The Spanish Exodus, 1937-1939

Until recently, Spanish soccer players weren’t very keen on playing abroad. Exceptions were just a few, like in the sixties, when Luis Suárez (Barcelona) tried his luck with Internazionale Milan, Luis de Sol  (Real Madrid) was successful at Juventus and Joaquin Peiro (Atletico Madrid) played for AC Torino, Internazionale Milan and AS Roma. And of course, the Mexican league appealed to lots of players as a final stage with less pressure (among others José Pirri, Juan Manuel Asensi and Emilio Butragueno).

Things are different of course when your own country is at war and league soccer has been dissolved. That happened during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). At the time, Spain was just starting to become a promising soccer country. They reached the quarterfinal at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam and at the 1934 World Cup in Italy. But then fascism stopped that development.

For starters, the 1936-37 season couldn’t be played as Spain was divided into two separate parts in the summer of 1936. As it was unclear how long league soccer would be postponed, nothing really happened in the first year. Everybody just waited.  Then, in early 1937, the Basque natioanl team (with players from Atletic Bilboa, Real Madrid and others) went on a long tour through Europe and America. Barcelona did the same during the summer of 1937. After their tour, The Basque National Team even took part in the Mexico City-league as Euskadi in 1938-39, claiming second spot behind Asturias. Eventually, most of the players of both teams decided to stay in Mexico or tried their luck in another country, particularly Argentina or France. The Barcelona-team was even stripped down to only four players. The same happened on smaller scale at other Spanish soccer clubs. Here’s a Top 10 of  players that did especially well abroad and maneged to win some silverware.

As I’m trying to be non-political, this article is only about the soccer life of these players, not about what fascism or politics did to them. But it's no coincidence that most of these players are either Basque or Catalan.

10 Domingo Balmanya (1914-2002) & Josep Escola (1914-1998)

Escola scores

Balmanya played at home in Girona in the second division until Barcelona contracted him in 1935. He played 22 matches in his first season. After the Barcelona trip to North America, he moved to French club FC Setè. Winning the championship there in 1938-39 was the highlight of his career. He was big at the club, missing only two league matches that season. He had a teammate in Josep Escola, who came along with him from Barcelona to FC Setè. Escola, who was a great goalscorer before in Spain (31 goals in two seasons) knocked in just seven goals that year, and played only 18 matches. After the Civil War, both players returned to Barcelona. Escola (2 caps, 1 goal for Spain) was important for Barcelona for the next eight years, Balmanya not so much. But he did became a successful coach, winning the first ever Inter-Cities Fairs Cup with Barcelona in 1958 and the league with Atletico Madrid in 1966.

9 Santiago Urtizberea (1909 – 1985)

Santiago Urtizberea already looked back on his brightest soccer moments in 1936. With Real Union Irun and Donostia San Sebastian he spent six good years at the highest level, in which he scored no less than 70 league goals. The two years before 1936 Urtizberea spent in Spain’s second division. Then he chose Girondins Bordeaux as his new club. At the time still amateurs, Urtizberea was vital in them winning the French Amateur title ánd promotion to the second level of professional soccer in France. Further promotion plans failed for two years, although he scored regularly. From 1939 onwards, the Second World War prevented regular league soccer. But Urtizberea singlehandedly gave Bordeaux the French Cup as his two goals gave them a 2-0 victory over Fives in the 1941 final. Two years later, as a player-manager, he couldn’t prevent Bordeaux losing to Olympique Marseille.

8 José Padrón (1907-1966)

Padrón was already thirty years old in 1936, with his best years being 1929 until 1931. He was capped five times by Spain, scoring his only two goals for the national team in a 5-0 victory over Portugal. After a good spell with Espanyol, he played one season for Barcelona (1933-34, 7 matches and 2 goals). He is the only Spanish player in this selection who went abroad (France, in his case) before the Spanish Civil War. With Olympique Alès he was relegated in 1936, with AS Cannes he only managed 14^th  (out of 16 clubs) place. Things fared a lot better at Sochaux, as the team was crowned champions of France in 1937-38. Padrón’s contribution was ten league matches with two goals. Padrón was in the habit of changing clubs all the time, so agian he left for second division club Charleville. After spells at Red Star, Stade de Reims and Clermont-Auverge he hung up his boots at the age of 37.

7 Julio Munlloch (unknown – unknown)

Munlloch, probably still young, played twelve matches for Barcelona in the 1935-36 season. At first, he came back to Spain after the trip with Barcelona to Mexico and the USA, but left in 1938 to play for Mexican club Asturias. Succesfully, as the club won the league in 1938-39. Then he tried his luck in Argentina, with Velez Sarsfield. It didn't work out, as he played only nine matches (one goal) and Velez was relegated. So back he went to Mexico, this time to Atlante where he came very close to winning the 1941-42 championship. Real Espana and Atlante finished on 18 points, and Real Espana won the play-off match 5-4, Munlloch did score one goal in that match.

6 Luis (1908-1995), Pedro (1909-1985) and Tomas Regueiro (??-1991)

Luis Regueiro

These three brothers from Irun all played abroad after the Spanish Civil War. The eldest, Luis, was transferred from Irun to Real Madrid in 1931, his brother Pedro followed him a year later. Luis had won the title in 1931-32, a year later they won the Spanish titel together. Luis at that time was one of the best scorers in the league (90 goals in eight seasons until 1936), Pedro is a midfielder with hardly any socring skills (one goal in seven seasons). They both represented Spain, with again Luis on top with 25 games and 16 goals. Pedro only managed four caps (no goals). In 1936 younger brother Tomas is also at Real Madrid, although he didin't play any league matches.

During the Civil War, Luis first goes north, playing for RC Paris. Then Tomas plays a few games at Girondins Bordeaux.  It gets more exciting when both Luis and Pedro head off to Mexico to play in the league with the Basque national team, named Euskadi for this occasion. After that season, they stayed and together they won the league in 1939-40 with Asturias. In 1940 younger brother Tomas joins them. Luis didn’t make any headlines for his club Asturias and only a few for Real Espana in his last season, 1941-42. He became a coach, for clubteam America and for the Mexican national team. But Pedro (who inbetween also played for Moctezuma) and Tomas were the first Mexican professional champions in 1943-44 with their club Asturias.

5 Enrique Larrinaga (1911-unknown)

Larrinaga was the most important player of Real Santander in the first half of the thirties. He only played one match for Spain (3-0 to Portugal, one goal), but was of course part of the Basque team that travelled the world in 1937 and 1938. And, as half of his teammates, stayed in Mexico. At first he played for Asturias, but he changed to Real Espana in 1941. It proved to be the perfect ending of his career, with national league titles in 1942, 1944 and 1945.

4 Angel Zubieta (1918-1985)

Only 18 years old in 1936, Zubieta had just played one season at the highest level in Spain. With Atletic Bilbao midfielder Zubieta played 21 matches and scored two goals. After the trip with the Basque national team Zubieta was contracted by Argentinian side San Lorenzo. Argentina at that time had one the best leagues in the world, but Zubieta stayed his ground and over the years became one of San Lorenzo’s most important players. He was still with them when San Lorenzo won the league in 1946. His thirteen seasons and 352 league matches at the club puts him in an alltime third position, after Sergio Villar and Roberto Telch. He returned to Spain in 1952, and added another four years at Deportivo La Coruna to his tally. Then, after twenty years of professional soccer, he calls it quits.

3 José Iraragorri (1912-1983)

Irargorri already had his fair share of titles in Spain, where he won the league title with Atletic Bilbao in 1930, 1931 and 1934. With him, Gorostiza and Bata, Bilbao at the time ad a tremendous attacking force. With seven caps Iraragorri wasn’t a regular in the Spanish team, but he did play at the World Cup 1934 – just like Luis Regueiro and the still to come no. 1 and 2 of this Top 10. At the end of the Civil War, Iraragorri – just like Angel Zubieta – started playing for San Lorenzo in Argentina. That didn’t work out, as he only played a total of five league matches for the blue and red, without scoring a goal. So he, as many others, turned his eyes at Mexico. With Real Espana he won three championships and mostly got his own goalsco record into double figures. He eventually came back to Spain, played another three years for Atletic Bilbao and then started a coaching career.

2 Marti Ventolra (1906-1977)

Ventolra (or Vantolra) was a household name in Spanish soccer prior to the Civil War. He played for two seasons at Espanyol, then spent three years in the second division with Sevilla. Then Barcelona picked him up, and the winger payed them back with 31 goals in three seasons. His biggest match without a doubt was Barcelona – Real Madrid on April 21, 1935. It ended 5-0 and Ventolra scored four of them. He also played twelve times for Spain (three goals).

After Barcelona’s tour of Mexico in 1937 Ventolra decided to stay in Mexico City. He was taken on by Atlante and won the league in 1941 and 1947. In 1941 he also was the leading goal scorer with 17 goals and was voted best player of the CONCACAF-region. He played for Atlante until he was 43 years old, and still managed to score seven goals during his last season (1948-49).

1 Isidro Langara (1912-1992)

Powerfully built Langara – sometimes people would think he was a wrestler – had just one thing on his mind during his soccer career: scoring goals. With his physical strength and his canonball shot he was difficult to stop. At the start of his career, langara was banging in goals for Real Oviedo in the second division. With 24 goals in 18 matches Langara was vital in the promotion to first level in 1933. Real Oviedo went straight to the top, but never won the title. On a personal level, Langara did win a string of Pichichi’s (the trophy in Spain for the best league goal scorer during a season): 26 goals in 1933-34, 27 in 1934-35 and 28 in 1935-36. His average for the national team, 17 goals in just 12 matches, was even better. So, after a season in Mexico with Euskadi (17 goals in 8 matches!), Angel Zubieta advised his club San Lorenzo to sign Langara. On the day of his arrival, San Lorenzo had to play River Plate and Langara scored all four goals in a 4-2 victory. In four seasons with the club Langara made no less than 106 goals, but it got him only one top scorer title (1940), which he had to share with Paraguyan Delfin Benitez Caceres from Racing Club. Five matches (with four goals) into the 1943 season with San Lorenzo, Langara moved back to Mexico, where the league had justed turned professional. Again, the figures for his club Real Espana are breathtaking: 28 goals in 1943-44, 38 in 1944-45 and 40 ( a Mexican record) in 1945-46. The 1945 national title with Real Espana was his only trophy at clublevel.

At 34 years of age, Langara returned home to Spain in 1946, and played another two years for Real Oviedo. Adding another 23 goals, Langara has scored 336 goals at the highest level. Mind you, even with two wasted years and with only 287 league matches played. Messi-like numbers indeed

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Old guns with hard to break national records

Nowadays nearly every country plays more international soccer matches than, let’s say, thirty years ago. Perhaps more than twice as much. So it would be normal if the top goal scorer of each country would be a still active, or a recently retired player. But that’s not always the case. Six European soccer nations have a number one goal scorer, that played his last soccer match more than fifty years ago.  Here they are, listed from the old to the ancient, with a special Scandinavian flavor.

6  Ferenc Puskas (Hungary), 84 international goals

Ferenc Puskas (1927-2006) still occupies second place (behind Iranian Ali Daei  with 107 goals for his country), in the alltime goal scorers list for international matches. He was a goalscoring machine unlike any other, even though he was not a centre forward. The Galloping Major from the Mighty Magyars of the fourties and fifties put himself on the scoring sheet in 52 of his 85 matches for Hungary, modestly scoring just one or two goals most of the time. 

Best performances	Opponent(s)
Four goals	Albania (12-0, 1950)
Three goals	Luxembourg (7-2, 1946), Rumania (5-1, 1948), Austria (6-1, 1949), Austria (4-3, 1950)

Puskas scored his last international goal on October 14, 1956

Biggest thread in the near future: nobody, never. How could anyone? The closests nowadays would be Balázs Dzsudzsák. He  is 26 years old and has scored twelve goals. 73 to go…

5  Stjepan Bobek (Yugoslavia/Serbia), 38 international goals

From 1948 until 1962, Yugoslavian soccer was thriving. They won silver at the Olympics in 1948, 1952 and 1956, and finally won gold in 1960. They performed well at the World Cups and reached the final of the first European Championship. So it is no surprise that Yugoslavia’s/Serbian alltime top goal scorer is from this period, Stjepan Bobek (1923-2010). The Partizan Belgrade-forward played 63 international matches between 1946 and 1956, scoring a total of 38 goals, two more than the star from the thirties, Blagoje Marjanovic.

Best performances	Opponents
Three goals	Austria (4-2, 1952), Turkey (5-1, 1954)

Bobek scored his last international goal on October 17, 1954

Biggest thread in the near future: After Bobek, Milan Galic (37 goals between 1959 and 1965) and Savo Milosevic (37 goals between 1994 and 2006) came very close. At the moment it doesn’t seem likely that, for instance Zoran Tosic (26 years and 8 goals), can beat Bobek’s record.

4  Bernard Voorhoof (Belgium), 30 international goals

Voorhoof in his Lierse SK-outfit

Between the two World Wars, Belgium perhaps had it’s best moments. Up until Brazil 2014, of course. They took the Olympic title in 1920 and took part in all three World Cups. Bernard Voorhoof (1910-1974) was the leading goal scorer for Belgium in the thirties. His 30 goals seems in line with other performances in this list, but Voorhoof did fail to score a single hattrick during his international career.

Best performances	Opponents
Two goals	Netherlands (4-2, 1933), Italy (2-3, 1933), Switserland (3-3, 1933), Germany (2-5, 1934), Switserland (3-0, 1938)

Voorhoof scored his last international goal on March 17, 1940

Biggest thread in the near future: Paul van Himst (1960-1972) also got 30 goals, after that the present national coach Marc Wilmots came close with 28. For the future, who knows what magic Kevin De Bruyne (21 years old, 3 goals), Eden Hazard (22 years, 5 goals), Christian Benteke (22 years, 6 goals) or Romulu Lukaku (20 years, 2 goals) can bring about?

3  Jørgen Juve (Norway), 30 international goals

Jørgen Juve, standing first from the right,
with Norway at the Olympic games 1936 

Until the thirties, Norway had little to show for in international soccer. Heavy defeats (see ‘Opponents’ of the number one and two of this list below) were quite common. But then it slowly got better. Norway won the 1932 Scandinavian championship and qualified for the 1938 World Cup. Two years before, they managed to beat Germany and even clinched the bronze medal. Striker Jørgen Juve (1906-1983) was instrumental in most of these major and minor triumphs, scoring 30 times in 42 matches. The Norwegian FA holds on to 33 goals in 45 matches, but those three extra games were against the amateur sides of Hungary (twice) and Austria. So, internationally they don’t count. Still, 30 goals gives Juve a comfortable lead at the top of the list. Amazingly, he played about half of his international matches as a defender. For instance, Juve didn’t score a single goal in his last eightteen games for Norway, as he was in charge of Norway's defense instead.

Best performances	Opponent
Three goals	Netherlands (4-4, 1929), Finland (4-0, 1929), Finland (6-2, 1930), Sweden (3-6, 1930) and Finland (5-1, 1933)

Juve scored his last international goal on November 5, 1933

Biggest thread in the near future: There seems not really anyone in sight. John Carew came somewhat close, with 24 goals. But after him, you could hardly think that Tarik Elyounoussi (25 years, 7 goals) would add 24 or more goals to his total.

2  Sven Rydell (Sweden), 49 international goals

During the twenties (and early thirties), Sweden was doing alright for themselves. They didn't win a lot of trophies, but won far more matches than they lost. And scored lots of goals, with skilled forwards like Per Kaufeldt, Albin Dahl, Knut Kroon and Tore Keller, with Sven Rydell (1905-1975) probably the best of them all. His record shows for itself, 49 goals in 43 matches. Even AC Milan legend Gunnar Nordahl managed only 42 (albeit in just 33 matches). And what would have happened if Rydell hadn’t been forced to quit the game, at the age of 28?

Best performances	Opponents
Four goals	Egypt (5-0, 1924), Norway (7-3, 1925)
Three goals	Poland (5-1, 1924), Belgium (8-1, 1924), Norway (6-1, 1924), Latvia (12-0, 1927), Norway (5-3, 1927), Netherlands (6-2, 1929) and Finland (7-1, 1932)

Rydell scored his last international goal on May 16, 1932

Biggest thread in the near future: There is one serious thread: Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In fact, everybody expects him to take the Swedish record to 50 goals and beyond. In 2012 Ibrahimovic scored eleven international goals, this year (as of September 7) he got another five and at 44, he is just five goals behind Rydell.

