Juan Arzuaga

Juan Sandalio Arzuaga Anitua (3 September 1880 – 26 August 1951) was a Spanish footballer who played as a defender for Athletic Club, and later a referee, and then a coach of Athletic.

Early life and education Juan Arzuaga was born in Bilbao on 3 September 1880, and was baptized on the following day, in the in the Biscay capital. As a child, Arzuaga studied in England for four years, between 1898 and 1902, appearing in the 1901 census in Gateshead, south of the Tyne and in County Durham. According to the data, he was a naval engineering student and lived with a family in the area, so it is therefore very likely that he was undertaking training at one of the shipyards on the Tyne and Wear. He then became one of the first footballers of the newly formed club in 1904, thus beginning his footballing career at the advanced age of 24. Together with Alfonso Sena, he was part of the Recreation Club that played in the 1905 Copa del Rey.

At Recreation Club, he stood out for his defensive skills, which earned him a move to Athletic Club in 1905, making his competitive debut on 11 April 1906, at the 1906 Copa del Rey, in a 2–1 win over Recreativo de Huelva, In 1907, the best players from Athletic and Unión Vizcaino came together to form Bizcaya, which was specially created to take part in the 1907 Copa del Rey, and Arzuaga was elected into the team, forming a defensive partnership with his former Recreation Club teammate, Alfonso Sena of Vizcaino, which played a very important role in helping Bizcaya reach the final, and this time he started and nearly kept a clean-sheet, but they lost to Madrid once again, courtesy of a late goal from Manuel Prast.

Arzuaga (standing, first from right) with the Athletic Bilbao team in 1910. Arzuaga was a member of the Athletic side that won back-to-back Copa del Rey titles in 1910 and 1911, helping his side keep a clean-sheet in the 1910 final (UECF) in a 1–0 win over Vasconia, the name under which the newly founded Real Sociedad played. He become the captain of the team in 1911. He remained loyal to Athletic until 1912, when the club decided that the low form of an aging Arzuaga did not allow him to continue defending the colours of Athletic, so he was dropped from the first team, and eventually, he left and joined Club Deportivo Bilbao, with whom he retired in 1914 at the age of 34.

International career On 25 May 1913, the 33-year-old Juan Arzuaga went down in history as one of the eleven footballers who played in the very first unofficial game of the Spanish national team at Estadio de Amute in Hondarribia. They faced a French national side represented by the USFSA, and it was Arzuaga (playing as a forward on the day) who netted an 85th-minute equalizer to salvage a 1–1 draw.

Refereeing career Arzuaga participated in the 1911 Copa del Rey as both a player and a referee, winning the cup as the former and overseeing one match as the latter, a quarterfinal clash between CD Español and Academia de Infantería on 10 April, which ended in a 6–0 victory to Español.

Managerial career As a coach, Arzuaga managed Athletic Bilbao from 3 December 1921 until 20 March 1922.

Death Arzuaga died in Logroño on 26 August 1951, at the age of 70.

Honours Athletic Bilbao Copa del Rey: 1910, 1911; runner-up 1907