José Luis Zabala (14 December 1898 – 22 April 1946) 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 forward. He played in four matches for the

Spain national football team The Spain national football team () has represented Spain in men's international Association football, football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain. Spain i ...

in 1923 and 1924, scoring four goals, including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

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 ...

on 16 December of 1923.

Club career

Born in

Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

, he began to play football in the youth ranks of his hometown club Sporting de Irún. After short spells at Izarra de Eibar and Unión de Irun, Zabala joined Espanyol in 1918, where he played for a season 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 ...

. After inflicting an injury to an opposing player, he was sanctioned by the

Catalan Football Federation The Catalan Football Federation (, ; FCF) is the Association football, football association responsible for administering football in Catalonia. It was formed on 11 November 1900 as the Football Associació de Catalunya (). It was the first footb ...

, earning three months of inactivity. This fact caused him to leave Espanyol and join Real Club Deportivo Oviedo, which would later merge with Real Stadium Club Ovetense to form

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

in 1925. In the first-ever Asturian derby between

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

and Real Oviedo (Real Club Deportivo Oviedo at the time) held on 25 January 1920, it was Zabala who scored Oviedo's first equalizer on a 2-2 draw. After four seasons at Oviedo, Zabala returned to Espanyol in 1923, and in his second spell there, he became a brilliant forward, forming an attacking partnership with the likes of Rafael Oramas, Alfredo Arróniz, and José Padrón, and earning his first international call-ups for the Spanish and the Catalan national teams. In 1926 he returned to Oviedo and finished his career at

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 ...

in the 1929–30 season.

International career

He made his debut 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 ...

on 28 January 1923 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 ...

, and scored his side's second in a 3–0 win. In his next cap on 16 December 1923 he scored again, netting a

in the Iberian derby to help his side to a 3–0 win. In total, Zabala scored 4 goals in 4

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

. He scored another hat-trick for Spain in a 7–0 win over a Catalonia XI on 13 March 1924. Being a

, he was eligible to play for the Asturias team, being one of the eleven footballers that played in the team's first-ever game on 4 June 1922, in a friendly against

St Mirren F.C. St Mirren Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in Paisley, Renfrewshire, that competes in the after winning the 2017–18 Scottish Championship. Founded in 1877, the team has two nicknames: ''The Buddies'' and ''The S ...

, and even though they lost 3–7, Zabala was the author of the first goal in the team's history. The Regional Asturian team then played seven official games between 1922 and 1926 in the Prince of Asturias Cup, winning the 1922–23 edition, largely thanks to Zabala who scored twice in their 4–3 win over

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 ...

in the quarter-finals, followed by a last-minute winner against

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

in the semi-finals and to seal his memorable campaign in style, he netted a second-half brace in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

to give his side a 3–1 win over Galicia. His brace in the final game of the tournament saw him become the top goal scorer of the tournament with 5 goals. However, the following edition of the competition wasn't as successful because Asturias were knocked out by Biscay in the quarter-finals despite yet another Zabala goal. With those 6 goals, Zabala is the all-time top goal scorer of the prince of Asturias Cup along with Kinké and Juan Monjardín, who also scored 6 goals. Zabala is also the record-goalscorer of the Asturian team with 7 goals. When he returned to Espanyol in 1923, he become eligible to play for the Catalan national team, however, due to the little statistical rigor that the newspapers had at that time, the exact amount of caps he earned is unknown.

International goals

Goals for Spain

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Zabala goal.''

Goals for Asturias

:''Asturias score listed first, score column indicates score after each Zabala goal.''

Honours

Club

; Unión de Irun *

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 ...

: **Champions (1):

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

International

;

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

XI * Prince of Asturias Cup: **Champions (1): 1922-23

Individual

;

XI *Top goalscorer of the 1922-23 Prince of Asturias Cup with 5 goals

Records

*All-time top goal scorer of the Prince of Asturias Cup with 6 goals *All-time top goal scorer of

with 7 goals

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zabala, Jose Luis 1898 births 1946 deaths Spanish men's footballers Spain men's international footballers Footballers from Irun Men's association football forwards Real Unión footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Real Oviedo players Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Spanish football managers Girona FC managers Segunda División managers