Enrique Careaga

Enrique Timoteo González de Careaga y Bishop (19 March 1872 – 5 May 1936) was a Spanish engineer and footballer who played as a defender for Club Bizcaya, with whom he won the 1902 Copa de la Coronación. He then served as the 3rd president of Athletic Bilbao between 1903 and 1906. Under his presidency, the club officially absorbed their city rivals, Bilbao FC, and won its first two Copa del Reys titles.

Being the son of a well-off family in Bilbao, Careaga was sent to Britain to complete his studies, where he developed a deep interest in football. When he returned to his hometown, and like many other Balbainos, he began to play football games in the Hippodrome of Lamiako, which at the time was the home of organized football in Biscay.

Football career Bilbao FC In the late 1890s, Careaga became a member of an informal group led by Carlos and Manuel Castellanos, the so-called Bilbao Football Club, the first entity to play football in Bilbao since the disappearance of Club Atleta. Although it was formed in 1896, it was not until 30 November 1900 that the Bilbao Football Club was officially established in a meeting held in the house of industrialist José Luis de Villabaso (1852–1917) in the Biscayan neighborhood of Algorta. Careaga was thus part in what is now regarded as one of the first football rivalries in Spain, one that helped turn football into a mass phenomenon in Bilbao since their duels aroused great expectation. This temporary merge became known as Club Bizcaya, and Careaga played in the team's first-ever match on 9 March, helping his side to a 0–2 win in France, the first time a Bilbao team played on foreign territory.

Together with Juan Astorquia, Armand Cazeaux and William Dyer, Careaga was part of the Club Bizcaya that participated in the 1902 Copa de la Coronacion, the first national championship disputed in Spain and the forerunner for the Copa del Rey. He only played in the final on 15 May, forming a defensive partnership with Athletic's Perico Larrañaga to help his side to a 2–1 victory over Joan Gamper's FC Barcelona.

Presidency of Athletic Bilbao Astorquia used Bizcaya's successful campaign at the Copa de la Coronación to convince the owners of Bilbao FC, who had begun to lose interest in the club, of how beneficial and necessary it was to merge the two clubs. Under his presidency, Athletic officially absorbed Bilbao FC on 24 March 1903.

Despite winning their first title at the national level, the recent merger with the whites of Bilbao FC, and the promise of forming a thriving society, at the end of the year the club faced a sporting crisis as they found themselves without significant rivals in its territory. In 1902, he was appointed as the club's third president, and after serving his biennial mandate, he was succeeded in 1904 by Santiago Martínez de las Rivas.

Personal life Careaga married María Josefina Pilar Catalina Urigüen y Mendiguren, and the couple had five children, Enrique, Alfonso, Josefina, José Miguel, and José María González de Careaga Urigüen. Coincidentally, his son formed a defensive partnership with the son of Manuel Castellanos.

Death Careaga died in Mexico on 5 May 1936, at the age of 64.