Luis Suárez Miramontes (; 2 May 1935 – 9 July 2023) was a Spanish professional footballer and manager. He played as a midfielder for Deportivo de La Coruña, España Industrial, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Sampdoria; he also represented the Spain national team between 1957 and 1972. Widely regarded as one of the greatest Spanish football players of all time, Suárez was noted for his elegant and fluid style of play and also regarded to be one of the greatest midfielders in the history of the sport.

Nicknamed – The Architect – or , in 1960 Suárez became the first Spanish-born player to win the Ballon d'Or. In 1964, he helped Spain win their first European Championship title. Suárez originally achieved prominence as a creative inside forward, or attacking midfielder in modern terms, during his spell at Barcelona in the 1950s, He retired as a player in 1973, after three seasons at Sampdoria. and the Spanish senior national team, which he led to the round of 16 of the 1990 World Cup.

He started playing football at Perseverancia, a local team administered by the Santo Tomás parish; in 1949, aged 14, he joined Deportivo La Coruña, following a successful trial he had attended after reading an advertisement left on by manager Alejandro Scopelli, who was helping the club establish a youth academy.

After coming through the club's youth ranks and playing for their reserve team, Deportivo Fabril, and included players such as Pahiño and Arsenio Iglesias.

alt=Suárez with Barcelona in 1960.|thumb|Suárez with [[FC Barcelona|Barcelona in 1960]]

During the 1954–55 season, the midfielder gained limited playing time with the first team, while also featuring for Barcelona's reserve side, España Industrial, in the second division. At the end of the 1956–57 season, he won his first Spanish Cup with the club.

Following the appointment of Helenio Herrera as Barça's manager at the start of the 1958–59 season, becoming one of the most important players in a team that also included Ladislao Kubala, Zoltán Czibor, Sándor Kocsis, Ramón Villaverde, Justo Tejada, Evaristo and Eulogio Martínez, among others. when they also reached the European Cup semi-finals.

On 19 October 1960, Suárez scored a goal after a solo action from over the middle of the pitch in a 4–3 Fairs Cup win over Zagreb XI. with a total of 54 votes. after Alexia Putellas's back-to-back victories in 2021 and 2022, he retained the title as the only Spanish-born men's footballer to ever receive the award. Suárez received the Ballon d'Or on 9 March 1961, it was the midfielder's last game for the Catalan club. He subsequently became the world's most expensive footballer, along with Juan Santisteban. In October of the same year, he suffered a knee injury in a Fairs Cup match against Köln, which limited his impact on the pitch during the rest of his first season in Italy. He finished second in the final ranking for the 1961 Ballon d'Or, behind only winner Omar Sívori.

At the start of the following campaign, At the end of the 1962–63 season, the midfielder won his first national title with Inter. Suárez helped the win the European Cup.

On 26 September 1964, Suárez was a part of the Inter side that won the 1964 Intercontinental Cup, having gained a 1–0 victory after extra time over Independiente in the tie-breaking match. In December of the same year, he finished second in the final standings for the 1964 Ballon d'Or, behind winner Denis Law, Suárez also helped the Italian club claim their second consecutive European Cup, a gesture he eventually came to regret throughout the years. In December of the same year, he was the third most-voted player in the final ranking of the 1965 Ballon d'Or, behind team-mate Giacinto Facchetti and winner Eusébio.

In May 1967, Suárez was forced to miss the European Cup final against Celtic due to an injury, being subsequently replaced by Mauro Bicicli: Inter eventually suffered a 2–1 defeat. In the following weeks, the Italian club also missed out on their third national title in a row on the last day (in favor of Juventus), and got eliminated by Padova in the Coppa Italia semi-finals: as a result, they finished the campaign without winning a single trophy.

During the 1969–70 campaign, his last season at Inter Milan, Suárez's performances declined due to his deployment as a sweeper:

Between 1961 and 1970, Suárez made a total amount 333 appearances for Inter, scoring 55 goals. as part of a swap deal that saw Mario Frustalupi join Inter. together with Giovanni Lodetti.

After completing three seasons at Sampdoria, the couple had two children, and they lived in Nervi, a of Genoa, during the footballer's spell at Sampdoria and for several years following his retirement. His younger son, who had been born with congenital cleft palate, died in 1977, aged seven. the couple moved to Milan in 1988, settling in the of San Siro, close to the eponymous stadium Suárez had played in while at Inter Milan.

