Paulino Alcántara Riestrá (7 October 1896 – 13 February 1964) was a Filipino and Spanish 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 ...

and manager who played as a forward. He spent most of his playing career at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, and also represented

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 ...

, the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

and

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 ...

internationally. Alcántara made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 15, and remains the youngest player to play or score for the club. He scored 395 goals in 399 matches, a club record that stood for 87 years. He also won a total of 19 trophies including 10 Catalan leagues, 5 Copa del Rey, 2 Pyrenees Cup and 2 Philippine league championship titles during his 15 year career. After retiring as a player in 1927 at the age of 31, he became a doctor and was also a prominent figure in Spanish politics during the 1930s, having been a member of a fascist political group, while serving as both a military soldier and a doctor. Alcántara also served as club director of Barcelona between 1931 and 1934. In 1951, Alcántara became a coach and managed Spain for three games. In 2007, he was officially recognized by

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

as one of the greatest football strikers in the 20th century and in the history of football, and the best Asian footballer of all time.

Club career

Early years

Alcántara was born and raised in Concepcion,

Iloilo Iloilo ( ; ), officially the Province of Iloilo (; ; ; ), is a province in the Philippines located in the Western Visayas region. Its capital and largest city is Iloilo City, the regional center of Western Visayas and politically independen ...

, in the Spanish colony of the

in 1896. He was the son of Eduardo Alcántara Garchitorena from Manila, and Victoriana Riestrá from Iloilo. He was raised there until he was three years old when his family moved to Barcelona fleeing from the conflicts of the

Philippine Revolution The Philippine Revolution ( or ; or ) was a war of independence waged by the revolutionary organization Katipunan against the Spanish Empire from 1896 to 1898. It was the culmination of the 333-year History of the Philippines (1565–1898), ...

's war of independence from Spain, the same year that FC Barcelona was formed by Joan Gamper. In

, Alcántara started playing for FC Galeno, a Barcelona-based club that was founded by and largely made up of medical students and young doctors with their games played in the courtyard of a local hospital. He immediately impressed and in February 1912 he was scouted by Barcelona's president Joan Gamper who attended a Galeno match. Alcántara then joined Barcelona's youth team and within the same week, he made his first-team debut at the age of 15 years, 4 months and 18 days on 25 February 1912 against Catalá SC (founded only weeks before FC Barcelona) in the Campionat de Catalunya (Catalan football championship) at the Camp de la Indústria, in front of about 100 fans. Barcelona won that game 9–0, with Alcántara scoring the first three goals of the game, setting the still unbroken record for being the youngest player to ever play and score for FC Barcelona in an official match. He was also the youngest hat-trick scorer in the world at the time, a record that stood for 84 years. Among his teammates during his time at the club were Francisco Bru Sanz, Jack Greenwell, Romà Forns and club captain, also fellow countryman, Manuel Amechazurra. He went on to help the club win two Campionat de Catalunya in 1913 and 1916 and the 1913 Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup), in which he missed 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 ...

that ended in a 2–2 draw with

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, ...

, but then played in the replay as Barcelona came-out as 2-1 winners.

Bohemian Sporting Club

In 1916, Alcántara's parents returned to the Philippines during a time when it was under the territorial control of the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, took their sons and daughters with them. There Alcántara continued his studies in medicine and played football for the country's reigning champions

Bohemian Sporting Club Bohemian Sporting Club was a Filipino football club based in Manila, Philippines. It was founded in 1910 and was one of the first clubs to be established within the country. The club, during the earliest phases of football in the Philippines, im ...

. He helped the club win two more Philippine Championships in 1917 and 1918 after the team was coming off of two title defenses. He was selected by the United States Philippine national football team in

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force's ...

and represented his country at the

Far Eastern Championship Games The Far Eastern Championship Games (also known as the Far Eastern Championships, Far Eastern Games or Far East Games) was an Asian multi-sport event considered to be a precursor to the Asian Games. History In 1913, Elwood Brown, president of ...

in Tokyo, helping them defeat

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and getting in the scoresheet of the 15–2 victory, which is still the Philippines' biggest win in international football. Besides being a footballer, he was also a talented table tennis player and represented the Philippines on that sport as well. Meanwhile, Barcelona had failed to win a major trophy in his absence and the club pleaded in vain with his parents to allow him to return to Spain. However, he contracted malaria while in Manila in 1917 and apparently refused to take the prescribed medication in what was still an underdeveloped country. Thanks to his persistence of not getting cured there he was allowed to go back and took his medication in Spain.

FC Barcelona

After returning to Barcelona, his former teammate and manager Jack Greenwell experimented by playing Alcántara as a defender, but Alcántara did not succeed in that position. The paying members of Barca's club membership, " Els Socis," demanded that Alcántara be switched back to his normal position, which saw him return to the forward line. In 1919, he helped the club win another Campionat de Catalunya. The club also reached the 1919 Copa del Rey Final but lost 2–5 to

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in , holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-se ...

