Sotero Aranguren Labairu (7 May 1894 – 26 February 1922), was an Argentine footballer born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
who spent his youth in
Basque Country. He was a midfielder and played most of his career for
Real Madrid CF
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 and his brother
Eulogio were team-mates at Real Madrid.
Biography
He played for Real Madrid for seven years, between 1911 and 1918, scoring 4 goals in 60 matches.
He is considered "the first white symbol" by the Real Madrid official website.
His premature death at the age of 28 led the club to build a statue representing Sotero and one of his team-mates,
Machimbarrena (who also died young) at the entrance of the first team's locker room. The statue, added in 1925, now stands 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 ...
, and is seen as a totem of inspiration for Real Madrid's coming generations of footballers.
Sotero and Eulogio Aranguren were the first Argentine men's footballers who played for Real Madrid.
Honours
Real Madrid
*
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 ...
:
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 ...
*
Campeonato Regional Centro
The Campeonato Regional Centro ( Spanish for Central Regional Championship) was an annual association football competition for clubs based primarily in the Castile region of Spain, including the Community of Madrid, during the first half of the 2 ...
: 1912–13, 1915–16, 1916–17
External links
Sotero's biography at Real Madrid official website (Spanish)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aranguren, Sotero
1894 births
1922 deaths
Argentine men's footballers
Real Madrid CF players
Men's association football midfielders
Spanish men's footballers
Footballers from Buenos Aires
Footballers from San Sebastián
Argentine people of Basque descent