Miguel Ángel 'Periko' Alonso Oyarbide (born 1 February 1953) is a Spanish former

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 ...

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 ...

. He was also a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He played mainly 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, ...

(five years) and

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

(three) in his professional career, achieving

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 ...

totals of 273 matches and 42 goals in ten seasons. A Spanish international for two years, Alonso represented the country at the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 in th ...

Playing career

Born in Tolosa,

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 ...

, Alonso played professionally for

and

Sabadell Sabadell () is a city and municipality in Catalonia, Spain. It is in the south of the ''comarca'' of Vallès Occidental, where it is one of the two capitals, the other being Terrassa. It is located on the River Ripoll, north of Barcelona, a ...

. With the first, he was instrumental in back-to-back

conquests (averaging 32 games and five goals in those seasons and not starting only once), and won 19 of his 20

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 ...

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 ...

in the process; his debut came on 24 September 1980 in a friendly with

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

(2–2), in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. In 1982–83, having retired from the national team following the unsuccessful home World Cup campaign, Alonso joined Barcelona, being used relatively little during most of his spell. He won the league in his final year, but only appeared twice, eventually retiring in 1988 with ''Barça'' neighbours Sabadell, helping the club achieve promotion from

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

in his first season and scoring 12 goals – a career-best – in his second, as the modest

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

ranked 17th after the first 34 matches, but eventually managed to avoid a drop after finishing third in their

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

group in the second stage.

International goals

Coaching career

Alonso started working as a manager immediately after retiring, mainly in the Basque Country. In 2000, after an unsuccessful spell at Hércules (second division,

), he had a chance to coach Real Sociedad but only lasted ten games, retiring from the sport subsequently.

Personal life

Alonso's sons,

Mikel Mikel is the Basque adaptation of the given name Michael. The name Mikel has its roots in the Hebrew word Mikha'el, which means "Who is like God". Notable people with the name include: Footballers *Mikel Alonso (born 1980), Spanish Basque footb ...

and Xabi, were also footballers and midfielders. Both followed in their father's footsteps representing Real Sociedad, and the latter also played with great success for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

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 ...

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

and the Spain national team.

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 1980–81, 1981–82 Barcelona *La Liga: 1984–85 *

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 ...

: 1982–83 *

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 ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alonso, Periko 1953 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Tolosa, Spain Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers FC Barcelona players CE Sabadell FC footballers Spain men's B international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Tolosa CF managers Real Sociedad B managers SD Eibar managers Hércules CF managers Real Sociedad managers Alonso family (Gipuzkoa)