Félix Sesúmaga Ugarte (12 October 1898 – 24 August 1925) was a Spanish (

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

) footballer 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 ...

for

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 ...

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 ...

, Racing de Sama de Langreo,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Sesúmaga won 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 ...

three times with three different clubs and also played in two back-to-back finals for two different clubs. In 1920 Sesúmaga was a member of the first ''Selección'' that played at the

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 ...

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. Sesúmaga’s playing career was shortened by

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

, to which he succumbed on August 24, 1925, at only 26 years old.

Club career

Born in

Leioa Leioa () is a municipality in Biscay, Basque Country, in northern Spain. It is located south of Getxo and Berango delimitating east and south with Erandio, Portugalete and Sestao. Today it is part of the Bilbao conurbation. Its population in 2019 ...

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 ...

, Sesúmaga began his career in 1914 at neighboring club Getxo Arenas. His goalscoring performances proved crucial to help Arenas reach the

final on two occasions (

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

and

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (later Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off th ...

). In the 1919 final he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

against

as they won 5–2, contributing decisively to the only Cup title in the history of Arenas, while also becoming in only the third player to manage a hat-trick in a Copa del Rey final after Pichichi in 1915 and Félix Zubizarreta in 1916, both for

. Barcelona were impressed enough to sign him still in 1919 and Sesúmaga didn't lose his goalscoring instinct in

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 ...

, helping his new club reach the 1920 final and beat Athletic Bilbao 2–0. In doing so, he emulated the feat of the French René Petit, who had also won the Cup two consecutive seasons with different teams. He was a member of a legendary Barcelona 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 ...

, Sagi-Barba,

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 ...

. During his time at the club he also helped them win three Championat de Catalunya titles. After a season at Racing de Sama de Langreo, he joined Athletic Bilbao and with them, he managed to win another Copa del Rey, his third, after beating

CE Europa Club Esportiu Europa () is a Catalan football team based in the city of Barcelona, with close links to the Vila de Gràcia, in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain. Founded in 1907, its first men's team plays in the , the fourth category ...

1–0 in the 1923 Copa del Rey Final.

International career

Spain national football team in the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp

On 28 August 1920, Sesúmaga went down in history as one of the eleven footballers who played in the first game of the Spain national team at 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 ...

, in an eventual 1–0 victory over

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 ...

. He didn't play in the quarter-finals 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 without him, Spain lost 1–3, meaning they would now dispute the silver medal in the repechage tournament, in which he was not side-lined again, featuring in all three games and scoring four goals, netting twice against

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 ...

to give Spain a 2–0 win, and two more against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in the play-off for the silver medal as Spain won 3–1. These goals made him the all-time top scorer of the Spain national team until he was overtaken two years later on 30 April 1922 by

. In total, he earned eight caps for Spain, scoring four goals between 1920 and 1923. Sesumaga

When he joined

in 1922 he became eligible to play for the

Biscay autonomous football team The Biscay autonomous football team was the regional football team for the province of Biscay, Spain, active between the 1910s and the 1930s. They were never affiliated with FIFA or UEFA, because Biscay is represented internationally by the Spa ...

representing the local league, and he was a member of the team that participated in the 1922–23 and

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 ...

tournaments, 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 ...

. Biscay was eliminated in the quarter-finals by

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

in 1922–23, but they achieved revenge in the next edition when they defeated them 4–2 at the same stage (some sources credit Biscay's opening goal to him, but most agree it was scored by Carmelo).

Illness and Death

Sesúmaga’s playing career was cut short by a diagnosis of tuberculosis. No longer able to play, he managed

Racing Club de Madrid Racing Madrid 1914 Fútbol Club (officially Sección de Acción Deportiva Racing Ciudad de Madrid) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish football team based in Madrid. Founded in 1914, they play in . The club was originally known as Racing C ...

in the 1924-1925 season. During that time, several clubs stood in solidarity with him and held tribute matches to raise funds to subsidize his medical treatments. The Spanish National Assembly, in fact, granted him a subsidy to pay for the expenses. In 1925 he completely left football and entered a Bilbao sanatorium. He died on August 24, 1925, at the age of 26.

International goals

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Sesúmaga goal.

Honours

Arenas Club de Getxo *

* Campeonato Norte: 1916–17 FC 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 ...

* Catalan Championship: 1918–19, 1919–20, 1920–21 Athletic Bilbao * Copa del Rey:

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

* Campeonato de Viscaya: 1922–23 Spain *

: Silver medallist

References

External links

La Liga stats

International stats
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sesumaga, Felix 1898 births 1925 deaths Spanish men's footballers Spain men's international footballers La Liga players Arenas Club de Getxo footballers FC Barcelona players Athletic Bilbao 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 forwards 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis People from Leioa Footballers from Biscay Tuberculosis deaths in Spain