José Muñoz Pérez

José Muñoz Pérez (7 April 1869 – 7 September 1921) was a Spanish sports journalist who co-founded Recreativo de Huelva in 1889.

Early life and education José Muñoz Pérez was born in Huelva on 7 April 1869, as the son of Josefa Pérez Ortiz (1842–1916) and Francisco Muñoz Morales (1838–1878), founder of the Muñoz Printing Press, which later became the property of his widow and sons. His father was an editor of the Huelva newspaper La Provincia since its inception in 1873, and who had also previously edited another newspaper, El Porvenir de Huelva, which began in 1869. His knowledge of the English language, his fondness for British sports, and his position within the local press made him the ideal candidate to serve as a liaison with the institutions and society of Huelva.

Sports journalism Muñoz was also a correspondent in Huelva for the weekly El Sport, published in Madrid, and in February 1892, he wrote a brief summary of the sporting activities of Recreativo from its foundation until then. In this summary, he stated that Recreativo has "held important games of tennis, cricket, and mainly football, which have been played against the clubs of Rio Tinto FC, Tharsis, Seville FC, and other towns. Both the family business and the newspaper itself were closely linked, through various commercial agreements, to the powerful Rio Tinto Company Limited.

In 1903, after many years as secretary, he became the vice-president of Recreativo, and later that year, Muñoz's proposal to create an annual tournament exclusively for football between the Recreativo members against the British sailors of the Seamen's Institute was approved at the board meeting held on 9 December 1903. Muñoz decided to follow the footsteps of the Copa del Rey, which had been inaugurated earlier that year with a cup donated by Alfonso XIII, and ordered a cup made of silver in London, with the first match taking place on 2 January 1904, and being won by the British. This Cup, sometimes called Copa Muñoz, eventually became the definitive property of Huelva in 1911, thus becoming the oldest trophy kept by Recreativo in its museum.

Later life Muñoz was a town councillor for many years, and mayor of Huelva in 1916. He was also President of the Círculo Mercantil y Agrícola between 1918 and 1919.