Joaquín Peiró Lucas (29 January 1936 – 18 March 2020) 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 ...

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. After excelling at

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 ...

– where he would start and end his professional career, amassing

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 ...

totals of 166 games and 95 goals over eight seasons – he moved to Italy where he would remain for nearly one decade, in representation of three teams. He represented the Spain national team in two World Cups. Starting in 1978 and for almost 30 years, Peiró worked as a coach before retiring.

Playing career

Club

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 ...

, Peiró made his senior debut with Real Murcia CF on loan from hometown's

, playing 16 complete

matches with the latter side in the 1955–66 season to help them finish in fifth position, and subsequently becoming first-choice. He was an essential attacking unit as the club won the 1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup, scoring in both matches of the final against

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

(1–1 in the first game, 3–0 in the replay). In 1962, after 127 official goals for Atlético – he still started the 1962–63 campaign, netting six times in only three games– Peiró moved to Italy and joined Torino FC, becoming the second Spaniard to play in

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

after

Luis Suárez Luis Alberto Suárez Díaz (; born 24 January 1987) is a Uruguayan professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF, Inter Miami. Known for his go ...

, whom he later teamed up with at

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, being part of the '' Grande Inter'' side that won the

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

under manager

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...

; in the semi-finals against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, he scored once in a 3–0 home win after a 3–1 loss at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

. Peiró's longest spell in Italy would be spent with

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

where he won one

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, eventually also being named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

International

Peiró earned 12

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

over ten years, netting five times. He participated in the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between ...

in Chile, scoring the only goal in the match against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and in the 1966 World Cup in England; both tournaments ended in group-stage elimination. On 3 June 1956, aged 20, Peiró made his international debut, scoring in a 3–1 friendly defeat to

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 ...

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

International goals

Coaching career

Peiró started coaching in 1978, with Atlético's reserves, which he led to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

two years later. Subsequently, he spent some time managing in the second tier and the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

, promoting

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

to the former. In 1989–90, Peiró was one of three coaches used by Atlético Madrid, as elusive Jesús Gil was the club's president – the side did finish fourth in the league. He resumed his career in division two, interspersed with periods of inactivity. Peiró's biggest success as a manager came with

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

, which he led to the top flight in 1999 at the age of 63. Subsequently, the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns won the

2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Málaga, Fulham, and Stuttgart. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

and reached the quarter-finals of the following

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. Peiró last coached in 2003, being fired midway through the 2003–04 season from Murcia who were relegated from the top tier, as last.

Death

After years struggling with health problems, Peiró died in Madrid at the age of 84.

Honours

Player

Murcia *

: 1954–55 Atlético Madrid * Copa del Generalísimo: 1959–60, 1960–61 *

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1961–62 Inter *

: 1964–65, 1965–66 *

: 1964–65 * Intercontinental Cup:

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

Roma *

: 1968–69

Manager

Málaga *

: 1998–99 *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peiro, Joaquin 1936 births 2020 deaths 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Atlético Madrid footballers Real Murcia CF players Serie A players Torino FC players Inter Milan players AS Roma players UEFA Champions League–winning players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's B international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Atlético Madrid B managers Granada CF managers UE Figueres managers Atlético Madrid managers Real Murcia CF managers CD Badajoz managers Málaga CF managers