Edmundo Nóvoa de María

Edmundo Basilio Novoa de María (14 June 1887 – 6 July 1981) was a Uruguayan-born Spanish diplomat and footballer who played as a defender for Real Madrid in Spain and Nacional in Uruguay. In 1911, he played one match as a midfielder for the Uruguayan national team. He later worked as a consular agent of Uruguay in Spain, using this position to save thousands of people from Franco's repression.

Early life Edmundo Novoa was born on 14 June 1887 in Durazno, Uruguay, as the son of Edmundo Nóvoa Couto and Justina de María, both from Pontevedra. He spent most of his youth frequently traveling back and forth between Galicia and his homeland until he eventually settled in Salcedo. In 1905, he was a co-founder of , which was the very first club that played football in the city of Pontevedra. In the following year, a local newspaper described him as an "excellent" player with "an elegant style" who demonstrated "his skill and mastery in the game of football, with even the English spectators praised him "as one of the best players". On 12 April, both he and Prada started in the 1908 Copa del Rey final against Vigo FC, helping their side to a 2–1 victory. In the final, he formed a defensive partnership with the club's captain José Berraondo, with the local newspaper stating that Vigo's play was "easily counteracted by Berraondo and Novoa's defense". Earlier in February 1909, he was a member of an early version of a Spain national team in a match with players from northern Spain (particularly Irún, Fortuna, and Pontevedra) that faced a team of players from southern France at the Pont Jumeaux stadium in Toulouse.

Later career It was around this time that Manchester United showed interest in signing him, but he declined because he did not want to live in England. He also served briefly as a consul general of Argentina, following the death of the local representative.

The Franco regime would revoke his diplomatic exequatur and the couple would have eight children, most of them born in Galicia; one the painter and sculptor Leopoldo Nóvoa. His grandson, Joseph Novoa, is a Venezuelan-Uruguayan film director whose 1994 film "Sicario" was a finalist at the Goya Award for Best Spanish Language Foreign Film 1995.

Later life and death Novoa also loved hunting, achieving an Ibero-American Shooting Championship in 1968 in Mexico. He died in Madrid on 6 July 1981, at the age of 94.

Honours

Madrid FC Centro Championship: Champions (1): 1907–08

Copa del Rey: Champions (1): 1908