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Luis Suárez
Luis Suárez Miramontes.JPG
Suárez with the Spain national team in 1961
Personal information
Date of birth (1935-05-02)2 May 1935
Place of birth A Coruña, Galicia, Spain
Date of death 9 July 2023(2023-07-09) (aged 88)
Place of death Milan, Lombardy, Italy
Height 1.75 m
Playing position Inside right, attacking midfielder
Youth career
Perseverancia
1949–1953 Fabril
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1953–1954 Deportivo La Coruña 17 (3)
1954–1955 Condal 21 (6)
1955–1961 Barcelona 122 (62)
1961–1970 Inter Milan 256 (42)
1970–1973 Sampdoria 63 (9)
Total 479 (121)
National team
1957–1972 Spain 32 (14)
Teams managed
1973–1974 Genoa Primavera
1974–1975 Inter Milan
1975 Cagliari
1977 SPAL
1977–1978 Como
1978–1979 Deportivo La Coruña
1981–1989 Spain U21
1988–1991 Spain
1992 Inter Milan
1995 Albacete
1995 Inter Milan (interim)
Honours
Representing  Spain
European Nations' Cup
Winner 1964 Spain
  • Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Luis Suárez Miramontes ( 2 May 1935 – 9 July 2023) was a Spanish professional footballer and manager. He played as a midfielder for Deportivo de La Coruña, España Industrial, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Sampdoria and the Spain national team. Suárez is regarded as one of the greatest Spanish football players of all time. He was noted for his elegant, fluid, graceful style of play.

Nicknamed El Arquitecto – The Architect – or Luisito Suárez was noted for his perceptive passing and explosive shot; in 1960, he became the first and only male Spanish-born player to win the Ballon d'Or. In 1964, he helped Spain win the European Championship. Suárez originally achieved prominence as a creative inside forward, or attacking midfielder in modern terms, for the great Barcelona team of the 1950s before he joined Inter Milan where he reached his prime as deep-lying playmaker for the legendary Grande Inter team of the 1960s. He played a pivotal role in the success of Helenio Herrera's Inter Milan side, and was one of the primary creative forces in the squad, due to his skill on the ball, vision, and passing range. He retired as a player in 1973, after three seasons at Sampdoria.

Suárez subsequently began a career as a coach and has managed Inter Milan on three occasions, the last two on a caretaker basis. Suárez has also coached both Spain U21s and the senior Spain team. He was in charge of the latter for 27 games and led them to the second round of the 1990 World Cup. He has also coached several Italian and Spanish club sides. He died in Milan on 9 July 2023, aged 88.

Club career

Casa natal de Luis Suárez (2)
Suárez's birthplace in Corunna

Early career

Luis Suárez Miramontes was born on 2 May 1935, in A Coruña, Galicia. He lived on Avenida de Hércules in the working-class neighborhood of Monte Alto where he was known by the diminutive Luisito.

He began his career with local side Deportivo de La Coruña in 1949 and worked his way through the junior sides before making his La Liga debut with Deportivo on 6 December 1953 in a 6–1 defeat to FC Barcelona. Among his teammates at Deportivo were Pahiño and Arsenio Iglesias. He played 17 games and scored 3 goals for Deportivo during the remaining season. In 1954, he was transferred to FC Barcelona but spent most of the 1954–55 season playing for their reserve side, España Industrial, in the second division.

Barcelona

Between 1955 and 1961, Suárez was a regular in a FC Barcelona team that also included the Hungarian trio Ladislao Kubala, Zoltán Czibor and Sándor Kocsis, alongside Ramallets and Evaristo. With Helenio Herrera as coach, the club and Suárez won a domestic league–cup double in 1959 and a league–Fairs Cup double the subsequent year. As a result, Suárez won the Ballon d'Or in 1960, as the first and to date only in Spanish-born football player. One of his last games for the club was the final of the European Cup in 1961 which they lost 3–2 to Benfica. For Barcelona, he scored 141 goals in 253 matches.

