Isaac Oceja Oceja (1915-2000) 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 ...

player and coach. He is most known for the 15 years he spent at

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

Playing career

Club

Born in

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

but raised from a young age in

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Oceja's early amateur teams included hometown club Cultural Durango,

SD Lemona Sociedad Deportiva Lemona was a Spanish football team based in Lemoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1923, it last played in Segunda División B – Group 2, holding home matches at '' Estadio Arlonagusia'', with a c ...

and

CD Basconia Club Deportivo Basconia is a Spanish football club based in Basauri, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded on 14 March 1913, it currently plays in , holding home games at the ''Artunduaga Sports Centre'', in the town o ...

. Although naturally right-footed, he learned to play equally well using his left foot and played on that side of the defence upon turning professional with

. His début 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 ...

was on 6 January 1935, in a game against

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 ...

where Athletic won 4–1. When 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 ...

interrupted the normal football processes, Oceja spent time playing for

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

. Returning to

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

following the conflict, the club was faced with rebuilding a squad using several young players, and refused to sanction the transfer of the more experienced Oceja to

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 ...

, an offer which would have greatly increased his salary. He was noted for his elegance on the field and disciplined manner off it. In his career with Athletic he played a total of 239 games (186 in the league), winning a league title in 1935–36 and two consecutive '' Copas de Generalísimo'' in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

and

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

, the latter as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He took no part in the

1942–43 La Liga The 1942–43 La Liga was the 12th season since its establishment. Athletic Bilbao achieved their fifth title. Team locations League table Results Relegation play-offs Match between Español and Real Gijón was played at Estadio Chamart� ...

season where his team finished as champions, having been seriously injured (a ruptured

medial meniscus The medial meniscus is a fibrocartilage semicircular band that spans the knee joint medially, located between the medial condyle of the femur and the medial condyle of the tibia.Platzer (2004), p 208 It is also referred to as the internal semil ...

) playing 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 ...

against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in March 1942, although he recovered to participate in the victorious 1943 Cup campaign, and a double lower leg fracture caused him to miss out on a likely third Cup final appearance in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II, the fall of Nazi Germany, and the Empire of Japan. It is also the year concentration camps were liberated and the only year in which atomic weapons have been used in combat. Events World War II will be ...

. Due to his injury lay-offs, Athletic tied him to a 'pay as you play' contract, and Oceja admitted that due to his dissatisfaction with the situation he refused to play in a crucial league clash against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

in 1947 (having been involved in every other match that season); in his absence, ''Los Ché'' won the match and went on to secure

the title The Title are a British four-piece indie band based in Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated populati ...

over Athletic on head-to-head results after finishing level on points.

International

He received four call-ups for the Spain national team. He made his debut at 12 January 1941 at his 'home' stadium San Mamés in a friendly match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

(2–2), in which his defensive colleague at Athletic Bilbao, Juan José Mieza, also appeared for the first time.

Coaching

Oceja retired from playing in 1949 after a short stint at

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 ...

. The next season, he assumed the role of coach for the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese team, then languishing in the

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 ...

, and helped them to achieve promotion. His stint at La Rosaleda did not last long after that achievement, and despite having secured the relevant coaching qualifications, his only later forays into management were two spells with Durango in the lower leagues during the 1950s and 60s.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 1935–36; runner-up: 1940–41, 1946–47 *

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 ...

* Basque Cup: 1934–35 *

Biscay Championship The Biscay Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional de Vizcaya)'', also called the North Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional Norte)'' in its early editions, was an official football tournament in Spain organised by the North Footbal ...

: 1939–40

References

External links

*

Details on Euskomedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oceja, Isaac 1915 births 2000 deaths Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Cantabria People from Durangaldea Spain men's international footballers SD Lemona footballers CD Basconia footballers Barakaldo CF footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Real Zaragoza players La Liga players Tercera División players Segunda División managers Spanish football managers Real Zaragoza managers Men's association football defenders Footballers from Biscay 20th-century Spanish sportsmen