Juan Astorquia

Juan "Juanito" José Astorquia Landabaso (June 1876 – 23 October 1905) was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Athletic Bilbao. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the amateur beginnings of Athletic Club from Bilbao, having been the fundamental driving force behind the foundation of the club in 1898 and its official establishment in 1901, and then serving as the club's first captain until 1904 and as its second president between 1902 and 1903.

Under Astorquia's leadership, Athletic became a dominant team on the national level, captaining the Basque club to triumphs at the 1902 Copa de la Coronación, which was the club's first trophy, and then to back-to-back Copa del Rey titles in 1903 and 1904, contributing decisively in all of these victories. During his four years there, he developed an interest in football, becoming one of the best players in his school thanks to his dribbles and ball control.

Footballing career Early career In 1896, the 20-year-old Astorquia returned to Bilbao, bringing with him his newly-acquired business knowledge and passion for football, and like many other Bilbaínos, he began to play football in the Hippodrome of Lamiako in Leioa, which at the time was the home of organized football in Biscay. At first, he became a member of an informal group led by Carlos and Manuel Castellanos, the so-called Bilbao Football Club, playing a key role in setting up meetings between them and the workers from the Nervión shipyards. Either way, he went on to become the head of a seven-man committee that founded what would later become Bilbao's first official football club.

After obtaining the permission of the Civil Government, the club was officially established on 5 September 1901, in the meeting held at Café García, in which a group of 33 football pioneers, including Astorquia and his brother, Luis, signed the documents to make it official, and hence Athletic Club was born. Astorquia was one of the most important figures 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.

Club Bizcaya In 1902, Astorquia became the club's second president, taking over from Luis Márquez, who had been elected on 11 June 1901. Under Astorquia's presidency, the two rivals agreed to join the best players of each club to play two games against the Bordeaux-based side Burdigala. This temporary merge became known as Club Bizcaya, with Astorquia being the only Spanish player in Bizcaya's attacking quintet, with Bilbao FC's English forwards (George Langford, William Dyer, William Butwell and Walter Evans) making out the rest. Following these two victories, the French newspaper L'Auto (currently known as L'Équipe) described Bizcaya as "best team in Spain". In the build-up for the tournament, however, Athletic and Bilbao FC could not agree on whether to go together or separately, so Astorquia wrote and signed a note to the capital stating that "For reasons beyond Vizcaya's control, [...] No Club [from Bilbao] is registered for the competition", but thanks to the intervention from Carlos Padrós of Madrid FC, the Basques participated as Bizcaya.

Astorquia captained his team in the tournament and he led by example, netting three goals, one in each game he played: the quarter-finals against Club Español (5–1), in the semifinals against New Foot-Ball Club (8–1), and the opening goal of the final in a 2–1 win over Joan Gamper's FC Barcelona, thus contributing decisively in Athletic's very first piece of silverware. According to some sources, Astorquia netted the opening goal of the game against Español, thus being the author of the very first goal in Copa del Rey history, but due to the little statistical rigor that the newspapers had at that time, the exact order of the goals is unknown, and this feat is more often attributed to Español's Ángel Ponz, while Athletic's first competitive goal is attributed to either Astorquia or Evans. Between 1901 and 1903, Astorquia was simultaneously Athletic's founder, player, captain (equivalent to coach), and president, performing all four tasks expertly. in the final at the Castellana racetrack, Athletic found themselves 2–0 down to Madrid FC at half-time, but after an inspirational address by Astorquia during the break, the Athletic players pulled off a comeback in the second half, capturing a 3–2 victory over the home team in front of 5,000 spectators. As the captain and president of the club, Astorquia felt obliged to take a step forward and gather the players around him in the Biscayan locker room to give them a harangue.

Outside football In 1902, Astorquia appeared in the membership lists of both the Real Club Marítimo del Abra and the Real Sporting Club yachting societies (these entities merged under a compound name in 1972), as Member No. 115 and No. 120 respectively. Astorquia and many other members of Athletic and Bilbao FC were among the founding members of Marítimo del Abra, including fellow Athletic presidents Luis Márquez, Ramón Aras, Pedro de Astigarraga and De la Sota.