 Aragonés in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | José Luis Aragonés Suárez Martínez[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1938-07-28)28 July 1938 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Hortaleza,Madrid, Spain | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 1 February 2014(2014-02-01) (aged 75) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Fuencarral-El Pardo, Madrid, Spain | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder /Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1957–1958 | Getafe Deportivo | ||||||||||||||||
| 1958–1960 | Real Madrid | 0 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1958–1959 | →Recreativo Huelva (loan) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1959–1960 | →Hércules (loan) | 24 | (17) | ||||||||||||||
| 1960 | →Úbeda (loan) | ||||||||||||||||
| 1960 | Plus Ultra | 8 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 1960–1961 | Oviedo | 13 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 1961–1964 | Betis | 82 | (33) | ||||||||||||||
| 1964–1974 | Atlético Madrid | 265 | (123) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 392 | (188) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1964–1972 | Spain | 11 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1974–1978 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 1978 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1980 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 1981 | Betis | ||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1986 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 1987 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1988 | Barcelona | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Espanyol | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1993 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 1993–1995 | Sevilla | ||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Valencia | ||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Betis | ||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2000 | Oviedo | ||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Mallorca | ||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2003 | Atlético Madrid | ||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Mallorca | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2008 | Spain | ||||||||||||||||
| 2008–2009 | Fenerbahçe | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Luis Aragonés Suárez (Spanish pronunciation:[ˈlwisaɾaɣoˈnesˈswaɾeθ]; 28 July 1938 – 1 February 2014) was a Spanishfootball player and manager.
Aragonés spent the majority of his career as a player and coach atAtlético Madrid. He was a prominent player and then coach of the successful Atlético team of the late 1960s and early 1970s. The team werenational champions four times, reached the1974 European Cup Final. Between 1964 and 1974, he played 265Primera Liga games for Atlético and scored 123 goals. He also played for several other clubs, includingReal Madrid, and played 11 times for Spain, scoring three goals.
Apart from Atlético he also coached seven other La Liga clubs as well as the Spain national team, whom he led to their secondEuropean Championship title in2008. He then became the head coach of the Turkish clubFenerbahçe after the tournament, the only time he coached outside his native Spain.
Aragonés began his playing career withGetafe Deportivo in 1957.[2] In 1958, he signed forReal Madrid but never made it into the senior team. He spent most of his time at Real Madrid on loan to other clubs, includingRecreativo de Huelva andHércules and playing forAD Plus Ultra, the Real Madridreserve team. In 1960, he joinedReal Oviedo and made his debut in thePrimera División. Between 1961 and 1964, he played forReal Betis, making 86 league appearances and scoring 33 goals.[citation needed]
In 1964, Aragonés was signed byAtlético Madrid where he acquired the nickname "Zapatones", meaning "big boots", since he was known as afree kick specialist.[2] Aragonés picked up silverware in his first season at the club, winning theCopa del Rey (then known as the Copa delGeneralísimo). He then helped Atlético to win theLa Liga title in1965–66[citation needed] and again in1969–70, where he shared thePichichi trophy for the highest scorer in the league[3] with his fellow Atlético forwardJosé Eulogio Gárate and Real Madrid'sAmancio. A second Copa followed in1972 and the team achieved a third league title in1972–73. Thefollowing year, Atlético reached thefinal of theEuropean Cup played against German championsBayern Munich. During the match, Aragonés scored a goal late in extra time to give Atlético a 1–0 lead.[4] A 119th-minute equaliser fromGeorg Schwarzenbeck, however, sent the final to a replay, where Bayern prevailed with a convincing 4–0 victory.[5] His retirement followed soon after and he was appointed Atlético coach for the first time in the same year. Until 2024, Aragonés remained Atlético'sall-time top goalscorer and is ninth in the club's all-time appearance list.[citation needed]
