Manuel Ramos Asencio

Manuel Ramos Asencio (11 January 1892 – 25 December 1954) was a Spanish footballer who is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the amateur beginnings of Real Betis, being one of its founders in 1907, and then serving the club as its first-ever captain and manager in the early 1910s. However, he is best remembered for his key role in bringing the famous green and white colours to Betis. During his stay in Britain, Ramos Asencio developed a deep interest in football, often travelling to Glasgow to attended Celtic's matches, making several close friends at the club in the process.

Sporting career Upon his return to Seville in 1907, the 15-year-old Ramos Asencio helped to create Sevilla Balompié, which later became Real Betis; this was only the second football team in the city after Sevilla FC. He was the club's first-ever captain, playing with Betis for over a decade, until the 1917–18 season. To distinguish them, Real Betis wore the green and white as vertical stripes, just as Celtic had originally done, though a few years earlier the Glasgow club had switched to wearing horizontal hoops instead.

Under his leadership, Sevilla Balompié won the Copa Seville in 1911 and 1914, then the most important competition contested by Seville clubs, with the winning team claiming a trophy donated by the Seville City Council. In the 1914 final, which took place on 15 February at Balompié's stadium in the , Ramos Asencio's men drew 1–1 with Sevilla, so the final had to be replayed two weeks later, on 1 March, this time at Sevilla's ground, where Balompié won the title with a 2–1 victory in front of more than 3,000 spectators.

Later life and death Ramos Asencio later moved to Cazalla de la Sierra, where he quickly became one of the driving forces of football in the city, helping to build the first football field in the city in 1917, and then helped establish the city's first club, Cazalla Sporting, in 1921, whose colours are also green and white.

Ramos Asencio died in Cazalla de la Sierra on 11 September 1948, at the age of 62.

Legacy On 16 September 2021, on the occasion of a UEFA Europa League group stage match between Betis and Celtic, the club paid a tribute to Ramos Asencio for having been the one to bring the green and white shirts from Glasgow; his son Ángel Ramos, then 92, watched the match from the presidential box. In recognition of his crucial role in promoting football in Cazalla de la Sierra, the city decided to make a commemorative plaque in his honor, which was unveiled before a CDF Cazalla match in March 2022, during a ceremony that was attended by his son Ángel. A few months later, in November 2022, the fan of Betis made a tifo depicting Ramos Asencio.

Honours Real Betis Copa Seville: 1911, 1914