Sabino Barinaga Alberdi (15 August 1922 – 19 March 1988) was a Spanish

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 ...

forward and

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 appeared in 205

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 ...

matches and scored 92 goals over 13 seasons, almost exclusively for

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 ...

. He later embarked on a managerial career, which lasted nearly 25 years.

Playing career

Born in

Durango, Biscay Durango is a town and municipality of the historical territory and province of Biscay, located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, Spain. It is the main town of Durangaldea, one of the ''comarcas of Spain, comarcas'' of B ...

, Barinaga moved to England in his teens at the start of 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 ...

, accompanied by two of his three siblings. Some of the other refugees who made the same journey in 1937 also became footballers, including Emilio Aldecoa, José Gallego and Raimundo Lezama; whilst playing for his local high school he was discovered by

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and went on to spend one season with its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, scoring 62 goals.Sabino Barinaga, autor del primer gol en el Bernabéu (Sabino Barinaga, scorer of first goal at the Bernabéu)

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

, 21 May 1988 Returning to his country at the end of the conflict and as another begun, Barinaga rejected an offer from

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

giants

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 ...

, moving to

instead. An

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

on the right flank, he made his

debut on 28 April 1940 in a 1–3 away loss against Athletic,El momento histórico (The historical moment)
Algo Más que Fútbol, 6 February 2007 his only appearance of the season. From 1943 to 1945, after nearly two years on loan 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 ...

with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

, Barinaga scored 38 league goals in 48 games, but the ''Merengues'' won no silverware in the period. He netted the first ever goal at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

, in a 3–1 win over Portugal's

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

on 14 December 1947, and won three major trophies during his nine-year spell at the club, notably two

Copa del Generalísimo 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 Spanish f ...

, with the player scoring in the 1946 final against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

(3–1);Spain – Cup 1946
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 ...

on 13 June 1943, he contributed with four in only 13 minutes as Real trounced

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 ...

11–1 at home in the domestic cup semi-finals, following a 0–3 loss at ''

Camp de Les Corts Camp de Les Corts (), commonly referred to as Les Corts, was a sports stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was the home for FC Barcelona until the club moved to the Camp Nou in 1957. It was also the home of CD Condal for the club's ent ...

''. Barinaga left Real Madrid in 1950 as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

– having appeared in his final season mostly as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

– then played a further three top level seasons 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, ...

in his native region. In the summer of 1954, at his own request, he was released and joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

where he retired as a player.

Coaching career

Barinaga started coaching precisely with his last club. For the 1957–58 campaign he moved to the top division with

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

, remaining in that tier for most of the following decade. In

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

he also led

CD Málaga Club Deportivo Málaga was a Spanish football club based in Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It played twenty seasons in La Liga, before being dissolved in 1992. History Origins The first football club in Málaga was establ ...

to promotion from division two, only to be relegated back, a fate which also befell him with in Betis in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

. Abroad, Barinaga worked for a few months with

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

in Mexico, later managing the national teams of

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. His last job was with

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

– which he had already coached in the top flight a few years before – not being able to prevent relegation from the second division in 1978.

Death

Barinaga died on 19 March 1988 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

at the age of 65, from a

heart The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

disease. He was interred at the cemetery of Almudena in the city.

Honours

Player

Real Madrid *

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

Copa Eva Duarte The Copa Eva Duarte was a Spanish football tournament organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) and contested by the winners of La Liga and the Copa del Generalísimo. History In September 1940, a match with this format had the n ...

: 1947

References

External links

* *
Real Madrid biographyCiberChe coach profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barinaga, Sabino 1922 births 1988 deaths Footballers from Durango, Biscay Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football utility players Southampton F.C. wartime guest players Real Madrid CF players Real Valladolid players Real Sociedad footballers Real Betis players La Liga players Segunda División players Spanish football managers Real Betis managers CA Osasuna managers Real Oviedo managers Málaga CF managers Atlético Madrid managers Valencia CF managers Sevilla FC managers Club América managers Nigeria national football team managers RCD Mallorca managers AS FAR managers Morocco national football team managers Cádiz CF managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Liga MX managers Botola managers 1972 African Cup of Nations managers Spanish expatriate football managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Nigeria Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Expatriate football managers in Mexico Expatriate football managers in Nigeria Expatriate football managers in Morocco Spanish refugees Exiles of the Spanish Civil War in the United Kingdom 20th-century Spanish sportsmen