Manuel Meana (21 October 1901 – 1 August 1985) 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 ...

. He was capped for Spain 7 times and was part of Spain's squad for the football tournament at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

, but he did not play in any matches. Under the presidency of Santiago Bernabéu he was the creator and first director of the Real Madrid Sports City, a position he held until his retirement.

Club career

Born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

, Meana began to play football in his hometown club,

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 ...

, making his debut at

El Molinón Estadio El Molinón (), officially Estadio Municipal El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini", is an association football stadium in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Sporting de Gijón, Real Sporting de Gijón. With a capacity ...

on 2 September 1917 against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

International career

In May 1918, he was summoned to play for the Cantabric national team, a side consisting of players from the provinces of

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 ...

and

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 ...

, being a member of the team that participated in the 1918 Prince of Asturias Cup, an inter-regional

competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indi ...

organized by the

RFEF The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the national cup competitio ...

. He made his international debut on 9 October 1921 (aged 19) in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

that ended in a 2–0 win. He played in seven 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 ...

from 1921 to 1924, and scored just once, netting the first-ever goal in the Iberian derby when he scored the opening goal of a 3–1 win over

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 18 December 1921, which is also the first-ever goal that Portugal ever conceded. Being

player, he was eligible to play for the Asturias national team, and he was part of the team that reached the final of the

1922-23 Prince of Asturias Cup Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the W ...

, an inter-regional

organized by the

. 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 ...

against Galicia, they fell 0-1 behind early in the match, and it was Meana who equalized still in the first-half, which paved the way for

José Luis Zabala José Luis Zabala (14 December 1898 – 22 April 1946) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. He played in four matches for the Spain national football team in 1923 and 1924, scoring four goals, including a hat-trick against Portu ...

to score a second-half brace to seal the title with a 3–1 win. This was his only goal for Asturias, but its also the most important in the team's history.

Managerial career

In 1928, despite still being a player, he trained

, and he managed to lead them to the semifinals of the

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 ...

. He repeated his stay on the Gijón bench in two other stages: 1939-40 and 1948-49.

International goals

Goals for Spain

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

Goals for Asturias

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

Honours

International

; Cantabric *

Prince of Asturias Cup The Prince of Asturias Cup (, ) was an inter-regional football competition contested by the regional selections of Spain – selections of players from clubs from the region in question, meaning that players did not need to be native to the regio ...

: **Runner-up (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 ...

;

: *Champions (1): 1922-23

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meana, Manuel 1901 births 1985 deaths Spanish men's footballers Spain men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Gijón Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Spain 20th-century Spanish sportsmen