José "Chechu" Biriukov Aguirregaviria (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Хосе Александрович Бирюков, ''Khose Aleksandrovich Biryukov''; born 3 February 1963) is a retired Spanish-Soviet professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. He was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

to a Russian father and a mother of

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 ...

origin. Biriukov began playing basketball for

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

basketball team, before moving to Spain at the age of 20 to play 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 ...

. He played a total of 11 seasons in Real Madrid, 22 games in the USSR national team and 67 for the

Spain men's national basketball team The Spain men's national basketball team () represents Spain in international basketball competitions. They are managed by the Spanish Basketball Federation, the governing body for basketball in Spain. Spain is the current European champion. Sp ...

. He played as shooting guard and was a good three points shooter, using a particular style of shooting the ball flat to the basket. One of his most famous international games was playing the 1988

McDonald's Open The McDonald's Championship (sometimes called the McDonald's Open) was an international men's basketball competition that featured a representative of the National Basketball Association (representing North America) against champion club teams ...

against

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

Career achievements

Club titles

International * European League: 1 (with

: 1994–95) *

European 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 ...

: 2 (with

: 1988–89, 1991–92) *

Korać Cup Korać is a surname. Notable persons with that name include: * Dušan Korać (disambiguation), multiple people * Milorad Korać (born 1969), Serbian football player and manager * Radivoj Korać (1938–1969), Serbian basketball player * Vitomir ...

: 1 (with

: 1987–88) Domestic * Spanish League: 4 (with

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1992–93, 1993–94) *

Spanish Cup 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 Spanish f ...

: 4 (with

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1988–89, 1992–93) *

Spanish Supercup Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine ** Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: 1 (with

: 1985)

References

1963 births Living people Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics BC Dynamo Moscow players Liga ACB players Olympic basketball players for Spain Real Madrid Baloncesto players Russian expatriate basketball people in Spain Russian people of Basque descent Russian people of Spanish descent Small forwards Soviet men's basketball players Soviet people of Spanish descent Spanish men's basketball players Spanish people of Russian descent 20th-century Spanish sportsmen {{Spain-basketball-bio-stub