, courtesy of 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 ...

from future teammate Félix Sesúmaga. On 13 April 1919 in a game at Les Corts against

, Alcántara scored the "police goal," when a policeman got in the way of a powerful shot, so both the ball and policeman ended up in the back of the net. In 1920 the club won another Copa del Rey and the Campionat de Catalunya, with Alcántara scoring in the 2–0 win over

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

in the Cup final. The squad included

Emilio Sagi Liñán Emilio "Emili" Sagi Liñán (15 March 1900 – 25 May 1951), was a footballer who played as a forward for FC Barcelona. Born in Argentina, he played for the Catalan XI and Spain national teams during the 1920s and 1930s. He was the son of Emil ...

, who formed a partnership with Alcántara as well as

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 21 January 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for Spain. As a man ...

Josep Samitier Josep Samitier Vilalta (; 2 February 1902 – 4 May 1972), also known as José Samitier, was a Spanish football player, manager and scout who played as a midfielder for FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, OGC Nice, the Catalan XI, and Spain. He later ...

and Félix Sesúmaga. This marked the beginning of the club's first golden era and saw them dominate both the Campionat de Catalunya and the Copa del Rey. Alcántara scored twice in the 1922 Cup final, where Barcelona defeated

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

5–1 and scored the winning goal in the 3–2 win over

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in the 1926 final.

International career

Like many other FC Barcelona players at that time, Alcántara was summoned to play for the Catalonian national team several times, making his debut on 3 January 1915 against the “ North team” (a Basque Country XI). In May 1915, he was a member of the Catalan side that participated in the first edition of the Prince of Asturias Cup, an inter-regional competition 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 scored the first-ever goal of the competition in the opening game against the Centro team (a Castile/Madrid XI), which ended in a 2–1 win, but a loss to North in the following game prevented them from winning the tournament. Alcántara also represented Catalonia in

the last edition The Last Edition is a 1925 American silent film, silent melodrama directed by Emory Johnson. Film Booking Offices of America, FBO released the film in November 1925. The film's "All-Star" cast included Ralph Lewis (actor), Ralph Lewis as a Print ...

of the Prince of Asturias Cup in 1926, which was a two-legged tie between the previous two champions, Catalonia and

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 ...

, for the right to keep the trophy, and Alcántara netted in the second leg in a 4–3 win, thus contributing decisively in helping Catalonia to win a record-breaking third Prince of Asturias Cup title. In 1917 he was selected by the U.S. Philippines national team and represented the country at the

in Tokyo, helping them defeat Japan 15–2, which became the Philippines' biggest win in international football. In 1920 Alcántara, along with Zamora, Samitier and Sesúmaga, was selected to represent Spain at the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

. However, Alcántara chose to stay at home to take his final medical exams. Without him, Spain was eliminated in the quarter-finals by the eventual champions

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 ...

, the same team against which he eventually made his debut on 7 October 1921, aged 25, scoring both goals in a 2–0 win. In 1922, he was nicknamed "El Rompe Redes" or "Trencaxarxes" (the net breaker) after he broke the goal's net with a shot during a match 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 ...

. In total, he made five appearances and scored a then-national record of six goals for Spain between 1921 and 1927.

Retirement

Alcántara retired on 3 July 1927 in order to become a doctor at age 31, the same day that FC Barcelona played against Spain in a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

in his honour. He later served as a club director between 1931 and 1934. Alcántara was one of the first footballers to write memoirs of his playing days. In 1951, Alcántara was one of three selectors, along with Félix Quesada and Luís Iceta, that coached Spain for three games against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. He won one game and tied the other two.

Club management

Alcántara was club director from 1931 to 1934 and was president of FC Barcelona Players Association in 1959.

Career outside of football

Medicine

In 1916, Alcántara, along with his family returned to the Philippines, traveling by ocean liner, to settle back in their homeland. While there, he studied medicine and played professional football in the Philippine Domestic League, but the situation with FC Barcelona meant that in 1918, he returned to Spain to play for the club due to the high demands of his footballing services. Most of his family members stayed in the Philippines, while he travelled back to Spain to continue with his football career. From the mid-1920s he combined his professional football career with the practice of becoming a doctor.

Politics

In the 1930s, Alcántara entered politics and was a member of the

Falange Española Falange Española (FE; English: Spanish Phalanx) was a Spanish fascist political organization active from 1933 to 1934. History The Falange Española was created on 29 October 1933 as the successor of the Movimiento Español Sindicalista (M ...

, the variant of Spanish Fascism. On 4 August 1936, he became a soldier and fled to Andorra and France after Franco's coup failed to take the city of Barcelona on 18 July 1936. In 1936 Alcántara was a Carlist volunteer and participated in numerous military operations of the nationalist troops of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

, Alcántara was Lieutenant of the first battalion of the Brigade Legionary Black Arrows (Frecce Nere). The Black Arrows was a volunteer corps (

Corpo Truppe Volontarie The Corps of Volunteer Troops () was a Fascist Italian expeditionary force of military volunteers, which was sent to Spain to support the Nationalist forces under General Francisco Franco against the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil ...

) directed directly by

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...

