José "Pepe" Villalonga Llorente (12 December 1919 – 7 August 1973) 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 ...

manager during the 1950s and 1960s. He coached

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 ...

, Atlético Madrid, and the Spain national team, winning major trophies with all three.

Managerial career

Real Madrid

Villalonga was appointed manager of

during the middle of the 1954–55 season and subsequently coached a team that included

Alfredo Di Stéfano Alfredo Stéfano Di Stéfano Laulhé (; 4 July 1926 – 7 July 2014) was an Argentine professional footballer and coach who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time. Nicknamed "Saeta Rubia" ("Blond A ...

Francisco Gento Francisco "Paco" Gento López (21 October 1933 – 18 January 2022) was a Spanish association football, footballer who played as an outside left. A fast runner, Gento was referred to as the "Gale of the Cantabrian Sea" () in reference to his spee ...

Miguel Muñoz Miguel Muñoz Mozún (19 January 1922 – 16 July 1990) was a Spanish football player and manager. A midfielder, he spent the majority of his career at Real Madrid before going on to coach the club, where he is widely considered one of the mos ...

, Hector Rial and later,

Raymond Kopa Raymond Kopa (né Kopaszewski; 13 October 1931 – 3 March 2017) was a French professional footballer, integral to the France national team of the 1950s. At club level he was part of the legendary Real Madrid team of the 1950s, winning three Eu ...

. During his first season they achieved a

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

, winning both

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

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

. In 1956, Villalonga became the first manager to win 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 ...

. At 36 years and 184 days at the time, he also remains to date the youngest manager to win the title. During his final season at Real he guided the team to a treble:

Copa Latina The Latin Cup was an international official football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949, the football federations came together and requested FIFA launch the competition ...

Atlético Madrid

In 1959, Villalonga became manager at Atlético Madrid. With Villalonga in charge and with a team that included

Enrique Collar Enrique Collar Monterrubio (born 2 November 1934) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left winger. He earned 16 caps and scored 4 goals for the Spain national football team from 1955 to 1963. He played in the 1962 FIFA Wo ...

Miguel Jones Miguel Jones Castillo (; 27 October 1938 – 8 April 2020) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for SD Indautxu and Atlético Madrid during the 1950s and 1960s. Early life Although born in Spanish Guinea, now known as Equatoria ...

and Adelardo, Atlético defeated Real in two successive

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 ...

finals in 1960 and 1961. They finished as runners-up in 1961 La Liga. In 1962, they won the

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European 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 renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

, beating

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 ...

3–0 after a replay.

Spain

In 1962, Villalonga was appointed manager of

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 ...

. In 1964, the team won the

European Championship A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

title. With a squad that included

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 ...

, Josep Maria Fusté and

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Populus, Poplar"), is a Spanish former professional association football, football goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and Manager (association football ...

, Spain beat

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

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 ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

in the qualifying rounds before hosting the semi-finals and final. In the semi-final, Spain beat

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

2–1. In the final, Spain successfully contested the

USSR The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

2–1 in front of a crowd of 125,000 at the Bernabéu.

Chus Pereda Jesús María Pereda Ruiz de Temiño (15 June 1938 – 27 September 2011), also known as Chus Pereda, was a Spanish football midfielder and manager. In a 16-year professional career, he played mainly for Barcelona, amassing La Liga totals of 19 ...

put Spain ahead after six minutes but a late

Marcelino Martínez Marcelino Martínez Cao (; born 29 April 1940), known simply as Marcelino, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a striker. Club career Marcelino was born in Ares, Province of A Coruña, Galicia. In 1959, he signed with Real Zaragoza f ...

header was needed to win after Galimzian Khusainov equalised with a free-kick. Villalonga took Spain to a less successful

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final to win their first ever ...

in England. Two consecutive defeats to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

after a 2–1 win over

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

left Spain and Villalonga to an early return home. The loss to Germany was his last of 22 games in charge of Spain. Villalonga devoted his time to teaching at the technical level. In 1967, he was appointed director of the National Coaches School, a position he held until his death in 1973, and was the first Teacher of Football in the INEF Madrid. He died in Madrid, as a result of a

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

on 7 August 1973, at the age of 53.

Managerial honours

Club

Real Madrid *

: ** 1955–56, 1956–57 * Spanish Championship: ** 1954–55, 1956–57 *

: **

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

Atlético Madrid *

: ** 1959–60, 1960–61 * Spanish Championship: ** Runners-up 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

International

Spain *

: **

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 ...

External links

La Liga stats

Spain stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villalonga, Jose 1919 births 1973 deaths Sportspeople from Córdoba, Spain Spain national football team managers Spanish football managers Real Madrid CF managers Atlético Madrid managers La Liga managers 1964 European Nations' Cup managers 1966 FIFA World Cup managers UEFA European Championship–winning managers UEFA Champions League–winning managers