Juan Carlos Touriño

Juan Carlos Touriño
Personal information
Full nameJuan Carlos Touriño Cancela
Date of birthJuly 14, 1944
Place of birthBuenos Aires, Argentina
Playing positionDefender
Youth career
Villa Modelo
Dock Sud
River Plate
Arsenal de Sarandí
Quilmes
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1966-1970Quilmes(total) 112(1)
1970-1976Real Madrid106(0)
1977Independiente Medellín
1977Quilmes(see above)
1978Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata42(1)
San Lorenzo (MdP)
Chacarita Juniors
National team
1972Spain1(0)
Teams managed
1983–1984Palencia
1984–1985Recreativo
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Juan Carlos Touriño (born 14 July 1944) is a former Spanish-Argentine football defender who won two Spanish league titles and two Spanish Cup with Real Madrid and made one appearance for the Spanish national team.

Early years

Touriño was born on 14 July 1944 in the Parque Patricios district of Buenos Aires to immigrant Spanish parents who had fled the Spanish Civil War.[1] As a youngster he supported local team Huracán. He did not begin playing football until the age of 15 as his parents would not allow him to have a football.[1] He began playing for Villa Modelo in Gerli in 1959. He joined the Dock Sud youth team in 1962 and also played youth football for River Plate, Arsenal de Sarandí and Quilmes.[1]

Professional career

Club

Touriño made his professional debut aged 22 in 1966 for Quilmes in the Argentine Primera División.[2] He went on to make over 100 appearances for the club.[3] In 1968, he participated in a tour of Africa with Racing Club de Avellaneda under manager Juan José Pizzuti which utilised a number of players from other Argentine teams.[1] He continued to play for Quilmes until 1970 when he was signed by Real Madrid of Spain.[4] Touriño was signed by manager Miguel Muñoz and played over 100 league games for Real Madrid between 1970 and 1976, during which time he was part of three Spanish league championship and two Spanish cup winning squads.[5]

Early in his Real Madrid career he was part of the squad that reached the 1970-71 European Cup Winners Cup final which they lost to Chelsea F.C. In 1971-72 he won his first league championship with the club. He broke his Tibia and Fibula in 1973 and during his recuperation began suffering from depression and considered retiring from football but was convinced to carry on playing by the Real Madrid staff.[1]

Following his recovery he returned to the team and won consecutive league and Cup doubles with the club in 1973-74 and 1974-1975. After the retirement of Miguel Muñoz in 1974 he played under manager Miljan Miljanić until his return to South America to play for Independiente Medellín of Colombia in 1977.[5] In 1977 he returned to Argentina to play for Quilmes again. In 1978 he joined Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata[2] missing out on Quilmes' only ever professional league title in Metropolitano 1978. He played out his career in the lower leagues with San Lorenzo de Mar del Plata and Chacarita Juniors.[1][6]

International

Juan Carlos Touriño made his only international appearance on 12 January 1972 in 1-0 Spanish victory over Hungary.[5]

Titles

Real Madrid

Playing style

Touriño originally wanted to play as a midfielder and spent much of his youth career playing on the right wing but he eventually became a defender and was a strong man-to-man marker.[1]

Managerial career

Touriño worked as the manager of Gimnasia y Esgrima de La Plata in Argentina and then returned to Spain where he worked as the manager of Segunda División sides Recreativo de Huelva and CF Palencia.[1]

Later life

Touriño went on to become involved in the Argentine Players Union (Futbolistas Argentinos Agremiados) holding a number of different roles within the organisation including secretary general[7] and treasurer.[8] He has worked within the organisation to promote the idea that access to football facilities could help prevent young people from becoming addicted to drugs.[1]

He has also been involved with the Civil Association of former Quilmes Atlético Club footballers [9] and has lectured on football management at the Facultad de Psciología at the University of Buenos Aires.[10]

In February 2008 he returned to Real Madrid to unveil a plaque in honour of fellow Argentine footballer Alfredo Di Stéfano.[11]

Personal life and views

Touriño is a keen reader and writer of poetry and has said that it is his dream that some day someone will set one of his poems to music.[1]

He has five children, one born in Spain, one in Colombia and three born in Argentina.[1]

Touriño has said that his professional ambition is to ensure that all footballers are prepared for life after their football career comes to an end.[1]

References

External links