. With the Black Arrows, Alcántara served on the fronts of Guadalajara, Aragon and Catalonia. With General Yagüe, he entered the city of

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 ...

victoriously on 26 January 1939. After the Spanish Civil War, Alcántara lived in Barcelona and was Lieutenant of the Black Arrows. During the

Spanish State Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

period, Alcántara was a Chief of the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS.

Personal life

Alcántara was married to Blanca López Alcántara, a Spanish woman from Barcelona, with whom he had two sons, the eldest being Eduardo López Alcántara. Alcántara was the son of Filipino parents, his father Eduardo Alcántara Garchitorena an Insulares Filipino-born Spaniard from Manila, served as a soldier in the

Spanish Army The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century. The Spanish Army has existed ...

, and Victoriana Camilan Riestrá, a Filipina of mixed native and Spanish heritage, from Iloilo. Alcántara was one of seven children born to a large Asian-Hispanic family, and he had three brothers and three sisters. His siblings were Fernándo Riestrá Alcántara, Eduardo Riestrá Alcántara, Diego Riestrá Alcántara, Victoria Riestrá Alcántara, Maria de la Paz Riestrá Alcántara and Josefa Riestrá Alcántara, whom were all born and raised in the Philippines. Alcántara held citizenships from Spain, the Philippines, and the United States.

Final years

Alcántara fell ill of a rare condition of

aplastic anemia Aplastic anemia (AA) is a severe hematologic condition in which the body fails to make blood cells in sufficient numbers. Normally, blood cells are produced in the bone marrow by stem cells that reside there, but patients with aplastic anemia ...

and died in 1964 at the age of 67 in Barcelona, and is laid to rest in Cementiri de les Corts in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Legacy

Alcántara, an iconic figure in world football, is known for his achievements with

, winning a record of 10 Spanish League: Catalan Football Championship titles, 5 Copa del Rey and 2 Pyrenees Cup between the 1910s and the 1920s, and scoring 395 goals in 399 matches; a club record which was broken by Argentine footballer

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés "Leo" Messi (; born 24 June 1987) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Major League Soccer ...

about a century later in 2014. He is regarded by

as one of the greatest football strikers in the history of football, and the best Asian footballer of all-time. Alcántara is also regarded by Barcelona as one of its great legends, being immortalized at the club's Hall of Fame museum at Barcelona. He was also a popular political figure in Spain during the 1930s. However, with football being the most popular sport in the world, Alcántara had limited recognition back in his native country, the Philippines, until the 2010s, partially caused by a surge of popularity amongst a new generation of football fans and interest in football in the Philippines. In 2018, the domestic cup tournament of the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League (PFL) is a men's professional association football, football league in the Philippines. Sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and organized by Liga Futbol Inc., it is the country's Football in t ...

, the Copa Paulino Alcántara was named in his honor. He was also named part of the Philippine Sports Hall of Fame in 2021. In 2016, FIFA also officially paid tribute to Alcántara's legacy by featuring him as a FIFA legends football player on

FIFA 16 ''FIFA 16'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android and iOS. The g ...

and FIFA 21 video games. Alcántara was one of several Filipino footballers to have played in the Spanish League, the other being Eduardo Teus from

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 ...

Juan Torena Juan de Garchitorena y Carvajal, also known as Juan Torena (24 March 1898 – 27 June 1983) was a Filipino footballer and an American Hollywood actor. Torena was born in Manila, Philippines in 1898 to a Hispanofilipino family. After his mother ...

, Gregorio Querejeta from

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

and

, Ignacio Larrauri, Julio Uriate, Manuel Amechazurra from FC Barcelona, Felipe Calderon, Marcelino Gálatas from

, José María Echengoyen and José Luís Querejeta.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first.'' :''Scores and results list Philippines's goal tally first.'' :''Scores and results list Catalonia's goal tally first.''

Honors

FC Barcelona *

Catalan football championship The Catalan football championship ''(Campionat de Catalunya)'' was a football competition in Catalonia and the first football league in Spain before La Liga was established in 1929. In December 1900, Alfons Macaya, the president of Hispania AC, o ...

: (10) 1913, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927 *

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 ...

: (5) 1913, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1926 * Pyrenees Cup: (2) 1912, 1913 Bohemian S.C. * United States Philippines Championship (2): 1917, 1918 Philippine national football team *

: (Silver medal) 1917

References

External links

FC Barcelona: Paulino Alcántara Official Website
(English)
FC Barcelona: Paulino Alcántara Official Website
(Spanish) * *

at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

Paulino Alcántara Player profile
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcantara, Paulino 1896 births 1964 deaths Filipino people of Spanish descent Spanish people of Filipino descent Spanish Falangists Bohemian S.C. players FC Barcelona players Filipino men's footballers Filipino expatriate men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Filipino expatriate sportspeople in Spain Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Sportspeople from Iloilo City Footballers from Iloilo Philippines men's international footballers Spanish football managers Spain men's international footballers Spain national football team managers Dual internationalists (men's football) Footballers from Barcelona 20th-century Spanish physicians Filipino football managers Visayan people Men's association football forwards Catalonia men's international footballers Philippine Sports Hall of Fame inductees FET y de las JONS politicians Spanish military personnel of the Spanish Civil War (National faction)