Alberto Machimbarrena Aguirrebengoa (31 March 1888 – 19 July 1923) was a Spanish footballer 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 ...

Biography

During his career he alternated between two clubs: hometown team

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

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 ...

, known at the time as Madrid FC. While he played for Real Madrid, he was also studying architecture in the Spanish capital. He became the leader of Real Madrid, captaining the team which 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 ...

in 1917. He played for Real Madrid in eight official matches, all of them in the

, without scoring. For Real Sociedad he played 30 official matches between 1910 and 1922. After retirement, in 1922, he returned to play some matches for Real Sociedad, which was in need of footballers. He died prematurely in 1923 in Guadarrama (Madrid), because of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. In 1925, a statue of Machimbarrena and

Sotero Aranguren Sotero Aranguren Labairu (7 May 1894 – 26 February 1922), was an Argentine footballer born in Buenos Aires who spent his youth in Basque Country. He was a midfielder and played most of his career for Real Madrid CF. He and his brother Eulogi ...

(a Real Madrid teammate, who also died prematurely) was erected at the entrance of the team's dressing room 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 ...

Honours

Real Madrid *

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

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 ...

: 1915–16, 1916–17

References

External links

Machimbarrena's biography at Real Madrid official website (Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Machimbarrena, Alberto 1888 births 1923 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Real Sociedad footballers Real Madrid CF players 20th-century deaths from tuberculosis Footballers from San Sebastián Tuberculosis deaths in Spain