Victorio Unamuno Ibarzabal (21 May 1909 – 20 May 1988), also known as Unamuno I, was a Spanish

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He amassed

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 144 games and 101 goals, with

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 ...

and Betis.

Career

Unamuno was born in

Bergara Bergara (; ) is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the north of Spain. An Enlightened center of education operated by the '' Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del P ...

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 ...

. After helping

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

to the semi-finals of the

1928 Copa del Rey The King Alfonso XIII's Cup 1928 was the 28th staging of the Copa del Rey, the Spanish football cup competition. The competition started on 31 January 1928, and concluded on 29 June 1928, with the second final tiebreaker, held at the Estadio El S ...

he was signed by neighbouring

to be part of their team in the newly-formed national league. He went on win two

titles and four consecutive domestic cups, notably forming an attacking partnership with Bata, Guillermo Gorostiza,

José Iraragorri José Iraragorri Ealo (16 March 1912 – 1927, 27 April 1983), nicknamed "Chato", was a Spanish football (soccer), footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Inside forward, inside left. Career Club Born in Basauri, Iraragorri i ...

, Chirri II and Lafuente. In the summer of 1933, Unamuno 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 ...

. In the 1934–35 season he scored a team-best 13 goals, and the club won its first and only national championship. After leaving

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, Unamuno's career was interrupted by 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 ...

, and he subsequently returned to Athletic. In the 1939–40 campaign he netted 20 times – and Gorostiza added 16 – ''en route'' to being crowned the competition's Pichichi, helping the side to third place; he retired in 1942, aged 33.

Personal life

Unamuno's younger brother, Vicente (1917–1988, known as ''Unamuno II''), was also a footballer and a forward. The siblings were teammates at Athletic Bilbao during 1939–40 even though the latter did not appear in the league, but the pair did help the club win the

Biscay Championship The Biscay Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional de Vizcaya)'', also called the North Regional Championship ''(Campeonato Regional Norte)'' in its early editions, was an official football tournament in Spain organised by the North Footbal ...

in that year; the former died 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 ...

, one day before his 79th birthday.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 1929–30, 1930–31 *

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 ...

1930 Events January * January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be on J ...

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

: 1928–29, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1939–40 Betis * La Liga: 1934–35 Individual *

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 ...

: 1939–40

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Unamuno, Victor 1909 births 1988 deaths People from Bergara Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Deportivo Alavés players Athletic Bilbao footballers Real Betis players Pichichi Trophy winners Footballers from Gipuzkoa 20th-century Spanish sportsmen