Joaquín Yarza Ormazábal, also known as Quincho Yarza (1881–1972), 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Madrid FC. Along with his brother

Manuel Manuel may refer to: People * Manuel (name), a given name and surname * Manuel (''Fawlty Towers''), a fictional character from the sitcom ''Fawlty Towers'' * Manuel I Komnenos, emperor of the Byzantine Empire * Manuel I of Portugal, king of Po ...

, he was a member of the Madrid FC side that 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 ...

four times in a row, between 1905 and 1908, although Joaquín only participated in the first three, leaving the club in 1907 to join Sporting de Vigo. Quincho helped Sporting reach their first-ever final in

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

, in which the Yarza brothers were rivals, as Manuel stayed at Madrid. Quincho was a versatile footballer, playing in

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense industr ...

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

and attack. Outside of football, he served in the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...

, reaching the rank of captain, and dedicated himself to the naval industry in

Vigo Vigo (, ; ) is a city and Municipalities in Spain, municipality in the province of province of Pontevedra, Pontevedra, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. Located in the northwest ...

, creating, among other companies, the shipyard Construcciones Navales Yarza.

Club career

Born in

as the son of an innovator of the naval industrial sector José Joaquín Yarza Albea, a native of Donostia, he began his career at Moderno FC during the 1902–03 season, but just a few months later the club folded due to financial reasons, and the club had to merge with Madrid FC (the merger of the entities briefly known as Madrid-Moderno FC), thus he and his brother joined the first team of Madrid, for which Quincho played until 1907. He played a pivotal role in helping the club win three

titles in a row between

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

and

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

. He then left Madrid to join Sporting de Vigo, with whom he reached his fourth Copa del Rey final in a row, where he came face-to-face with Madrid and his brother, who took the better of him to assure the fourth title in a row to the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

side. During his time at Vigo he might have been the first

professional footballer Association football is the world's most popular sport and is worth US$600 billion worldwide. By the end of the 20th century it was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries. Around the world, the sport is played at a profes ...

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 ...

, during the so-called amateur era, when he received payments from the Vigo club, and in some chronicles of his time he was referred to as "professional". He left Sporting de Vigo in 1909 and participated in the

1909 Copa del Rey The 1909 Copa del Rey was the 7th staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition started on 4 April 1909, and concluded on 8 April 1909, with the final, held at the O'Donnell, in Madrid, in which Club Ciclista d ...

with Galicia FC, being eliminated in the semi-finals by the eventual champions

Club Ciclista de San Sebastián Club Ciclista de San Sebastián was a cycling club based in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain. In 1909 the football section won the Copa del Rey. A few months after this victory, the players who had won the tournament founded the club that wou ...

. After a brief spell with Pontevedra Sporting, he moved to Real Club Coruña still in 1909, forming an attacking partnership with Joaquín Caruncho. In 1912 he joined

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 ...

, making his debut on 31 March in a match held in the old Riazor field against Compostela FC.

Retirement

Outside of football, he joined the

and was a naval engineer, being assigned to several ships such as ''Bonifaz'', '' Almirante Cervera'' or ''Laya''. Already as a captain, he was a teacher at the Machinist Academy, and in 1935 he entered the School of Machinists in Ferrol to specialize in engines. During 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 ...

he was exiled, and after the end of the conflict, he was assigned to the cruise ship ''Galicia''. In 1941 he settled permanently in

, dying in 1972.

Honours

Club

; Madrid FC *

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 (3): 1904–05, 1905–06 and 1906–07 *

: **Champions (3):

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

and

; Sporting de Vigo **Runner-up (1):

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yarza, Joaquín 1881 births 1972 deaths Footballers from Vigo Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Real Madrid CF players RCD Espanyol footballers Pontevedra CF footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Spanish people of Basque descent