Luis Miguel Arconada Etxarri (born 26 June 1954) is a Spanish former professional

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

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. He played only for

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

for nearly 20 years, and helped the club to four titles including two

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 ...

championships. Arconada collected 68

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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 ...

over eight years, and was part of the squads at two

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and two

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Club career

Arconada was born in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

. Aged 16, he joined

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giants

's youth ranks, going on to play his entire career there and being known as "El pulpo" (

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in English). After two seasons backing up Urruti and the older Pedro Artola, Arconada became the club's undisputed starter by 1976. He was instrumental in consecutive

titles, which led – after the second – to a semi-final run in the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

. Arconada was seriously injured in 1985–86's league opener, which caused him to miss the remainder of the campaign and the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

. He still returned strong for three more seasons, helping Real Sociedad to two consecutive

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 ...

finals before retiring at 35 with a total of 414 appearances (551 overall); after that, he remained apart from the football world.

International career

On 27 March 1977, Arconada played his first game for

, a 1–1 friendly with

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, replacing

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 ...

's Miguel Ángel for the second half. Having captained the nation on many occasions, he represented it at the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s as well as at

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. In the 1982 World Cup, Arconada fumbled a

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from Billy Hamilton of

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, dropping the ball for Gerry Armstrong to score the only goal in

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 ...

and help his team to win the group. The action was subsequently immortalised by Northern Irish fans, leading to the "Arconada...Armstrong!" fanzine, so-named due to John Motson's live commentary in the match. At the 1984 European Championships, Arconada's blunder resulted in the opening goal for hosts

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in a 2–0

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loss: he appeared to have smothered a free kick from

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

under his chest in a diving save, but the ball slid off under his body and rolled slowly into the net; despite his reputation as a world-class goalkeeper, several years later he was still widely remembered for the error, known as "Arconada's goal" in Spain. Arconada's last game was a 3–0 defeat in

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for the 1986 World Cup qualifiers. A severe

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint, wrist joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in ...

injury while playing for Real ousted him from the final stages, being replaced by fellow Basque Andoni Zubizarreta. During the ceremony following Spain's victory in Euro 2008, third choice Andrés Palop wore Arconada's original Euro 84 final shirt as he received the

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from Platini, now president of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

. He was also part of the squad at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

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, being eliminated in the first round.

Style of play

Arconada was known for his leadership, bravery and consistency, and was regarded as one of the best Spanish goalkeepers of all time. His athleticism, speed, shot-stopping ability, reflexes, footwork and acrobatic style served as an inspiration to Iker Casillas. In 2017, former goalkeeper Manuel Almunia also praised Arconada for his ability to produce saves with his feet.

Personal life

Arconada's younger brother, Gonzalo, never played professional football, but had an extensive coaching career, mainly in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. For a few months in early 2006, he coached Real Sociedad's first team. In 1992, Arconada became part of the

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

at the

Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (Grupo CAF, ) is a Spanish publicly listed company which manufactures railway vehicles and equipment and buses through its Solaris Bus & Coach subsidiary. It is based in Beasain, Basque Autonomous Comm ...

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 1980–81, 1981–82 *

: 1986–87; runner-up: 1987–88 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

runner-up:

Individual * Ricardo Zamora Trophy: 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82 *La Liga Team of The Year: 1979–80, 1981–82, 1987–88

References

External links

* * * *
Biography at Porteros Vascos de Leyenda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arconada, Luis 1954 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Tercera División players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players UEFA Euro 1984 players Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Basque Country men's international footballers