Cándido Martínez Collar (1 September 1899 – 16 June 1960) was a Spanish

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

for

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

. He was one of the great goalkeepers of Real Madrid's early history, playing with them for seven years.

Club career

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, he joined the ranks of his hometown club

in 1920, playing for one year as a substitute. Cándido began to appear as Real Madrid's starting

in 1921 at the hand of

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

Juan de Cárcer Juan de Cárcer y Disdier (1892 in Málaga – October 1962 in Madrid) was a Spanish footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and was also a Referee (association football), referee, and Manager (association footbal ...

, taking over from Hernández Coronado, after the latter had a bad 1920–21 season in which Real failed to win a single trophy. He quickly become an undisputed starter, forming a great defensive partnership with

Félix Quesada Félix Quesada Mas (1 July 1902 – 9 July 1959) was a Spanish professional association football player. He was born in Madrid, Spain. He played as a defender spending the entire of his career at Real Madrid C.F. He scored 33 goals in 244 matche ...

and

Pedro Escobal Patricio Pedro Escobal López (24 August 1903 – 25 November 2002), better known as Perico Escobal, was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Real Madrid and Racing de Madrid. With the former, he played 82 official matches and won ...

, and together with them, Cándido helped the club to win six regional championships (1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1926–27 and 1927–28). Cándido played a pivotal role in helped the club reach the 1924 Copa del Rey Final, which was Real's first

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 ...

final in 7 years, losing 0–1 to

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 ...

, courtesy of a goal from

José Echeveste José Echeveste Galfarsoro (19 March 1899 – 7 December 1982) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Real Unión and for the Spain national team. He spent all 13 seasons of his playing career with Real Unión, thus being a histori ...

. In the summer of 1925 he went out on a tour in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

with Real Madrid, and on his return to Madrid, Cándido spoke wonders about the European public and the great influx in the

stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

s. On numerous occasions Cándido played for other Spanish clubs as a guest in

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

against foreign teams, such as when, in August 1925, Cándido played for

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

against

Nacional de Montevideo Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'') is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in La Blanqueada, La Blanqueada, Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' an ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, in a match which was basically a heroic fight between the

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

defense and the Uruguayan forward line, and such was Cándido's performance and the enthusiasm that he aroused among the fans that at the end of the match he was carried out on their shoulders. However, he remained loyal to Real Madrid until 1928, when the club's board of directors decided that the poor performances of an aging Cándido did not allow him to continue defending Madrid's goal, and so, he ended up in the neighboring club,

, with whom he played for one year before retiring at the end of the 1928–29 season.

International career

Like many other

players of that time, he was summoned to play for the 'Centro' (Madrid area) representative team, and he was part of the Madrid side that reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

of the

1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup The 1923–24 Prince of Asturias Cup was the sixth tournament of the Prince of Asturias Cup, which is an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain. The pre-favourites to win were the Catalan team because a ...

, 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 ...

. Cándido started in the infamous final against

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

where he conceded 4 goals in a 4–4 draw, and in the replay in the following day, he again conceded 3 goals as his side lost 2–3.

Honours

Club

;Real Madrid *

Campeonato Regional Centro The Campeonato Regional Centro ( Spanish for Central Regional Championship) was an annual association football competition for clubs based primarily in the Castile region of Spain, including the Community of Madrid, during the first half of the 2 ...

: **Champions (6): 1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26, 1926–27 and 1927–28 *

: **Runner-up (1):

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–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

International

;

Prince of Asturias Cup The Prince of Asturias Cup (, ) was an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain – selections of players from clubs from the region in question, meaning that players did not need to be native to the regio ...

: **Runner-up (1): 1923–24

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Candido 1899 births 1960 deaths Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Real Madrid CF players Atlético Madrid footballers