Luis Suárez (footballer, born 1935)

Luis Suárez Miramontes (2 May 1935 – 9 July 2023 ) was a Spanish professional footballer and manager.

Luis Suárez Miramontes was born on 2 May 1935, in A Coruña, Galicia; the last of three brothers, he was raised in the barrio of Monte Alto, where his family owned a butcher shop.

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 La Voz de Galicia by manager Alejandro Scopelli, who was helping the club establish a youth academy.

Suárez originally achieved prominence as a creative inside forward, or attacking midfielder in modern terms, during his spell at Barcelona in the 1950s, before reaching his prime as a deep-lying playmaker at Inter Milan, where he played a pivotal role in the success of Helenio Herrera's side, and was one of the primary creative forces in the squad, thanks to his skill on the ball, vision, and passing range.

After coming through the club's youth ranks and playing for their reserve team, Deportivo Fabril, Suárez was promoted to the first team during the 1953–54 season, as part of a squad that was managed by Carlos Iturraspe, and included players such as Pahiño and Arsenio Iglesias.

On 6 December 1953, he made his senior debut for Deportivo, starting in a 6–1 league defeat to Barcelona at the Camp de Les Corts.

Throughout the rest of the campaign, he established himself as a regular starter for the Galician club, attracting interest by both Real Madrid and Barcelona.

He played 17 games and scored three goals for Deportivo.

The two players were officially registered by the Catalan club at the end of 1953–54 league season, and as such deemed eligible to play in the Copa del Generalísimo of the same year.

In March 1954, Suárez joined fellow La Liga side Barcelona, together with team-mate Dagoberto Moll, for a reported total fee of 600,000 pesetas.

He made his debut for Barça on 2 May 1954, the day of his 19th birthday, in a 4–0 victory over his former team Deportivo in the cup's first round; he then served as a regular starter for Ferdinand Daučík's side throughout the rest of the competition, as they eventually lost to Valencia in the final.

During the 1954–55 season, the midfielder gained limited playing time with the first team, under manager Sandro Puppo, while also featuring for Barcelona's reserve side, España Industrial, in the second division.

Throughout the following campaigns, he steadily established himself as a regular starter, although some of his coaches considered him "too frail" physically, with manager Ferenc Plattkó notably forcing him to do extra work-out on a punching bag in order to raise his muscle mass.

At the end of the 1956–57 season, he won his first Spanish Cup with the club.

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.

Regarded as one of the greatest Spanish football players of all time, Suárez was noted for his elegant and fluid style of play.

He subsequently became the world's most expensive footballer, having overtaken the previous record set by Omar Sívori in 1957.

He also became the first Spanish footballer to play in Serie A, along with Juan Santisteban.

The transfer, which saw Suárez re-unite with manager Herrera, has been considered one of the most controversial decisions in Barcelona's history, as the Catalan club's board reportedly aimed to maximize the revenue in order to repay part of their financial debts, as well as complete the construction of the Camp Nou.

Following the appointment of Helenio Herrera as Barça's manager at the start of the 1958–59 season, Suárez started performing at a consistently high level in the left inside forward position, 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.

With Herrera as coach, the club and Suárez won a domestic league–cup double in the 1958–59 season, and then a league–Fairs Cup double in the following campaign, when they also reached the European Cup semi-finals.

However, during his stint under the French manager, Suárez's relationship with Barcelona fans progressively deteriorated, due to a perceived rivalry between him and Kubala; as a result, the midfielder started getting booed by his own supporters in every game he played.

Nicknamed El Arquitecto – The Architect – or Luisito, in 1960 Suárez became the first and only male Spanish-born player to win the Ballon d'Or.

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.

In December of the same year, he received the Ballon d'Or by French magazine France Football, with a total of 54 votes.

In the process, he became the first Spanish-born footballer to ever win the prize; 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, just a few minutes before the start of a European Cup match against Spartak Hradec Králové.

During his last season at Barcelona, which saw Enric Rabassa, Ljubisa Brocic and Enrique Orizaola take turns to sit in the dug-out, after Herrera had left for Inter Milan, Suárez did not win any trophy.

Nevertheless, the team reached the final of the European Cup, where they eventually suffered a 3–2 loss to Benfica: it was the midfielder's last game for the Catalan club.

Throughout seven seasons, Suárez played a total amount of 253 matches for Barcelona, scoring 141 goals.

On 26 May 1961, five days before the final of the European Cup, Barcelona and Italian club Inter Milan reached an agreement for the transfer of Suárez for 25 million Spanish pesetas (£152,000).

On 27 August 1961, he made his debut and scored his first goal for Inter Milan in a 6–0 league win over Atalanta.

In October of the same year, he suffered a knee injury in a Fairs Cup over 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, manager Herrera moved Suárez to the deep-lying playmaker role, where he became one of the key players of the Grande Inter side that famously adopted a counter-attacking style of play.

In 1964, he helped Spain win their first European Championship title.

He retired as a player in 1973, after three seasons at Sampdoria.

Suárez subsequently began a career as a coach and managed Inter Milan on three separate occasions, the latter two of which on a caretaker basis.

He was also at the helm of both the Spain under-21 national team, which he led to a European Under-21 Championship title in 1986, and the Spanish senior national team, which he led to the round of 16 of the 1990 World Cup.

He died in Milan on 9 July 2023, aged 88.