LEGEND

FILIPINO FUTBOL LEGEND

Paulino R. Alcántara was a Filipino–Spanish footballer and manager. He spent most of his playing career at Barcelona and was the first Filipino and Asian player to play for a European club. He also played for Catalonia, the Philippines and Spain. Alcántara made his debut for Barcelona at the age of 15 and remains the youngest player to play or score for the club. He also scored 357 goals in 357 matches, making him the club's highest goalscorer (counting goals scored in both official and friendly games). After retiring as a player in 1927 at the age of 31, he became a doctor. On 5 July 1927, Barcelona played against Spain in a testimonial match in his honour and he later served as a club director between 1931 and 1934. In 1951, Alcántara became a coach and managed Spain for three games.

Early Career

Alcántara was born in the Philippines to a Spanish military officer and an Ilongga mother. He moved to Spain to play for FC Galeno before he was discovered by Joan Gamper and signed up for Barcelona. He made his debut at the age of 15 years, 4 months and 18 days old on 25 February 1912 against Catalá SC in the Campionat de Catalunya (Catalan football championship) and Barcelona won 9–0, with Alcántara scoring the first three goals of the game. He was nicknamed "El Romperedes" (the net breaker) after he broke the net with a shot during a match against France. Among his team mates during his time at the club were Francisco Bru Sanz, Jack Greenwell and Romà Forns. He went on to help the club win a Copa del Rey (Spanish Cup) and Campionat de Catalunya in 1913 and a Campionat de Catalunya in 1916.

Bohemian Sporting Club

In 1916, Alcántara returned to the Philippines and played for the Bohemian Sporting Club. He helped the club win two Philippine Championships; in 1917 and 1918. During this time, Barcelona had failed to win a championship title in his absence.

Return to Barcelona

After returning to Barcelona, his former team mate and manager, Jack Greenwell experimented with Alcántara as a defender, but failed to achieve success on that position, which saw him return to the forward line and in 1919, he helped the club win another Campionat de Catalunya. The club also reached the Copa del Rey final but lost 5–2 to Arenas Club de Getxo. In 1920 the club won another Copa del Rey and the Campionat de Catalunya with Alcántara scoring in the 2–0 win over Athletic Bilbao in the Cup final. The squad included Emilio Sagi Liñán, who formed a partnership with Alcántara as well as Ricardo Zamora, Josep Samitier and Félix Sesúmaga. This marked the beginning of the club’s first golden era and saw them dominate both the Campionat de Catalunya and Copa del Rey tournament. Alcántara scored twice in the 1922 Cup final, where Barcelona defeated Real Unión 5–1 and scored the winning goal in the 3–2 win over Atlético Madrid in the 1926 final.

International Career

In 1915, Alcántara made his debut with Catalonia and in 1924 he played at least six games and scored at least four goals for the team. In 1917 he was selected by the Philippines national team and represented the country at the Far Eastern Championship Games in Tokyo, helping them defeat Japan 15–2, which became the Philippines' biggest win in international football. In 1920 Alcántara, along with Zamora, Samitier and Sesúmaga, was selected to represent Spain at the 1920 Olympics. However, Alcántara chose to stay at home to take his final medical exams. He eventually made his debut for Spain on 7 October 1921 at the age of 25 against Belgium and scored both goals in a 2–0 win. He made five appearances and scored six goals for Spain between 1921 and 1923.

Honours

CLUBS

FCBarcelona:

Copa del Rey (5): 1913, 1920, 1922, 1925, 1926

Campionat de Catalunya (10): 1913, 1916, 1919, 1920, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927

Bohemian SC:

Philippines Championship (2): 1917, 1918

INTERNATIONAL

Philippines:

Far Eastern Games: 1917 (Silver medal)

Reference:

FCBarcelona: Mythical Player

World Football Legends: Paulino R. Alcantara

Wikipedia: Paulino R. Alcantara

Manuel Achemanzurra

It was Manuel Amechazurra, not Paulino Alcantara, the first Asian-born footballer to play in FC Barcelona. He played for the club between 1905 and 1915, 7 years earlier before Alcantara joined Barca. It was during Almechazurra and Alcantara’s time when Barca won their first Spanish Championship by beating Espanol de Madrid 3-2 in the final (May 26, 1910). He is known for being the first “professional” FC Barcelona player. (And by professional, we mean paid.)

Before June 28, 1924, professionalism was not accepted by the Spanish Federation. However during his time, Amechazurra asked the club to pay him for playing football due to his economic situation. Some managers rallied that the club pay Amechazurra £ 300 per month. In exchange for the payment, Amechazurra would also teach English to some of the managers the club.

He was born in Negros (Philippines) in the late nineteenth and died in 1965 in Barcelona.

Name: Juan Garchitorena
A.K.A: John Torena

Date of Birth: 24/03/1898
Place of Birth: Manila, Philippines

Playing Career:
FC Barcelona: 1915-19

FUN FACT:

English translation: “Garchitorena was not a great football player. His fame-seeking almost always got in the way. He went to Hollywood, where he became famous as a movie star (with the name of Juan Torena) and as a lover, breaking many hearts, including Myrna Loy, as stated José Samitier.
Garchitorena was a unique player. He owns this story, collected in the history of C. F. Barcelona: For the fans of that time and they seemed rather original way to behave Garchitorena.For example, in a match played in the old field of Spanish, had a goal made with the head. But that move easily topped. Then declare that he was putting his head not to get dirty, because the ball was full of mud.”

Name: Gregorio Querejeta Amestoy

Moniker: Chupitos
Date of Birth: 15/05/1916
Place of Birth: La Carlota, Negros Occidental
Playing Position: Midfielder

Playing Career
Real Zaragoza - 1939-43
Atletico Madrid - 1943-46
Gimnastic de Tarragona 1947-48

Name: Marcelino Renteria Galatas

Moniker:

Date of Birth: April 02, 1903

Place of Birth: Manila

Playing Position: Midfielder

Career:

Real Sociedad – 1923-27

Atletico de Madrid – 1927-28

Name: Jose Maria Echengoyen Elizalde

Moniker:

Date of Birth: 1908

Place of Birth: Manila Playing position: Midfielder

Career:

Atletico de Madrid – 1921-26

Name: Felipe Calderon Kaiman(Kaimo)

Moniker: 

Date of Birth:

Place of Birth: 

Playing Position: Defender

Career:

Real Madrid – 1927-28

Name: Jose Luis Querejeta Amestoy 

Date of Birth: 

Place of Birth: La Carlota, Negros Occidental

Playing Position: Midfielder

Playing Career

CA Osasuna - 1940-44

Real Santander - 1944-46

SQUAD ZARAGOZA 1939-40

SQUAD ZARAGOZA 1940-41

 

SQUAD ZARAGOZA 1942-1943