Since the early 2000s, he worked as a guest pundit for several sports programmes broadcast on Italian and Spanish television networks.

On 20 November 2001, where he primarily served as a commentator and an analyst for Barcelona's matches. On 14 December 2016, Spanish sports newspaper awarded him the Marca Leyenda prize for his career and achievements. He was the fourth 1964 European Nations' Cup champion to die in a few months, after Amancio died in February 2023, Fusté in April 2023 and Olivella in May 2023.

A public funeral was held on 11 July, at the Saint Joseph Calasanz Church in Milan: the service was attended by several fans, as well as representatives from Barcelona (Rafa Yuste and Juan Manuel Asensi),

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!colspan="2"|Total!!32!!14

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{| class="wikitable sortable"

|+ List of international goals scored by Luis Suárez

|-

!scope="col"|No.

!scope="col"|Date

!scope="col"|Venue

!scope="col"|Opponent

!scope="col"|Score

!scope="col"|Result

!scope="col"|Competition

|-

| style="text-align:center"|1 || 10 March 1957 || Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain || || style="text-align:center"|1–1 || style="text-align:center"|2–2 || 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification

|-

| style="text-align:center"|2 || rowspan="2"|31 March 1957 || rowspan="2"|Heysel, Brussels, Belgium ||rowspan="2"| || style="text-align:center"|2–0 || rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|5–0 || rowspan="2"|Friendly

|-

| style="text-align:center"|3 || style="text-align:center"|5–0

|-

| style="text-align:center"|4 || 8 May 1957 || Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland || || style="text-align:center"|2–2 || style="text-align:center"|2–4 || 1958 FIFA World Cup qualification

|-

| style="text-align:center"|5 || 13 March 1958 || Parc des Princes, Paris, France || || style="text-align:center"|2–1 || style="text-align:center"|2–2 || Friendly

|-

| style="text-align:center"|6 || 15 October 1958 || Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid, Spain || || style="text-align:center"|4–1 || style="text-align:center"|6–2 || Friendly

|-

| style="text-align:center"|7 || rowspan="2"|28 June 1959 || rowspan="2"|Silesian Stadium, Chorzów, Poland || rowspan="2"||| style="text-align:center" |1–1 || rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|4–2 || rowspan="2"|UEFA Euro 1960 qualifying

|-

| style="text-align:center"|8 || style="text-align:center"|3–1

|-

| style="text-align:center"|9 || rowspan="2"|22 November 1959 || rowspan="2"|Mestalla, Valencia, Spain || rowspan="2"| || style="text-align:center"|2–0 || rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|6–3 || rowspan="2"|Friendly

|-

| style="text-align:center"|10 || style="text-align:center"|3–0

|-

| style="text-align:center"|11 || 17 December 1959 || Parc des Princes, Paris, France || || style="text-align:center"|1–0 || style="text-align:center"|3–4 || Friendly

|-

| style="text-align:center"|12 || rowspan="2"|10 July 1960 || rowspan="2"|Estadio Nacional, Lima, Peru || rowspan="2"||| style="text-align:center" |2–0 || rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|3–1 || rowspan="2"|Friendly

|-

| style="text-align:center"|13 || style="text-align:center"|3–0

|-

| style="text-align:center"|14 || 26 October 1960 || Wembley, London, England || || style="text-align:center"|2–2 || style="text-align:center"|2–4 || Friendly

|}

:Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Suárez goal. 1959–60

  • Copa del Generalísimo: 1957, 1958–59
  • Inter-Cities Fairs Cup: 1955–58, 1958–60
  • European Cup runner-up: 1960–61

Inter Milan

  • Serie A: 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66
  • European Cup: 1963–64, 1964–65
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1964, 1965

Spain

  • European Nations' Cup: 1964

Manager

Spain U21

  • UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1986;

Individual

  • Ballon d'Or: 1960
  • Silver Ball: 1961, 1964
  • Bronze Ball: 1965
  • Eric Batty's World XI: 1963,
  • FUWO European Team of the Year: 1965
  • UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1964
  • Golden Foot: 2008, as football legend
  • Marca Leyenda: 2016

Orders

  • left|50px Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit: 2001

Notes

References

  • International Stats