José María Buruca Laforia (

Atalaya Atalaya (Spanish for watchtower) may refer to: Places Spain * Atalaya, Badajoz, a municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura * Atalaya (Madrid), a ward in Madrid * Atalaya del Cañavate, a municipality in the province of Cuenca, Casti ...

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 ...

, 16 May 1884 –

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

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 ...

, 6 Jun 1957) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Nicknamed ''El Vasco'', Buruca Laforia is considered the first great goalkeeper of

."Manos mágicas"
by Pedro Uzquiza, ''Clarín'', 13 Jan 2001

Career

Although Buruca was short height to play as goalkeeper, his intuition made him to be just in time under the goal. His playing style (usually getting away from the goal area) made Alumni's captain

Jorge Brown Jorge Gibson Brown (3 April 1880 – 3 January 1936) was an Argentine footballer of Scottish ancestry, who was one of the most important figures in the early years of the sport in that country.Ubaldo Fillol Ubaldo Matildo Fillol (; born 21 July 1950), nicknamed ''el Pato'' (in English: "the Duck"), is an Argentine football coach and former goalkeeper. He took part in the 1974, 1978 (where he won the championship with his team and was voted Best Goa ...

Hugo Gatti Hugo Orlando Gatti (19 August 1944 – 20 April 2025) was an Argentine football goalkeeper who played in the Argentine Primera División for 26 seasons

. Buruca started his career playing for Central Athletic Club, then moving to Barracas A.C. where he stayed until 1904. That same year he was the goalkeeper in the first international match played by an Argentine side v. a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

team,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

. In 1905 he moved to

Alumni Alumni (: alumnus () or alumna ()) are former students or graduates of a school, college, or university. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for groups of women, and alums (: alum) or alumns (: alumn) as gender-neutral alternatives. Th ...

, along with forward

Carlos Lett Carlos Arturo Lett (November 4, 1885 - March 8, 1956) was an Argentine footballer who played as forward. Lett played most of his career in Alumni (where he won 16 titles) and the Argentina national team. Biography Lett joined Alumni in 1905 al ...

.''Alumni, Cuna de Campeones y Escuela de Hidalguía'' by Ernesto Escobar Bavio - published by Editorial Difusión, Buenos Aires, 1953 Buruca won 3 Primera División championships among other titles. In 1909 Buruca moved to Independiente where he played until 1911, then playing for

Argentino de Quilmes Club Atlético Argentino de Quilmes, simply known as Argentino de Quilmes, is an Argentine association football, football club from Quilmes, Buenos Aires. The team currently plays in Primera B Metropolitana, Primera B, the third division of the ...

and

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

.''Historia en Rojo y Negro'' by Carlos Durhand; Javier Parent - Ediciones La Capital, 2010 After his father died, Buruca decided to quit from football. Buruca was the first goalkeeper to play for the Argentina national team in an official match, playing v.

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

in Montevideo on July 20, 1902. Buruca only played four times for Argentina, being his last match on August 15, 1907, vs. Uruguay for the

Copa Lipton The Copa Lipton or Copa de Caridad Lipton was a Association football, football friendly competition contested between Argentina national football team, Argentina and Uruguay national football team, Uruguay national teams. The competition was hel ...

. He was injured at 60' and replaced by forward

Alfredo Brown Alfredo Carrow Brown (1 December 1886 – 30 August 1958) was an Argentine international footballer who played as a forward. Early life Brown was an Argentine of Scottish origin. Brown had four brothers who were also Argentine international ...

who had to switch to goalkeeper because substitutions were not allowed by then. His goal remained unbeaten, setting a record."Information on world records and short biographies of the record holders (1901-1910)"
IFFHS (Archive, 7 Feb 2012)

Honours

;

* Primera División (3):

1905 As the second year of the massive Russo-Japanese War begins, more than 100,000 die in the largest world battles of that era, and the war chaos leads to the 1905 Russian Revolution against Nicholas II of Russia (Shostakovich's 11th Symphony i ...

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Moment magnitude scale, Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The "Mud March (suffragists), Mud March", the ...

Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires The Copa de Honor Municipalidad de Buenos Aires was an Argentine official football cup competition. It was contested fourteen times between 1905 and 1920. Racing is the most winning team of the competition, with 4 titles. Overview This cup wa ...

(2): 1905, 1906 *

Copa de Competencia Jockey Club The Copa de Competencia Jockey Club was an official Argentine football cup competition contested between 1907 and 1933. The winner of this Cup was allowed to play the Tie Cup against the Uruguayan champion of Copa de Competencia. Alumni and Sa ...

(2): 1907, 1908 *

Tie Cup The Tie Cup Competition (also known as Copa de Competencia Chevallier Boutell) was an international Association football, football tournament played between representatives of the Argentine Football Association, Argentina and Uruguayan Football Ass ...

(6): 1906, 1907 *

Copa de Honor Cousenier The Copa de Honor Cusenier was an international football club competition which was played 13 times between representatives of the Argentina and Uruguay associations between 1905 and 1920. History The trophy was donated by "E. Cusenier Fils Auné ...

(1): 1906

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buruca Laforia, Jose 1884 births 1957 deaths Argentine men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine Primera División players Alumni Athletic Club players Club Atlético Independiente footballers Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Footballers from Buenos Aires Spanish emigrants to Argentina