Aragonés made his international debut forSpain on 8 May 1965 in a 0–0 friendly draw away toScotland. The first of his three goals for Spain was in a friendly againstFrance inLyon, in a 3–1 win on his seventh cap on 17 October 1968. He captained the side for the sole time on his 10th of 11 caps, a 3–0 win overNorthern Ireland inSeville on 11 November 1970 in qualification forUEFA Euro 1972. He scored in the match.[6]
In his first season in charge at Atlético Madrid, Aragonés led Atlético to success over two legs in the1974 Intercontinental Cup, where the team beatCopa Libertadores winnersIndependiente ofArgentina 2–1 on aggregate. Atlético went on to claim the Copa del Generalísimo and La Liga title in1976 and1977 respectively.[7]
Aragonés took over atReal Betis in 1981. His time inAndalusia, however, was brief and he returned to theVicente Calderón in 1982. In his fourth spell at the club, his Atlético side came close to achieving a historicdouble during the1984–85 season, winning theCopa del Rey and finishing runner-up in La Liga. The following season, the team reached the final of theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup, where it was beaten 3–0 byDynamo Kyiv.[8]
Aragonés' success saw him appointed as manager ofBarcelona in 1987, where he spent one season, winning theCopa del Rey.[9] He then spent a season at fellow Barcelona based clubEspanyol before rejoining Atlético for a fifth spell, where he won the sixth Copa del Rey of his career in1992.[citation needed]
After leaving the club for a fifth time in 1993, he went on to coachSevilla,Valencia, Real Betis,Real Oviedo andMallorca.[10] His biggest success during this period was in the1995–96 season coming within four points of winning theLa Liga title with Valencia.[11]
In2001, with the club in theSegunda División, Aragonés took over at Atlético for a sixth time and led the team to promotion back to the Primera División as champions in the2001–02 season.[12] He left the club for the seventh and final time in 2003 and remains its most successful manager with eight trophies won.[9]
Aragonés returned to Mallorca on 2 October of the2003–04 season, after the dismissal ofJaime Pacheco for a poor start to the season.[13] He steered the club to 11th by the end of the season.[14] On 1 July 2004, he took the job ofSpain national team afterIñaki Sáez resigned due to public disapproval for failing to qualify the team from the group stage atUEFA Euro 2004.[15]
On taking over the national team following the UEFA Euro 2004 humiliation, Aragonés made changes to the team, dropping experienced players such asMíchel Salgado andRaúl and revamped with some new blood. Spain were unbeaten in qualification for the2006 FIFA World Cup under Aragonés, but finished as group runner-up toSerbia and Montenegro,[16] and thus required a play-off againstSlovakia to secure their place. Spain won the play-off 6–2 on aggregate,[17] withLuis García scoring a hat-trick in the first-leg 5–1 win.[18] At the finals, Spain won all three group games before facing France in the Second Round. After taking the lead throughDavid Villa, they lost 3–1 following goals fromFranck Ribéry,Patrick Vieira andZinedine Zidane.[19] Realizing the physical weakness of Spanish players, he employedtiki-taka, a system of short passing which subsequently would also be identified with the playing style of Barcelona, and became the biggest football revolution in the history of Spanish football.[20]
Aragonés stayed on as manager and presided over the following qualifications for the European Championship. The initial phase of the qualifiers started on a poor note with a 3–2 defeat toNorthern Ireland and a 2–0 defeat toSweden both away from home, a pair of results that put tremendous pressure on Aragonés' position.[21] Spain recovered strongly to seal a ticket as group winners ahead of Sweden that also qualified directly to the tournament, whileDenmark missed out.
Aragonés then presided over Spain's victorious campaign atEuro 2008, beatingGermany 1–0 in the final with a goal fromFernando Torres for their first international honour since1964.[22] Aragonés had a superstitious fear of the colour yellow, and referred to Spain's change kit for the semi-final match againstRussia as "mustard" and not "yellow".[23]
Histiki-taka style of play was retained by his successor,Vicente del Bosque, who led Spain to further tournament victories.[20]
After denying an approach in late June,[24] Aragonés replacedZico as manager of TurkishSüper Lig clubFenerbahçe on 5 July 2008. He signed a two-year deal and declared his intention to win the league title in his first season.[25] The club, however, finished in fourth, and he was dismissed on 2 June 2009 after the season had ended.[26]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||||
| Atlético Madrid |  | 26 November 1974 | 8 May 1978 | 169 | 84 | 36 | 49 | 049.70 | |
| Atlético Madrid | | 10 October 1978 | 7 November 1978 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 060.00 | |
| Atlético Madrid | | 5 June 1979 | 17 March 1980 | 35 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 040.00 | |
| Betis | | 29 April 1981 | 20 September 1981 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 066.67 | |
