Raphael Gordillo

Rafael Gordillo Vázquez (Almendralejo, Extremadura, February 24, 1957) is a Spanish former soccer player who played as a left back. A historic player for Real Betis Balompié and Real Madrid Club de Fútbol, he was international with Spain on 75 occasions.

With the Verdiblanco club, of which he became president, he is the fourth player with the most games played after Joaquín Sánchez, José Ramón Esnaola and Julio Cardeñosa, while as a Real Madrid player he is one of the fifty players with at least 250 appearances. He is the only Spanish player (with the exception of Alfredo Di Stéfano) in the list of the 30 best players of the XX century of France Football chosen by previous winners of the Ballon d'Or, an award given by said magazine.

Trajectory as a footballer

Real Betis

He was born in the Badajoz town of Almendralejo, as his father, a soccer player, played for the local team. A few days later, he moved with his family to Seville, where they were from. He trained in the youth ranks of Real Betis since 1972 and made his debut with the first team on January 30, 1977 against Burgos. His record includes the 1977 Copa del Rey, which, however, he did not play as he had already played once. previous qualifying round with the Bético subsidiary. He spent 9 seasons in the Verdiblanco first team (76-77 to 84-85) in which he played 237 league games and scored 18 goals. Due to his outstanding performance, he was named the best Spanish player in the 78/79 league by the sports magazine Don Balón.During that period, Betis ranked among the top 6 in the league for 5 seasons.

In 1978 he made his debut with the Spanish team at the El Molinón stadium, against the Norwegian team. He spent most of his career in the national team playing for Betis, setting the record for the most consecutive games played, valid until the present day.

Real Madrid

In the 85-86 season he was transferred to Real Madrid for 150 million pesetas (approximately €900,000), becoming one of the great signings of the moment. With the white shirt he played a total of 182 league games scoring 20 goals and winning 10 titles. In the 1989 cup final he scored the only goal of the game that gave the Madrid team the title when they faced Valladolid. He was one of the outstanding figures of that Madrid of "La Quinta del Buitre" along with Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Míchel, Martín Vázquez, Hugo Sánchez, Camacho, Paco Buyo, Fernando Hierro, Schuster and other great players.

Return to Real Betis

In the summer of 1992 he returned to Real Betis, which was in the Second Division, contributing to promotion in the 1993-94 season and third place in the First Division in 1994-95, qualifying the team for the UEFA Cup. In 1995, he left Betis, being the second player to have played the most league games for Real Betis. In 1995 he signed for Écija, which played in second A, where he helped to keep it, although the following season it ended up being relegated; deciding then to hang up the boots.

He was nominated several times for the Ballon d'Or, reaching eleventh place for this trophy in 1985. Ruud Gullit, Ballon d'Or winner in 1987, told reporters after winning the Ballon d'Or: &# 34;I appreciate this award, but it's not fair. I would have given it to Gordillo. He is the best player who now steps on the fields & # 34;. Likewise, along with Alfredo Di Stéfano, they are the only Spaniards to appear on the list of the 30 best players of the 20th century of France Football chosen by winners Ballon d'Or preview.

His gallops down the wing with his socks down have gone down in history. In the neighborhood where he lived in Seville, Polígono de San Pablo, he was given the nickname "El Vendaval del Polígono".

After his withdrawal

Rafael Gordillo at the reception in the palace of San Telmo for the achievement of the King's Cup in 2022.

Rafael Gordillo, in 1983, together with his colleagues from the Spanish selection Maceda, Camacho, Goikoetxea and the selector Miguel Muñoz.

After his retirement from the footballer. In 2001, he was part of the Real Betis technical secretariat, performing the functions of first team delegate.

In 2006, he served as sports director of Écija.

In August 2010, he was appointed administrator by court order, of the shares that made up the majority package of Real Betis, in the course of investigations into the alleged irregularities committed by former president Manuel Ruiz de Lopera. December 2010, at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, he was elected president of Real Betis Balompié, representing the package of shares intervened in court. In June 2011 he left the post, being replaced by Miguel Guillén, becoming in March 2012 the first president of the Real Betis Foundation.

In October 2022, he continues as president of the RBB Foundation and director of institutional relations for Real Betis Balompié.

Statistics

Clubs

Updated to end of sports career. High seasons in quality of assignment.

Club	Season	Div.	League		Cups		International		Total		Media Shotgun
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
Sports Betis SpainSpain	1976-77	3. a	?	?	2	1	-	-	2	1	0.50
Real Betis SpainSpain	1976-77	1. a	13	1	-	-	-	-	13	1	0.08
	1977-78		30	5	4	-	5	-	39	5	0.13
	1978-79	2. a	38	5	4	-	-	-	42	5	0.12
	1979-80	1. a	34	4	9	-	-	-	43	4	0.09
	1980-81		34	3	3	-	-	-	37	3	0.08
	1981-82		33	5	6	1	-	-	39	6	0.15
	1982-83		30	-	7	-	2	-	39	0	0
	1983-84		34	-	5	1	-	-	39	1	0.03
	1984-85		29	-	8	3	2	-	39	3	0.08
Real Madrid C. F. SpainSpain	1985-86	1. a	22	1	2	-	9	4	33	5	0.15
	1986-87		36	5	6	2	8	-	50	7	0.14
	1987-88		35	6	3	-	8	-	46	6	0.13
	1988-89		34	6	9	1	8	-	51	7	0.14
	1989-90		33	-	5	-	3	-	41	0	0
	1990-91		12	2	2	-	2	-	16	2	0.13
	1991-92		10	-	-	-	7	-	17	0	0
	Total club		182	20	27	3	45	4	254	27	0.11
Real Betis SpainSpain	1992-93	2. a	34	5	4	2	-	-	38	7	0.18
	1993-94		25	3	6	1	-	-	31	4	0.13
	1994-95	1. a	9	-	3	2	-	-	12	2	0.17
	Total club		343	31	59	10	9	0	411	41	0.10
Écija Balompié SpainSpain	2. a	1995-96	18	1	2	-	-	-	20	1	0.05
Total career			543+	52+	90	14	54	4	687+	70+	0.10
↑ It includes data from Copa del Rey (1976-96), Copa de la Liga (1983-85) and Supercopa de España (1988-89). ↑ It includes data from the European Recoup (1977-78); UEFA Cup (1982-92); European Cup (1986-91). ↑ It does not include goals in friendly matches.

National team

He made his debut on March 29, 1978 against Norway, with Ladislao Kubala being coach. He was international with the Spanish Soccer Team on 75 occasions, he played in the 1982 and 1986 World Cups and the Euro Cups in 1980, 1984, in which he was runner-up, and 1988. Rafael Gordillo holds the record for consecutive games by a field player with the Spanish team (51).

Honours of Prizes

As a player

National titles

National titles	Club	Year
League Championship	Real Madrid C. F.	1986
League Championship		1987
League Championship		1988
Supercopa		1988
League Championship		1989
Copa del Rey		1989
Supercopa		1989
League Championship		1990
Supercopa		1990

International Titles

International titles	Club	Year
UEFA Cup	Real Madrid	1986

Awards

• Andalusian Medal in 1991.
• Best player of the Spanish Football League for the magazine Don Balón, 1979-80.
• Eleventh Best Player in the World in the Golden Ball (1985)
• Gold Medal of the Royal Sports Merit, awarded by the Superior Sports Council (1994)
• On June 13, 2019 a glorieta was inaugurated with its name in Seville. The former judge commented after approval by the City Council: “I am so happy. It is a pride that they put a rim on my name and on the vera where I lived and raised me, when we moved from the Osario Gate to the Polígone of St. Paul. Thank you very much to the people who have proposed it and to the City of Seville. For me it is a pride to be a polygoner”.