Enrique Castro González (; 23 September 1949 – 27 February 2018), known as Quini , was a 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 ...

who played as a striker. In a career totally connected with

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

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 ...

, he was widely regarded as one of the country's best strikers, having won a total of seven

Pichichi Trophy In Spanish Association football, football, the Pichichi Trophy () is awarded by the sports newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' to the top goalscorer of each La Liga season. Named after the Athletic Bilbao striker Pichichi (footballer), Rafael ...

awards, five of those in

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 ...

. A Spain international for 12 years, Quini represented the nation in two World Cups and one European Championship.

Club career

Born in

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

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 ...

, Quini joined local Real Oviedo's neighbours

in 1968, from amateurs CD Ensidesa. In his first season in

, 1970–71, he scored 13 goals in 30 games and, the following nine years, only netted once in single digits and won three '' Pichichi'', one in

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 ...

; ironically, in the year in which he won his second, Sporting were relegated, the player's 21 goals being insufficient to avoid last place. In summer 1980, Quini signed with

, who had already tried to sign the player after Sporting's relegation. In his first two years he totalled 47 league goals, good enough for two more individual accolades. He also helped the

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 ...

to the 1981

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 ...

, netting twice to put away his beloved Sporting in a 3–1 win in the final. Additionally, in the 1981–82 European Cup Winners' Cup, he helped ''Barça'' come from behind to beat

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 ...

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

2–1 as the decisive match was held at the Camp Nou. In his final two years, Quini appeared infrequently with Barcelona (but scored the club's 3,000th goal in the league, in a home match against

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

), and chose to retire in 1984 at age 35, even being awarded a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, whe ...

; however, he reconsidered and eventually returned to former side Sporting for three more years in the top flight, being sparingly used. On 14 June 1987, he played his last match, against Barcelona, and he totalled 448 games and 219 goals in the first division alone (ninth all-time). Quini continued to serve Sporting in the following decades, in several directorial capacities.

Kidnapping

On 1 March 1981, after scoring twice for Barcelona in a 6–0 home victory over

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

, Quini was kidnapped by two men at gunpoint, being forced into a van. After many developments and 25 days – during this time, Barcelona could only amass one draw in four games, eventually losing the title race – he was rescued unharmed, upon cooperation between the Spanish and Swiss law enforcement agencies. It was subsequently speculated that Quini developed

Stockholm syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a proposed condition or theory that tries to explain why hostages sometimes develop a psychological bond with their captors. Emotional bonds can possibly form between captors and captives, during intimate time together, ...

, since he decided not to press charges against his kidnappers and never claimed his personal damages award of 5 million pesetas.

International career

Quini 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 October 1970, in a friendly in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

with

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

: having played the second half, he scored in a 2–1 win. With a total of 35 caps and eight goals, Quini participated in two

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 ...

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, as well as

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 ...

. He could only find the net once in all those competitions (at Euro '80), and the nation suffered a 2–1 loss against

Personal life

Quini's younger brother, Jesús, was also a footballer. A

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, he too spent several years with Sporting. With 763 appearances between the siblings in La Liga, they ranked second in this reckoning behind

Julio Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) * Julio (surname) * Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 compilation al ...

and Patxi Salinas at the time of their retirement. In 2008, Quini overcame a

throat cancer Head and neck cancer is a general term encompassing multiple cancers that can develop in the head and neck region. These include cancers of the mouth, tongue, gums and lips ( oral cancer), voice box ( laryngeal), throat ( nasopharyngeal, orophar ...

. On 29 April 2016, the Town Hall of Gijón named him adoptive son of the city.

Death

On 27 February 2018, Quini died at the age of 68 after suffering a heart attack. Just one day later, the City Council of Gijón agreed unanimously to rename El Molinón stadium as ''Estadio El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini"'' in his memory. About 14,000 people attended Quini's funeral at his main club's homeground.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Quini goal.''

Honours

Sporting Gijón *

: 1969–70, 1976–77 Barcelona *

: 1980–81, 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:

* UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1981–82 Individual * Don Balón Award: 1978–79 *

: 1973–74, 1975–76, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82 (

); 1969–70, 1976–77 (Segunda División) *La Liga Team of The Year: 1980–81, 1981–82