Alejandro Acha

Alejandro Acha Bárcena (22 July 1878 – 16 December 1917) was a Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Athletic Club. He was one of the most important footballers in the amateur beginnings of Athletic Bilbao, being among the 7 founders of the club in 1898, and then serving the club as a secretary and as its first goalkeeper, winning the 1903 Copa del Rey, the first official national championship.

In addition to football, he also excelled in cycling.

Playing career Alejandro Acha was born in the Biscayan town of Abando on 22 July 1878, and like so many other youngsters from that region, he began playing football games at Hippodrome of Lamiako, which at the time was the home of organized football in Biscay. In 1898, he was one of the 7 Basque football enthusiasts belonging to the Gimnásio Zamacois who began to organize football matches against the British workers in Lamiako, thus founding the Athletic Club.

Acha was the club's first-ever goalkeeper, being described as an "iron herculean" and "giant", He thus played a pivotal role in this historic rivalry that served as one of the drivers of football as a mass phenomenon in Bilbao since their duels aroused great expectation.

In 1902, the two rivals agreed to combine the best players of each club to face the Bordeaux-based side Burdigala; this temporary merge became known as Club Bizcaya, but Acha never played for this team, having been ousted by Bilbao FC's goalkeeper Luis Arana, who went on to help Bizcaya win the first national championship disputed in Spain, the 1902 Copa de la Coronación, the forerunner of the Copa del Rey. He was also part of the team for the 1904 Copa del Rey, which Athletic won without playing a single match since their opponents failed to turn up.

Death In the mid-1910s, creditors seized Athletic's clubhouse on Calle Nueva, where the precious trophy was located, but Acha got there first and took it with him. The cup was missing until Acha died on 16 December 1917, at the age of 39,