcelona in June 1922, returning to his origins,

, where he signed for UE Sants, a new-born club from the merger of FC Internacional and his former club, Unió Esportiva Sants. The Sansense club also offered him a job as a construction contractor for the

City Council of Barcelona The City Council of Barcelona (Catalan language, Catalan: ''Ajuntament de Barcelona''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Ayuntamiento de Barcelona'') is the top-tier administrative and governing body of the Barcelona, municipality of Barcelona, Catal ...

, because throughout his career, Sancho had combined football with his work as a bricklayer, since professionalism was not recognized in Spain until the end of the 1920s. Sancho spent only a season at Sants as the leaders of FC Barcelona convinced him to rejoin Barça in June 1923.

International career

He appeared in the Spain national team for the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

, featuring in two matches against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

and

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

; Spain won the silver medal. He earned a third and last cap on 16 December 1923 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 ...

. As a

player, he was summoned to play for the Catalonia national team, being a member of the team that won the

1923-24 Prince of Asturias Cup Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, an inter-regional

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

organized by the

RFEF The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the national cup competitio ...

. Sancho was a starter in both games of the infamous final against a Castile/Madrid XI, helping Catalonia to a 3-2 win in the replay to assure the team's second title of the competition.

Managerial career

In the summer of 1922, Sancho was on holiday in Castellón at the same time as the local football team was being founded: CE Castellón. Since he was the most experienced and representative footballer in the province, he was offered to lead the first matches of the newly founded. In the following year, he also led some matches in

. Once retired from football, he was José Planas assistant in the technical management of FC Barcelona.

Honours

FC Barcelona * Copa del Rey: 4

and

* Catalan Championship: 9 1918-19, 1919-20, 1920-21, 1921-22, 1923-24, 1924-25, 1925-26, 1926-27, 1927-28 Spain *

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

: Silver medallist

References

External links

* * * 1896 births 1960 deaths Spanish men's footballers FC Barcelona players Spanish football managers CE Sabadell FC managers Valencia CF managers Spain men's international footballers Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1920 Summer Olympics Men's association football midfielders Catalonia men's international footballers Footballers from the Province of Castellón Footballers from Barcelona CF Reus Deportiu managers People from Plana Alta {{Spain-Olympic-medalist-stub