Francisco Mateo (15 May 1917 – 21 July 1979) was a Spanish-French

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 ...

defender who played as a professional for

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

and

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. He also was a coach and manager for

RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing, is a French professional association football club founded in 1906 and based in the city of Strasbourg, Alsace. It became a professional club in ...

Bio

Mateo was born in

Algeciras Algeciras () is a city and a municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Cádiz, Andalusia. Located in the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, near the Strait of Gibraltar, it is the largest city on the Bay of G ...

. He started his career as a promising youngster playing for a Spanish club in

Tétouan Tétouan (, or ) is a city in northern Morocco. It lies along the Martil Valley and is one of the two major ports of Morocco on the Mediterranean Sea, a few miles south of the Strait of Gibraltar, and about E.S.E. of Tangier. In the 2014 Morocc ...

, Morocco and quickly attracted the attention of the biggest clubs in the Spanish mainland, joining

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

and then

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

before the outbreak of the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

. Mateo chose the Republican side, spending most of the war in

. Towards the end of the conflict, he was imprisoned due to his political leanings but was released on the insistence of the

Girondins de Bordeaux Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux (), commonly referred to as Girondins de Bordeaux () or simply Bordeaux, is a French football club based in the city of Bordeaux in Gironde, Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It competes in the Championnat National 2 ...

and was therefore able to emigrate to France shortly before the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. In Bordeaux, Mateo played for the Girondins in a local league as the French Championship had been disbanded due to the war. He also met his wife, an Alsatian who had been evacuated to south-west France in 1939. When the war was terminated, he accompanied his wife back to Alsace and quickly joined

where he played until the end of the decade, reaching the final of the cup in 1947. After the end of his playing career, Mateo continued as a youth coach for RC Strasbourg where he taught the likes of

Gilbert Gress Gilbert Gress (born 17 December 1941) is a French football coach and a former player. He was the mentor of Arsène Wenger. Club career Gress was born in Strasbourg. He began his professional football career in the city of his birth with RC St ...

, Gérard Hausser,

Albert Gemmrich Albert Gemmrich (born 13 February 1955) is a French former professional footballer who played as a striker. He obtained five caps scoring twice for the France national team. Career statistics :''Scores and results list France's goal tally firs ...

Léonard Specht Léonard Specht (born 16 April 1954) is a French former professional footballer who played as a defender. He was also chairman of RC Strasbourg Racing Club de Strasbourg Alsace, commonly known as RC Strasbourg (, ; RCS) or simply just Racing ...

. He was responsible for the first team between October 1970 and June 1971 but was not able to save Strasbourg from relegation. He died in 1979, shortly after Strasbourg's first and only championship crown.

References

External links

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Racingstub profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mateo, Francisco 1917 births 1979 deaths Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Ligue 1 players FC Barcelona players RC Strasbourg Alsace players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players Sevilla FC players Valencia CF players Spanish football managers RC Strasbourg Alsace managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen