Luis Suárez Miramontes

**Luis Suárez Miramontes** (2 May 1935 – 9 July 2023), commonly known as **Luis Suárez**, was a Spanish footballer and manager. He mainly played as a midfielder for Barcelona and Inter Milan during the 1950s and 1960s, and was capped 32 times for Spain. He was thought to be one of the best Spanish footballers of all time, and one of the best midfielders of all time. In 1960, he became the first Spanish-born player to win the Ballon d'Or. He also helped Spain win their first European Championship in 1964.

After he retired from playing football, he became a manager. He was the manager of Inter Milan three times, including twice as an interim manager, as well as Cagliari, Como, and Deportivo La Coruña. He also managed Spain at the 1990 FIFA World Cup.

## Club career
### Early carrer and Deportivo La Coruña
Suárez was born on 2 May 1935, in A Coruña, Galicia. He started playing football in the streets of A Coruña, using a ball made out of .

Starting in 1945, he played for many different youth teams, including AC Santo Tomás, Hercules de la Coruna, and Perseverancia (a local team that was run by the Santo Tomás parish). By 1951, he had joined Deportivo La Coruña, after passing a . He had learned about the trial after reading an advertisement in *La Voz de Galicia* that was placed by Deportivo's manager Alejandro Scopelli.

He played for Deportivo's youth academy and reserve team, Deportivo Fabril, The transfer fee was reported to be 600,000 pesetas. He made his Barcelona debut in the 1954 Copa del Generalísimo on 2 May 1954, which was his 19th birthday, He did not play many matches during the 1954–55 season under manager Sandro Puppo. Instead, he played for Barcelona's reserve team, España Industrial, in the second division. 

After Helenio Herrera was hired as Barcelona's manager at the start of the 1958–59 season, where he became one of the most important players in the team. However, during this time, Suárez's relationship with Barcelona fans began to get worse because fans believed there was a rivalry between him and László Kubala.

On 9 November 1960, he scored the 1000th goal in European Cup history, in a 2–2 draw against El Clásico rivals Real Madrid. In December 1960, Suárez won the Ballon d'Or, which was awarded by French magazine *France Football*, with a total of 54 votes. until Alexia Putellas won the women's award in 2021, and Rodri won the men's award in 2024. Suárez received the Ballon d'Or on 9 March 1961, a few minutes before the start of a European Cup match against Spartak Hradec Králové. In total, Suárez played 253 matches for Barcelona across seven seasons, scoring 141 goals. This transfer made Suárez the most expensive footballer in the world, along with Juan Santisteban. He later finished second in the 1961 Ballon d'Or, finishing behind Omar Sívori.

At the start of the 1962–63 season, manager Herrera moved Suárez to a deep-lying playmaker role. At the end of the 1962–63 season, Suárez won his first league title with Inter Milan. Despite this, Suárez helped them win the European Cup that season.

In September 1964, helped Inter Milan win the 1964 Intercontinental Cup, with a 1–0 win after extra time against Independiente in the play-off match. In December, he finished second in the 1964 Ballon d'Or, behind winner Denis Law. which he would regret later in life. In December, he finished third in the 1965 Ballon d'Or, behind team-mate Giacinto Facchetti and winner Eusébio.

In May 1967, Suárez missed the European Cup final because of an injury. Inter Milan would lose the final 2–1 against Celtic. Inter Milan also lost the 1966–67 Serie A to Juventus on the last day of the season, and to Padova in the Coppa Italia semi-finals.

During his last season at Inter Milan, he was played as a sweeper. The transfer was a swap deal that saw Mario Frustalupi join Inter. before he stopped playing professional football in 1973, at the age of 38.

### International
In 1981, the Royal Spanish Football Federation hired him as manager of Spain's under-21 national team. With them, Suárez won the 1986 UEFA European Under-21 Championship,

In 1988, he was  the manager of Spain's national team, and managed them at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, where they got eliminated by Yugoslavia in the round of 16.

## Personal life
Suárez had two older brothers, José and Agustín, who also both played football. He grew up in the *barrio* of Monte Alto, where his family owned a butcher shop.

Suárez married his first wife, Nieves, in 1967 and had two children with her. His younger son was born with congenital cleft palate, and died in 1977, aged seven. After having a divorce, he married his second wife, Valentina (died 2020). 

In the early 2000s, he began to work as a guest pundit for sports programmes on Italian and Spanish television networks. In 2014, he joined Cadena SER's radio programme *Carrusel Deportivo,* where he worked as a commentator and  for Barcelona matches. 

### Death
Suárez died on 9 July 2023, at the age of 88.

A public funeral was held for Suárez on 11 July, at the Saint Joseph Calasanz Church in Milan. The service was attended by football fans and representatives from Barcelona (vice-president Rafa Yuste and Juan Manuel Asensi),
*La Liga: 1958–59, 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
** Runner-up: 1961, 1964
** Third place: 1965
*Eric Batty's World XI: 1963, 1964, 1965
**FUWO European Team of the Year*: 1965
*UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1964
*Golden Foot: 2008, as football legend
**Marca* Leyenda: 2016
*Ballon d'Or Dream Team nominee: 2020
*IFFHS Men's All-Time Spain Dream Team: 2022

### Orders 
*  Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit: 2001

## Notes
## References
## Other websites
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* International Stats