José Emilio Santamaría Iglesias (born 31 July 1929) is a retired

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 ...

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

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 ...

. He spent his 18-year career with

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

and

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 ...

, winning 12 titles with the latter club including four European Cups. Born in Uruguay, Santamaría represented both the

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

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 ...

national teams. He later embarked on a managerial career, which included a two-year spell with Spain.

Club career

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

to Spanish parents, Santamaría played for local

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'') is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in La Blanqueada, La Blanqueada, Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' an ...

in his country, winning five national championships during his spell. In 1957 the 28-year-old moved abroad, signing with

where he remained until the end of his career.Una leyenda viva de Nacional que recibirá su reconocimiento (Nacional living legend to be honoured)
El Observador, 8 March 2018 (in Spanish) Santamaría totalled 34 appearances between

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 ...

and the

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 ...

in his first season at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

, winning both tournaments. He went on to add a further ten major trophies to his collection, being first-choice for the vast majority of his stint.Santamaría: "Di Stéfano era el trabajo y Cristiano, el gol nato" (Santamaría: "Di Stéfano was the work and Cristiano, the born goal")
Diario AS, 30 September 2017 (in Spanish) Having earned the nickname 'The Wall' for his consistent defensive displays, Santamaría retired at the end of the 1965–66 campaign aged 36, featuring twice in that year's European Cup ''en route'' to another triumph (against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

and at

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

).Santamaría: el cerrojo de la era dorada (Santamaría: lock of the golden age)
La Galerna, 28 May 2019 (in Spanish) He played 337 competitive matches for Real Madrid. Santamaría was appointed at

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

RCD Español Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

in the summer of 1971, for his first club coaching experience. He led the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

to two top-four finishes in a six-year tenure, including a third place in the 1972–73 season just three points behind champions

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 ...

, being dismissed on 21 December 1977 following a 4–0 away loss against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

International career

Santamaría was first called up to play for

in the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

in Brazil, being selected to fill an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

slot in the squad but seeing the request denied by his club on the grounds that he was a defender. Four years later, however, he was an integral part of the team at the World Cup in Switzerland, helping them to a final fourth position and earning a total of 20

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 ...

.José Emilio Santamaría – International Appearances
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Santamaría began representing

in 1958, his debut coming on 15 October against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

(6–2 friendly win in Madrid). He appeared with his adopted nation at the 1962 World Cup, playing against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

(1–0 loss) and

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 ...

(1–0 victory) in an eventual group-stage exit. After working with the youth sides and spending two years with the under-21s, Santamaría was appointed full manager for the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in th ...

, due to be played on home soil. He was relieved of his duties at the end of the competition as Spain were unable to progress from the second group phase, and quit football altogether to pursue other interests.

Honours

Nacional *

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , , local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, football league in Uruguay organized b ...

: 1950, 1952, 1955, 1956, 1957 Real Madrid *

: 1957–58, 1960–61, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65 *

Copa del Generalísimo 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 ...

: 1961–62 *

: 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1965–66 * Intercontinental Cup:

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Janu ...

Individual *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

All-Star Team:

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

* World Soccer World XI: 1960 * IFFHS Uruguayan Men's Dream Team

References

External links

* * * *
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santamaria, Jose 1929 births Living people Uruguayan people of Spanish descent 20th-century Uruguayan sportsmen 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Uruguayan men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Montevideo Men's association football central defenders Uruguayan Primera División players Club Nacional de Football players La Liga players Real Madrid CF players UEFA Champions League–winning players Uruguay men's international footballers Spain men's international footballers Dual internationalists (men's football) 1954 FIFA World Cup players 1962 FIFA World Cup players Uruguayan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Spanish football managers Uruguayan football managers La Liga managers RCD Espanyol managers Spain national under-21 football team managers Olympic coaches for Spain Spain national football team managers 1982 FIFA World Cup managers Uruguayan expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain

Club career

International career

Honours

See also

References

External links