Edmundo Suárez Trabanco (22 January 1916 – 14 December 1978) 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 ...

player and coach – better known as Mundo. He was born in

Barakaldo Barakaldo (; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Biscay province in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country in Spain. Located on the Left Bank (Biscay), Left Bank of the Estuary of Bilbao, the city is pa ...

. He played as a forward for Spanish club

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

for most of his career, except for his last season, where he played for CD Alcoyano. As of 2009, he was one of the Top 10 all-time goal scorers in the Spanish La Liga, with 195 goals during 231 appearances.

Club career

''Mundo'' initially played football with various amateur teams in his native Basque Country, but the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

changed his career completely. He had a contract 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 ...

but this acquisition was made in republican territory, therefore it was not considered valid by the pro-Franco state which remained in power after the War. In 1939, the pro-Franco army created a team, named "Recovery of Levante" formed diverse players who had fought in the military region of Levante. Said team was chosen by Valencia CF as its first opponent after the war, and after seeing 'Recovery of Levante' in action, the established club did not waste the opportunity and acquired all of its players. After this acquisition, ''Mundo'' stayed in Valencia for eleven seasons between 1939–40 and 1949–50. His great physical strength allowed him to dominate Spanish football during the 1940s. Along with , , Vicente Asensi and Guillermo Gorostiza, he formed an electric front line that transformed Valencia into a winning team: they won

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 ...

three times during that decade ( 1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47) and were runners-up twice, and claimed 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 ...

on two occasions (

1941 The Correlates of War project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 3.49 million. However, the Uppsala Conflict Data Program estimates that the subsequent year, 1942, wa ...

, 1948–49) from five appearances in the final. Mundo is considered an idol for fans of Valencia because he holds, by a considerable margin, the record for the highest number of goals scored for the club with 238 in the two major domestic competitions, obtaining an average of 0.92 goals per game. He won the

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

(top scoring player) in the 1941–42 and 1942–43 seasons, with 27 and 28 goals respectively. He is currently the tenth highest goal scorer in the history of the Spanish league (with the fifth-highest goals-per-game ratio), and the sixth highest goalscorer in the history of the Copa del Rey. After a season in which he played only six games, he decided to leave Valencia to join in the nearby, smaller club Alcoyano which was also in the first division. He remained there for the 1950–51 season, until he realised he was no longer able to play at the top level.

International career

Suárez earned three international caps with the Spain national team between 1941 and 1942, scoring three goals. His international debut was on 28 December 1941 against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Coaching career

During the 1963–64 season, Suárez returned to Valencia and took up the position of team coach, replacing Pasieguito, another legend of Valencian football. Thanks to his strong character and tactical flexibility, he went on to improve Valencia's league position, placing them in sixth place. The team's performance in the Fairs Cup was much better, but they lost against

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

in a controversial match. After the positive results of that year, the Valencia FC board of directors allowed him to coach for one more year. However, as the team finished the league in fourth place, the directors hired another coach, Barinaga. With Barinaga, the team did not reach its expectations, so ''Mundo'' returned to his old position as coach for the next season. He started the 1966–67 season as the team's coach and achieved great success, winning the

by beating Athletic Club 2–0 in the final. He remained Valencia's coach until 13 October 1968, when he ended his coaching career due to the team's poor performance.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Valencia *

: 1941–42, 1943–44, 1946–47 *

: 1941, 1949 *

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 ...

: 1949 Individual *

: 1941–42, 1943–44

Manager

Valencia *

: 1967

References

External links

*
Mundo in www.lfp.es

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suarez, Edmundo 1916 births 1978 deaths Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barakaldo Men's association football forwards La Liga players Valencia CF players CD Alcoyano footballers Pichichi Trophy winners Spain men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Hércules CF managers Real Zaragoza managers UE Lleida managers Xerez CD managers Barakaldo CF managers Sporting de Gijón managers Valencia CF managers Real Murcia CF managers Levante UD managers CF Gandía managers Valencia CF Mestalla managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen