Uruguayan José Emilio Santamaría, a Real Madrid player under Alfredo Di Stéfano and former coach of the Spanish national team, died this Wednesday (15) at the age of 96, the club in the Spanish capital said.
Real Madrid lamented, in a statement, the passing of “one of the greatest legends of our club and world football”.
Santamaría, who arrived at Real Madrid in 1957 from Nacional in Montevideo, played in one of Real Madrid’s most legendary squads.
“Alongside Di Stéfano, Puskas, Gento and Kopa, that team began to build the myth of Real Madrid”, said the president of the Merengue club, Florentino Pérez.
Santamaría won four European Cups with the club (1958, 1959, 1960 and 1966), as well as an Intercontinental Cup (1960), six Leagues (1958, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965) and a King’s Cup (1962).
The defender, who became a naturalized Spanish citizen upon arriving at the club, also played for the Spanish national team in 16 matches and played in the World Cup in Chile in 1962.
Before his career in Europe, Santamaría played for Uruguay in 25 matches and played in the Swiss World Cup in 1954 for the South American team.
In his home country, he won the Uruguayan championship on four occasions with Nacional.
As a coach, Santamaría led the Spanish team at the 1968 Mexico and 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, before leading the national team at the 1982 World Cup, held in Spain.
