Vicente Iborra (footballer, born 1932)

Vicente Iborra Richart (16 February 1932 – 3 December 2020) was a Spanish football player and manager.

Vicente Iborra
Personal information
Full name Vicente Iborra Richart
Date of birth (1932-02-16)16 February 1932
Place of birth Xàtiva, Spain
Date of death 2 December 2020(2020-12-02) (aged 88)
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Defender, Forward
Youth career
Olímpico Játiva
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1951–1954 Olímpico Játiva
1954–1956 Mestalla 47+ (9+)
1956–1958 Mestalla 16 (9)
1958–1960 Sporting Gijón 46 (17)
1960–1971 Elche 303 (10)
1971–1973 Olímpico Játiva
Total 412+ (45+)
International career
1957 Spain B 1 (0)
Managerial career
1973–1974 Onteniente
1974–1975 Ibiza
1975–1976 Mestalla
1976–1977 Olímpico Játiva
1977 Onteniente
1979 Olímpico Játiva
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Able to play as a forward or central defender, he played 347 games and scored 24 goals in La Liga for Valencia, Sporting Gijón and Elche. He totalled 354 games for the last of those clubs, including as captain in their loss in the 1969 Copa del Generalísimo final.

Career

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Born in Xàtiva in the Province of Valencia, Iborra began his career at local Olímpico de Játiva before joining Mestalla, the reserve team of Valencia CF.[1] He made the first team in La Liga for 1956–57, scoring 11 goals in 20 games including the Copa del Generalísimo; Iborra played one game for the Spain national football B team, a 2–0 loss to Greece on 13 March 1957.[2]

In 1958, Iborra transferred to Sporting de Gijón for 500,000 Spanish pesetas, enduring relegation in his first season in Asturias but scoring 12 goals in 18 games in the Segunda División in 1959–60.[3] He joined Elche in 1960, remaining there for 11 years. During his time there, he was recast as a defender, and was credited by Alfredo Di Stéfano as the best of that position in Spain. He captained the team in the Copa del Generalísimo final on 15 June 1969, a 1–0 loss to Atlético Bilbao.[1]

Iborra returned to Olímpico before retiring.[1] He managed several lower-league teams including Onteniente, where he signed Francisco Ballester, a former Elche teammate and Xàtiva native whose spell at Real Madrid had been fraught with injury.[4]

Personal life

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Iborra and his wife Pilar had five children. In 2013, their eldest daughter also named Pilar died aged 53, while president of CF Plus Xàtiva.[1]

Iborra lived with dementia. He died aged 88 on 3 December 2020, weeks after the death of his wife.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Garzó, Agustí (4 December 2020). "Fallece el histórico exjugador del Elche y del Valencia CF Vicente Iborra" [Historic ex-Elche and Valencia CF player Vicente Iborra dies]. Levante EMV (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Grecia, 2 - España B, 0" [Greece, 2 - Spain B, 0]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 14 March 1957. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  3. ^ Torres, David (4 December 2020). "Fallece Vicente Iborra, ex del Valencia CF y leyenda en el Elche" [Vicente Iborra, formerly of Valencia CF and legend of Elche, dies] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
  4. ^ Relaño, Alfredo (31 December 2020). "Ballester: 100 minutos en cuatro años en el Madrid" [Ballester: 100 minutes in four years at Real Madrid]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 September 2024.
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