José Luis Orbegozo Balzola

José Luis Orbegozo Balzola (2 September 1929 – 17 January 2010) was a Spanish businessman and sports leader, who served as the 22nd president of the Real Sociedad for 16 years between 1967 and 1983.

Sporting career José Luis Orbegozo was born in San Sebastián on 2 September 1929, and became a member of his hometown club Real Sociedad in 1936, when he was only six years old. In 1966 he joined the board of directors then chaired by Antonio Vega de Seoane Barroso, with the help of his friend Tomás Álvarez de Eulate, and held the position of treasurer until 1967. The project took advantage of a subsidy for the use of the new field as the venue for the FIFA 1982 World Cup, but this did not come to pass due to the opposition of the city council. Sociedad announced that all its teams would wear black armbands on the next matchday, in addition to keeping a minute of silence in all the games in which they play, in memory of Orbegozo. His funeral took place on the following day on 18 January in the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd of San Sebastian and the entire Sociedad squad from the 2009–10 season attended, as well as the last presidents and leaders of the entity.

Legacy The main field (Z-1) of the Zubieta Facilities, where Real Sociedad trains, was named after José Luis Orbegozo in 2010 in tribute to him, a field that had been inaugurated by him in 1980.