Inter Milan

1960s Inter Milan - Luis Suárez Miramontes
Suárez with Inter Milan at San Siro in the mid-1960s
Luis Suárez Miramontes - UC Sampdoria
Suárez playing for Sampdoria in the early 1970s

In 1961, Suárez became the world's most expensive footballer when FC Barcelona sold him to Inter Milan for 25 million Spanish Pesetas (£152,000). The move saw him follow his mentor Helenio Herrera. Along with Juan Santisteban, he became the first Spanish player in Serie A.

Suárez was a regular in Herrera's Grande Inter team that won three Serie A titles, two consecutive European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups. Between 1961 and 1970 he made 328 appearances for Inter and scored 55 goals. On 10 March 1963, he scored three times in a 6–0 win over Genoa; this was the only hat-trick by a Spaniard in Serie A until Suso's for Genoa in 2016, to whom Suárez sent his congratulations.

Sampdoria

In 1970, he signed with Sampdoria where he ended his active football career in 1973.

International career

Suárez also played 32 games for Spain and scored fourteen goals. He made his debut on 30 January 1957 in a 5–1 victory over the Netherlands and represented Spain at both the 1962 and 1966 FIFA World Cups. However his greatest achievement with Spain came in 1964 when he Spain won the European Championship. He played his final game for Spain at almost 37 years of age in a draw with Greece in 1972.

Death

Suárez died on 9 July 2023, at the age of 88. Suarez’s death was announced by former Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti, who confirmed he had been hospitalized at the Ospedale Niguarda in Milan several days before his death.

Career statistics

Placa na casa natal de Luís Suárez
Galician language plaque outside Suárez's birthplace: "In this house on 2 May 1935, the architect of football Luis Suárez was born".
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Spain 1957 6 4
1958 3 2
1959 5 5
1960 7 3
1961 1 0
1962 2 0
1963 1 0
1964 2 0
1965 2 0
1966 2 0
1967 0 0
1968 0 0
1969 0 0
1970 0 0
1971 0 0
1972 1 0
Total 32 14
Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Suárez goal.
List of international goals scored by Luis Suárez
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 10 March 1957 Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain  Switzerland 1–1 2–2 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 31 March 1957 Heysel, Brussels, Belgium  Belgium 2–0 5–0 Friendly
3 5–0
4 8 May 1957 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland  Scotland 2–2 2–4 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification
5 13 March 1958 Parc des Princes, Paris, France  France 2–1 2–2 Friendly
6 15 October 1958 Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain  Northern Ireland 4–1 6–2 Friendly
7 28 June 1959 Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland  Poland 1–1 4–2 UEFA Euro 1960 qualifying
8 3–1
9 22 November 1959 Mestalla, Valencia, Spain  Austria 2–0 6–3 Friendly
10 3–0
11 17 December 1959 Parc des Princes, Paris, France  France 1–0 3–4 Friendly
12 10 July 1960 Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru  Peru 2–0 3–1 Friendly
13 3–0
14 26 October 1960 Wembley, London, England  England 2–2 2–4 Friendly

Honours

1964–65 European Cup - Inter Milan's Suárez, Facchetti, Peiró and Bedin with the trophy
Suárez (foreground) celebrates the 1964–65 European Cup victory with his Nerazzurri teammates Facchetti, Peiró and Bedin

Player

Barcelona

  • La Liga: 1958–59, 1959–60
  • Copa del Generalísimo: 1957, 1958–59
  • Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1955–58, 1958–60

Inter Milan

Spain

Manager

Spain U21

Individual

  • Ballon d'Or: 1960
    • Silver Ball: 1961, 1964
    • Bronze Ball: 1965
  • Eric Batty's World XI: 1963, 1964, 1965
  • UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1964
  • Golden Foot: 2008, as football legend
  • Marca Leyenda: 2016

Orders

  • 200px ribbon bar of the Royal Order of Sports Merit.svg
    Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit: 2001

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Luis Suárez Miramontes para niños

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