Vintage Betis players

[Verdiblanco de Holanda]

José Ramón Esnaola Laburu, born in Andoáin (Guipúzcoa) on June 30, 1946. Historical Basque goalkeeper who played in the 1st Division at Real Sociedad (1965-1973) and at Real Betis (1973-1985). He made his debut in the 1st Division on December 31, 1967 at the Atocha Stadium in a Real Sociedad-Elche (5-0).

Esnaola played 207 official matches with the Real Sociedad de Fútbol, becoming at the time the goalkeeper who had played the most games defending the “txuri-urdin” goal, but in 1973, when he was still 26 years old, the Real Sociedad agreed to transfer him to the Real Betis Balompié for 12,000,000 pesetas due to the fact that the club had several high-level young goalkeepers whom Esnaola could cover in their progression and, given that fact, they decided to sell Esnaola and stay with the young Artola, Urruti and Arconada.

The Basque goalkeeper became over the years a true myth of the Betic team. Especially after becoming in 1977 one of the heroes of the achievement of the first Copa del Rey in the history of Real Betis Balompié, on July 25, 1977 against Athletic Club, at the Vicente Calderón stadium in Madrid. His contribution in this match was decisive at the time of the penalty kicks, stopping three kicks by Athletic Club (Dani, Villar and Iríbar) and scoring the final goal for Iríbar that gave the Verdiblancos the title. That season Betis achieved 5th place in the League and qualified to play the Recopa de Europa.

Esnaola played 378 league games for Real Betis Balompié and remained as a starter until his retirement in 1985, aged 38. In his last seasons he managed to qualify with Real Betis to play in the UEFA Cup on two more occasions.

In his 20 years as a professional (1965-1985), he played 624 official matches, 469 of them in the 1st Division of the Spanish League.

He was a U-23 international and became a substitute for José Ángel Iribar in the senior team during the 1970-71 season, although he did not make his debut.

After his retirement as a footballer, he continued linked as a coach to Real Betis Balompié for almost thirty more years, and held the position of coach of the first team on two occasions, in 1991 and 1993. His retirement came at the end of the 2012-13 season. .

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Esnaola La Liga 1980 - 1981

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Line up Real Betis in the derby against Sevilla FC 7-9-1986 , played at Sánchez Pizjuán


Diego, Gail, Quico, Ortega, Reyes, Salva, Calderón, Hadžibegić, Gabino, Rincón y Parra.

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"Juanito" Juan Gutiérrez Moreno season 2001-2002

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José Luis

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Gabriel Calderón (1983 - 1987)

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Gabriel Humberto Calderón Metralla, born in Buenos Aires (Argentina) on February 7, 1960, former Argentine striker who is remembered in Spain for his time at Real Betis Balompié between 1983 and 1987, in those 4 seasons he played 171 games with 48 goals. In league: 131 games and 38 goals. Copa del Rey: 23 games and 5 goals and the League Cup: 17 games and 5 goals. He had previously played in the Argentine League between 1977 and 1983 at Racing Club de Avellaneda, Club Atlético Lanús and Club Atlético Independiente.

After his good time in Spanish football, he signed for French Paris Saint-Germain, and alternated in the French and Swiss Leagues until 1994 when he retired at the age of 34.

In 1981, César Luis Menotti made him debut with the Argentine team against Brazil. He played 23 times with the albiceleste and scored his only international goal in a match against Denmark in 1987. He played the World Cups in Spain'82 and Italy'90.

Since 1997 he has worked as a coach in various exotic countries, except for a brief stint at Real Betis in 2014.

[Verdiblanco de Holanda]

Salvador Navarro Segura “Salva”, born in Almería on September 15, 1960, exporter who played in the First Division with Real Betis, a club to which he belonged for 6 seasons (1982-1988), although he only played 39 games with the Verdiblanco team .

As he left Betis in 1988, he signed for Tenerife, although he did not get to play an official match with the island, in the 1989/90 season he returned to Andalusia, specifically to Recreativo de Huelva where he played 50 games in 2 seasons, ended his career sports at the Ejido Sports Center in the 1991/92 season in 2nd B where he played 14 games.

In the total of his football career, he was below 3 sticks in 112 official matches.

[Verdiblanco de Holanda]

Cardeñosa season 1980 - 1981

[Verdiblanco de Holanda]

Julio Cardeñosa Rodríguez, born in Valladolid on October 27, 1949, former midfielder who after playing for 3 seasons in the 2nd Division at Real Valladolid (1971/1974), was transferred to Real Betis in the 1974/75 season, where he remained as player of the Verdiblanco team until 1985, he was leader of the Betic team in the late 70s and early 80s, Cup champion (1977) and 5 times classified among the first in the league. He played 478 official matches (307 in 1st Division) and scored 59 goals, 39 of them in 1st Division.

After being an Olympic international twice, he played with the Absolute Spanish National Team on 8 occasions, debuting on November 30, 1977, in the match against the Yugoslavia team. In that game of his, it was the goal pass to Rubén Cano, which allowed Spain to qualify for the 1978 Soccer World Cup, he played 90 minutes of the game and the coach who made him debut was Ladislao Kubala. In this championship he became internationally known for the goal that failed to empty goal, on June 7, 1978, at the Mar del Plata stadium in the match against Brazil. He also participated in the 1980 Eurocup, held in Italy.

After his retirement as a footballer, he was coach of Real Betis Balompié in the 1989/90 and 1990/91 seasons, in Córdoba CF in the 1991-1992 season and in the 1994-1996 season he coached Écija Balompié.

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Benito and Megido during the match Real Madrid - Real Betis in the 70's

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Hipólito Rincón Povedano, born in Madrid on April 28, 1957, former striker who played in the First Division for Real Madrid and Real Betis, in the Verdiblanco team established himself as one of the best forwards of the moment, which led him to the internationality and to be Pichichi in the season 1982-1983. He played for Betis from 1981 to 1989. He also played for Castilla, Diter Zafra, Recreativo de Huelva and Real Valladolid.

In total he played 299 official matches and scored 101 goals, of which 239 matches and 81 goals were in the First Division.

He was champion of the League and the Copa del Rey with Real Madrid in the 1979/80 season.

With the Spanish National Team he played 22 games and scored a total of 10 goals. Miguel Muñoz made his debut on April 27, 1983 in the qualifying match for the Eurocup'84 played against Eire at the La Romareda Stadium in Zaragoza, entering the game in the 76th minute replacing Carrasco and achieving the final 2-0 in the 89th minute. Among his best matches with the national team, the memorable Spain - Malta (12-1) stands out, at the Benito Villamarín Stadium in Seville, in which he scored 4 of the twelve Spanish goals. He kept that souvenir ball. He was also international 8 times with the Spanish Olympic Team.

After his retirement, he was at the Xerez CD in 2004 as technical secretary and has devoted himself quite assiduously to collaborating in different radio sports programs.

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