| Atlético Madrid | | 27 April 1982 | 10 June 1986 | 210 | 110 | 46 | 54 | 052.38 | |
| Atlético Madrid | | 3 February 1987 | 28 June 1987 | 25 | 13 | 3 | 9 | 052.00 | |
| Barcelona | | 23 September 1987 | 23 May 1988 | 50 | 23 | 13 | 14 | 046.00 | |
| Espanyol | | 12 June 1990 | 11 June 1991 | 46 | 17 | 12 | 17 | 036.96 | |
| Atlético Madrid | | 11 June 1991 | 2 February 1993 | 79 | 44 | 15 | 20 | 055.70 | [27] |
| Sevilla | | 22 June 1993 | 19 June 1995 | 90 | 38 | 26 | 26 | 042.22 | [28] |
| Valencia | | 28 June 1995 | 17 November 1996 | 69 | 37 | 13 | 19 | 053.62 | [29] |
| Betis | | 30 June 1997 | 16 May 1998 | 48 | 21 | 11 | 16 | 043.75 | [30] |
| Oviedo | | 23 June 1999 | 22 May 2000 | 44 | 14 | 13 | 17 | 031.82 | [31] |
| Mallorca | | 27 May 2000 | 24 June 2001 | 44 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 056.82 | [32] |
| Atlético Madrid | | 24 June 2001 | 23 June 2003 | 87 | 39 | 22 | 26 | 044.83 | [33] |
| Mallorca | | 9 October 2003 | 1 July 2004 | 40 | 17 | 5 | 18 | 042.50 | [34] |
| Spain | | 1 July 2004 | 30 June 2008 | 54 | 38 | 12 | 4 | 070.37 | [35] |
| Fenerbahçe |  | 5 July 2008 | 2 June 2009 | 53 | 28 | 11 | 14 | 052.83 | [36] |
| Career Total | 1,151 | 567 | 262 | 322 | 049.26 | — | |||
Atlético Madrid
Atlético Madrid
Barcelona
Spain
In 2004, Aragonés was appointed coach of Spain. During a training session in the same year, a Spanish TV crew filmed Aragonés making offensive comments toJosé Antonio Reyes about Reyes' blackArsenal teammateThierry Henry, saying:
Tell that black shit that you are much better than him. Don't hold back, tell him. Tell him from me. You have to believe in yourself, you're better than that black shit.[44]
The incident caused uproar in the English media with calls for Aragonés to be sacked or suspended of his duties, however the Spanish Football Federation stated that "his offence has not been deemed serious enough to warrant a suspension of his duties, or his sacking"[45][46] After an investigation into the events during the match,UEFA fined theRoyal Spanish Football Federation 100,000Swiss francs/US$87,000 and warned that any future incidents would be punished more severely. UEFA noted that possible punishments could include suspension from major international tournaments or the closure of Spain's home international matches to supporters.
In response to this, Aragonés said in public that he was not a racist, and claimed that he had black friends. Brazilian-born black midfielderMarcos Senna stated:
He is not a racist. Aragonés is a spectacular person. [Former Spain defender]Donato, who is black, is one of his best friends. Maybe something escaped, a word, and he was misinterpreted. He helped a lot bringing me to the Spain team, and the fact people thought he was racist was minimised by the fact he called me. I see the way he treats me and how he likes me. 'He calls me "The Brazilian". Sometimes I take a free-kick in training and he shouts, "Hey Brazilian, don't take it that way, hit a folha seca [falling leaf] likeNelinho [scorer of a World Cup goal in 1978]." He is a surprising guy, because he is really serious, but then he comes with jokes. The guys adore Aragonés.[47]
Aragonés also responded to the controversy by saying to a group of reporters: "You are like wolves after the deer. You are kids. You don't know anything, but I am nearly 70. I have a lot of black friends who have explained to me that the English were after them in the colonies."[48] These comments were criticised byBobby Barnes, a member of theProfessional Footballers' Association's executive and a trustee of the football anti-racism organisationKick It Out, who suggested that Aragonés' comments on colonialism were an attempt "...to justify his offensive and disgraceful statement".[49]
Aragonés died on 1 February 2014 in Clínica CEMTRO hospital,Madrid, fromleukemia.[50]
The Royal Spanish Football Federation released a statement of "grief and shock" at the death of the man who was the coach at "the start of its most glorious era of successes on the world stage".[51]Diego Simeone, incumbent manager of Atlético Madrid, spoke on the day of Aragonés' death, saying, "From here I want to send a very strong message to his family. Everyone at Atletico is hurting at the loss of such an important part of the club and for the Spanish football."[52] Aragonés' successor as the coach ofSpain national football team,Vicente Del Bosque gave his word, "We've woken up to a sad news. Luis has been the father of the successes for the National Team. We are in his hall and I think we will always carry him in our memory."[53]
His funeral was held on 2 February in Madrid with the attendance including Spanish playersCarles Puyol,Cesc Fàbregas,Andrés Iniesta andXavi.[citation needed] He was buried in the cemetery of La Paz inAlcobendas.[54]
At the2014 UEFA Champions League Final, Atlético Madrid wore shirts with Aragonés' name written in gold on the inside of the collar.[55]
Atlético Madrid pays tribute to Aragonés in the club membership cards for2019–20 season.[56]
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Awards | |||||||
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