Bosch Josep-Clemente Gràcia (5 February 1897 – 6 March 1981), known as Grace, was a Spanish Catalan

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

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 out as header during a career which lasted from 1917 to 1926. At his peak with

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 ...

, he achieved the record of most goals scored by a player in a single season when he netted 59 goals in the 1921–22 season, which has remained unbroken until 2010, when it was finally broken by the great

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

Club career

A native of

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 ...

, Clemente Gràcia began his career at

Terrassa FC Terrassa Futbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Terrassa, Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1906, it currently plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa'', with a capacity of 7,500 sp ...

. In the 1917–1918 season he was top scorer for

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 ...

, who undefeated won the

Copa Catalunya The Copa Catalunya () is a knockout competition organised by the Catalan Football Federation for football clubs in the Catalonia autonomous community of Spain. History Between 1903 and 1940, it was known as the ''Catalan football championship ...

. In 1919 with

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 ...

, he left the club to join

. With Vicente Piera,

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 ...

and Emili Sagi-Barba, he formed one of the best front considered Barcelona's history. His best season was 1921–1922, where he won the Copa Catalunya and the

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 ...

, scoring one of five goals for his team in the final against

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

. That season he was the team's top scorer with 59 goals (35 goals in friendly matches, 19 in the Championship of Catalonia and 5 in the Championship of Spain) in 50 games, a record that still stands. He played for

for five years, and won five Copa Catalunya: 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922 and 1924, and two

(1920 and 1992). In total, he scored 161 goals in 151 games for Barcelona, scoring an average of more than one goal per game. After leaving Barcelona in 1924, he again played for

and then later for FC Martinenc. Professionally, it was official Guardia Urbana de Barcelona.

Club stats

International career

In 1920 he played several games with the

Catalonia national football team The Catalonia national football team () is the official football team of Catalonia. It is organised by the Catalan Football Federation, founded in 1900. The team has been referred to by various names including , and the Catalan XI. As the Catala ...

, and participated in the 1922-23, which ended in a semi-final elimination to Galicia. Nonetheless, Grace still managed to score once in the tournament, in the quarter-finals against

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 ...

to help Catalonia to a 3–0 win.

Honours

Barcelona

*Copa del Rey:

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 ...

and

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 ...

*Campeonato de Cataluña: 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924

Death

Clemente Gràcia died in his native

at the age of 84.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gracia, Clemente Spanish men's footballers FC Barcelona players RCD Espanyol footballers 1897 births 1981 deaths Footballers from Barcelona Men's association football forwards Catalonia men's international footballers