Manuel Suárez (footballer)


Manuel "Manolo" Suárez de Begoña was a Spanish football forward and manager.

Football career

Suárez began to play football aged 13. He studied at an English university for four years, where he practiced football and athletics.
His career started with Arenas de Getxo before he moved to Athletic Bilbao. He played nine seasons for the latter club, many of them as an amateur. In 1929 he made his debut in the Primera División with Arenas.
His last team was Hércules CF, from 1932 to 1936. In January 1934 he took over as coach of the team serving as player-manager until the end of the Liga throughout the following season. During the 1935/36 season he retired as a player and served only as coach.
He is the only Hércules coach to have won two promotions. In August 1936 he was assassinated on the outskirts of Alicante at the onset of the Spanish Civil War. In Alicante there's a street named after him.
He was summoned to play for the Spanish team in a friendly match against Portugal on January 10, 1928 in Estádio do Lumiar, but did not make the starting eleven.

Honours

As a player