José Diego (footballer)

José Diego
	José Diego Álvarez
Personal information
Full name	José Diego Álvarez Álvarez
Date of birth	21 November 1954 (age 70)
Place of birth	Monforte de Lemos, Spain
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Eibar
Senior career*
Years	Team
1971–1974	Eibar
1974–1985	Real Sociedad
International career
1979	Spain U23
1980–1981	Spain B
1980	Spain
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

José Diego Álvarez Álvarez (born 21 November 1954 in Monforte de Lemos, Lugo), known as José Diego, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Even though he was born in Galicia, José Diego and his family moved to the Basque Country as he was still an infant, settling in Eibar. He started playing football for local Sociedad Deportiva, going on to appear in three Tercera División seasons with the team.

In summer 1974, José Diego was signed by neighbouring Real Sociedad, making his La Liga debut on 7 September (two months before his 20th birthday) in a 3–2 home win against FC Barcelona^[1] and finishing his first year with eight games. From the following campaign onwards he became a very important unit for the Txuriurdin, going on to contribute with 96 matches and seven goals in three seasons combined as they won the national championship in 1981 and 1982, adding the second position in 1980.

After only two appearances in 1984–85, José Diego retired from football at the age of 30. He played in 349 official games for his main club, scoring 23 goals.

International career

José Diego earned one cap for the Spain national team, playing the second half of a 0–2 friendly loss with England at the Camp Nou, on 26 March 1980.^[2] He was picked for the squad that participated in that year's UEFA European Championship.

Honours

Real Sociedad

References

^ "3–2: El Barça sucumbió víctima de sus propios errores" [3–2: Barça fell victim to their own mistakes]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 8 September 1974. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
^ "0–2: ¡Quién estuviera en la piel de Inglaterra!" [0–2: Who wouldn't want to be England!]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 27 March 1980. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

External links

José Diego at BDFutbol
José Diego at National-Football-Teams.com

[1] "3–2: El Barça sucumbió víctima de sus propios errores" [3–2: Barça fell victim to their own mistakes]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 8 September 1974. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

[2] "0–2: ¡Quién estuviera en la piel de Inglaterra!" [0–2: Who wouldn't want to be England!]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 27 March 1980. Retrieved 29 September 2017.

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