Guillermo Gorostiza

Guillermo Gorostiza Paredes (15 February 1909 – 23 August 1966) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward.

In a 14-year professional career, he played for Athletic Bilbao and Valencia, amassing La Liga totals of 255 games and 178 goals and winning 11 major titles with the two teams combined.

Gorostiza appeared for Spain at the 1934 World Cup.

Club career Athletic Bilbao Gorostiza was born in Santurtzi, Biscay. He played youth football for Chávarri de Sestao and Zugazarte, beginning his senior career with Arenas Club de Getxo and Racing de Ferrol (one season apiece) before signing for Athletic Bilbao in 1929. He made his La Liga debut on 1 December 1929 against Real Madrid, and scored a combined 37 league goals in his first two seasons (in 36 matches) as the club won back-to-back national championships, adding two Copa del Rey trophies.

Gorostiza was a member of an Athletic attack (coached by Englishman Fred Pentland) that also included Bata, José Iraragorri, Chirri II, Lafuente and Víctor Unamuno, and would be remembered as one of the best in the club's history; he won two Pichichi awards as league top goalscorer while with the club. He scored the last goal in the 1933 Spanish Cup final, a 2–1 victory over Real Madrid in Barcelona.

After leaving the Mestalla Stadium, Gorostiza played for Barakaldo CF during the 1946–47 campaign, in Segunda División, and then retired at the age of 38. However, he twice came out of retirement, with CD Logroñés and Real Juvencia, finally calling it quits in 1951. While with Juvencia, he was paid in bottle of coke from a nearby factory which he would then have to sell to make money. He was found dead by a nun on 24 August 1966 at the Santa María en Santurce nursing home in Bilbao, aged 57.

Filmography Gorostiza played Goro in ¡¡Campeones!! (1943), and himself in Juguetes rotos (1966).

Career statistics

Honours Athletic Bilbao La Liga: 1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1935–36 Copa del Rey: 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933 Biscay Championship: 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35, 1938–39, 1939–40

Valencia La Liga: 1941–42, 1943–44 Copa del Generalísimo: 1941

Individual Pichichi Trophy: 1929–30, 1931–32