José Luis Zabala (14 December 1898 – 22 April 1946)[1] was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward.[2] He played in four matches for the Spain national football team in 1923 and 1924, scoring four goals, including a hat-trick against Portugal on 16 December of 1923.[3]

José Luis Zabala
Personal information
Full name José Luis Zabala Arrondo
Date of birth (1898-12-14)14 December 1898
Place of birth Irun, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Date of death 22 April 1946(1946-04-22) (aged 47)
Place of death Barcelona, Spain
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1914–1916 Sporting de Irún
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1916–1917 Club Izarra de Eibar
1917–1918 Unión de Irun
1918–1919 Espanyol
1919–1923 Real Club Deportivo Oviedo
1923–1926 Espanyol
1926–1929 Real Oviedo
1929-1930 Valencia
International career
1923-1924 Spain 4 (4)
1922-1923 Asturias 6 (7)
1923-1926 Catalonia 4 (2)
Managerial career
1932 UE Sants
1934–1936 Girona FC
1941–1942 Girona FC
1943–1944 FC Lleida
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Born in Irun, he began to play football in the youth ranks of his hometown club Sporting de Irún. After short spells at Izarra de Eibar and Unión de Irun, Zabala joined Espanyol in 1918, where he played for a season as a midfielder. After inflicting an injury to an opposing player, he was sanctioned by the Catalan Football Federation, earning three months of inactivity. This fact caused him to leave Espanyol and join Real Club Deportivo Oviedo,[4] which would later merge with Real Stadium Club Ovetense to form Real Oviedo in 1925. In the first-ever Asturian derby between Sporting de Gijón and Real Oviedo (Real Club Deportivo Oviedo at the time) held on 25 January 1920, it was Zabala who scored Oviedo's first equalizer on a 2-2 draw.[5]

After four seasons at Oviedo, Zabala returned to Espanyol in 1923, and in his second spell there, he became a brilliant forward, forming an attacking partnership with the likes of Rafael Oramas, Alfredo Arróniz, and José Padrón, and earning his first international call-ups for the Spanish and the Catalan national teams. In 1926 he returned to Oviedo and finished his career at Valencia in the 1929–30 season.[6]

International career

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He made his debut for Spain on 28 January 1923 against France, and scored his side's second in a 3–0 win. In his next cap on 16 December 1923 he scored again, netting a hat-trick in the Iberian derby to help his side to a 3–0 win. In total, Zabala scored 4 goals in 4 caps.[7] He scored another hat-trick for Spain in a 7–0 win over a Catalonia XI on 13 March 1924.[8]

Being a Real Oviedo, he was eligible to play for the Asturias team, being one of the eleven footballers that played in the team's first-ever game on 4 June 1922, in a friendly against St Mirren F.C., and even though they lost 3–7, Zabala was the author of the first goal in the team's history.[9] The Regional Asturian team then played seven official games between 1922 and 1926 in the Prince of Asturias Cup, winning the 1922–23 edition, largely thanks to Zabala who scored twice in their 4–3 win over Biscay in the quarter-finals, followed by a last-minute winner against Catalonia in the semi-finals and to seal his memorable campaign in style, he netted a second-half brace in the final to give his side a 3–1 win over Galicia. His brace in the final game of the tournament saw him become the top goal scorer of the tournament with 5 goals. However, the following edition of the competition wasn't as successful because Asturias were knocked out by Biscay in the quarter-finals despite yet another Zabala goal.[10] With those 6 goals, Zabala is the all-time top goal scorer of the prince of Asturias Cup along with Kinké and Juan Monjardín, who also scored 6 goals. Zabala is also the record-goalscorer of the Asturian team with 7 goals.

When he returned to Espanyol in 1923, he become eligible to play for the Catalan national team, however, due to the little statistical rigor that the newspapers had at that time, the exact amount of caps he earned is unknown.

International goals

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Goals for Spain

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Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Zabala goal.
List of international goals scored by José Luis Zabala[7]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 28 January 1923 Atotxa Stadium, San Sebastián, Spain   France 2–0 3–0 Friendly
2 16 December 1923 Reina Victoria, Seville, Spain   Portugal 1–0 3–0
3 2–0
4 3–0

Goals for Asturias

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Asturias score listed first, score column indicates score after each Zabala goal.
List of international goals scored by José Luis Zabala[10]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 4 June 1922 El Molinón, Gijón, Spain St Mirren F.C. 3–7 Friendly
2 13 November 1922   Biscay 1–0 4–3 1922-23 Prince of Asturias Cup quarter-finals replay
3 2–1
4 14 January 1923   Catalonia 1–0 1–0 1922-23 Prince of Asturias Cup semi-finals
5 25 February 1923 Coia, Vigo, Spain   Galicia 2–1 3–1 1922-23 Prince of Asturias Cup final
6 3–1
7 18 November 1923 San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain   Biscay 2–2 2–4 1923-24 Prince of Asturias Cup quarter-finals

Honours

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References

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  1. ^ "ZABALA JOSÉ LUIS ZABALA ARRONDO". FC Barcelona. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  2. ^ "José Luis Zabala". Olympedia. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  3. ^ "José Luis Zabala". National Football Teams. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  4. ^ "A propósito de Zabala" [About Zabala] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  5. ^ "Una rivalidad centenaria" [A century-old rivalry]. www.elcomercio.es (in Spanish). 25 January 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2022.
  6. ^ "José Luis ZABALA". hallofameperico.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  7. ^ a b "National football team player José Luis Zabala". EU-football.info. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
  8. ^ "Edición del Friday 14 March 1924, Página 1 - Hemeroteca" [Edition of Friday 14 March 1924, Page 1 - Hemeroteca]. MundoDeportivo.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  9. ^ "El Comercio (Gijón) 06/06/1922" (in Spanish). El Comercio. 6 June 1922. Archived from the original on 9 May 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
  10. ^ a b Vicente Martínez Calatrava (17 August 2009). "La Copa Príncipe de Asturias" [The Prince of Asturias Cup] (in Spanish). CIHEFE. Retrieved 5 June 2022.


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