Eleuterio Santos Brito (9 November 1940 – 28 January 2008) 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 ...

. He spent the vast majority of his professional career with

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

, appearing in 280 official games and scoring 96 goals.

Club career

Born in

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife (; locally ), commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz, is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and one of the capitals of the Canary Islands, along with Las Palmas. Santa Cruz has a ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, Santos started playing with local

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

. He signed for

in March 1963, going on to spend nine of his ten seasons with the club in

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 being part of an attacking frontline dubbed ''Los Magníficos'', which also featured Canário,

Carlos Lapetra Carlos Lapetra Coarasa (29 November 1938 – 24 December 1995) was a Spanish Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. He spent ten of his 11 years as a professional with Real Zaragoza, Zaragoza, ...

, Marcelino and

Juan Manuel Villa Juan Manuel Villa Gutiérrez (26 September 1938 – 5 January 2025) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent the better part of his career with Real Zaragoza, winning three major trophies while scoring 70 goals from 233 com ...

. Nicknamed ''Yeyo'', Santos retired in 1975 aged 35 following a spell with

CD Tudelano Club Deportivo Tudelano is a Spanish football team based in Tudela, in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1935 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Ciudad de Tudela'', with a capacity of 11,000 seats. History Early His ...

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

International career

Santos earned one cap for

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 ...

, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 away friendly draw against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

on 2 May 1968.

Death

Santos died in his hometown on 28 January 2008 at age 67, after a long battle with illness.

Honours

Tenerife *

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

: 1960–61 Zaragoza *

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 ...

: 1963–64, 1965–66 *

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

: 1963–64

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Eleuterio 1940 births 2008 deaths 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Santa Cruz de Tenerife Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players CD Tenerife players Real Zaragoza players CD Tudelano footballers Spain men's international footballers