| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Luis Miguel Arconada Etxarri | ||
| Date of birth | 26 June 1954 | ||
| Place of birth | San Sebastián, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Lengokoak | |||
| Real Sociedad | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1972–1974 | San Sebastián | ||
| 1974–1989 | Real Sociedad | 414 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1972 | Spain U18 | 4 | (0) |
| 1976 | Spain amateur | 2 | (0) |
| 1977–1985 | Spain | 68 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Luis Miguel Arconada Etxarri (born 26 June 1954) is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Having played solely for Real Sociedad for nearly 20 professional years, helping the team to two La Liga titles, amongst other domestic accolades, he also collected 68 national team caps.
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Arconada was born in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa. Aged 16, he joined local giants Real Sociedad's youth ranks, going on to play there his entire career. He was known as "El pulpo" (Octopus in English).
After two seasons backing up Urruti, he became the club's undisputed starter, being instrumental in back-to-back La Liga titles, which led – after the second – to a semifinal run in the European Cup.
In the 1985–86 season, Arconada was seriously injured in the league's opener, which caused him to miss the remainder of the campaign and the 1986 FIFA World Cup. He still returned strong for three more seasons, helping Real Sociedad to two consecutive Copa del Rey finals before retiring at 35, with a total of 414 appearances for the club (551 overall); after that, he remained apart from the football world.
On 27 March 1977, Arconada played his first game for Spain, a 1–1 friendly with Hungary in Alicante, replacing Real Madrid's Miguel Ángel for the second half.
Having captained the national side on many occasions, he represented it at the 1978 and 1982 FIFA World Cups, as well as at UEFA Euro 1980 and 1984. In the latter competition, his blunder resulted in the opening goal for hosts France, in the 0–2 final defeat: Arconada appeared to have smothered a Michel Platini free-kick under his chest in a diving save, but he fumbled the ball, which slid off under his body and rolled slowly into the net.[1]
Arconada's last game was a 0–3 defeat in Wales, for the 1986 World Cup qualifiers; a severe injury while playing for Real ousted him from the final stages, being replaced by another legendary figure, also-Basque Andoni Zubizarreta.
During the ceremony following Spain's victory in Euro 2008, third-choice for the winners Andrés Palop wore Arconada's original Euro 84 final shirt, as he received the gold medal from Platini, now president of UEFA.[2]
Arconada also represented his native country at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, as Spain was eliminated in the first round.
Arconada's younger brother, Gonzalo, never played professional football, but had an extensive coaching career, mainly in the third division. For a few months in early 2006, he coached Real Sociedad's first team.
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