1  Poul ‘Tist’ Nielsen (Denmark), 52 international goals

On the continent, Denmark probably was the best soccer nation of all up to 1920. Of course, to prove it,  they won two silver medals at the Olympic Games in 1908 and 1912. While already having such great strikers as Sophus Nielsen and Anton Olsen, Poul ‘Tist’ (1891-1962) Nielsen was even more prolific. When he made his debut for Denmark in 1910, he was the youngest ever. And after two matches to settle in, he started scoring. In 1913 he was the world’s leading international goal scorer, with eleven goals. Two years later he won again, this time with 5 goals. In 1914 (4 goals), 1916 (6), 1917 (5) and 1919 (7) he came second.

 

Best performances	Opponent
Six goals*	Sweden (10-0, 1913)
Five goals*	Norway (12-0, 1917)
Four goals*	Germany (4-1, 1913), Norway (8-0, 1916)
Three goals	Netherlands (4-3, 1914), Norway (8-1, 1915), Norway (5-1, 1919), Norway (3-1, 1921)

*Odd statistic: every time Nielsen scored four, five or six times, it was during the month of October.

Poul Tist Nielsen scored his last international goal on September 27, 1925

Biggest thread in the near future: Jon Dahl Tomasson equaled Nielsen’s record, but failed to score another one. From todays squad, Niklas Bendtner (22 goals) is still only 25 years old, but adding another 31 seems way too much to ask for.

Notes on this story:

·        * Antonin Puc is the all-time top scorer of Czechoslovakia with 34 goals until 1938. I didn't consider him, because the Football Association of the Czech Republic has integrated the statistics from Czechoslovakia into their history since 1992. And as Jan Koller has scored 55 international goals (and Milan Baros 41), Puc isn’t the record holder.

·       * The Luxembourg FA has Léon Mart (active for Luxembourg from 1939 until 1945) as their record goal scorer. But Mart scored eleven of his sixteen goals against B-teams, and those matches are not made official by FIFA/UEFA.

·       *  Vivian Woodward (England) has scored a total of 73 matches against countries who considered each match as a full international. Only the English FA does not, as he 30 matches (44 goals) for the English amateur team. With only 29 goals for the official professional English team, Bobby Charlton (49 goals) and seven others performed better.

The other six soccer tragedies

Pakhtakor Tashkent, 1979 

Lots of books have been written about AC Torino (1949) and Manchester United (1958), the first two teams that crashed with an airplane. AC Torino was already the strongest team in Italy for years, Manchester United promised to be of the same quality in England. Sadly, the list got bigger: between 1961 and 1993 another six professional soccer teams were victims of an air disaster. Here are their stories.

Green Cross (Chili), 1961

Chilean club Green Cross played a cup match against Osorno Seleccion on April 1, 1961. It ended a draw (1-1) and the team flew back to Santiago. The plane never arrived. Eight days later it was found, obliterated by fire. All 24 passengers were killed.

Elisa Mourino

Impact of the disaster: Green Cross lost their home-match 0-1 to Osorno and were knocked out of the cup. In the league they finished 12^th (out of 14 clubs). One season later they were relegated, but in 1964 Green Cross was back at the highest level in Chile.

Best-known deceased: Elisa Mourino, who represented Argentina in 25 international matches. With Argentina he won the Copa America in 1955 and 1959. After five seasons at Banfield and eight at Boca Juniors, Mourino was taking it a bit slower at Green Cross.

Best known survivor: As the club flew back in two groups, the others got on a another plane and landed safely in Santiago. None of the survivors (in total eight players were killed) was really famous.

The Strongest (Bolivia), 1969

The players form The Strongest that died

The 1969 soccer season in Bolivia had a short break in September, and so The Strongest from La Paz were invited to a friendly tournament in Santa Cruz on September 24 and 25. Other participants were Oriente Petrolero, Paraguayan club Cerro Porteno and a selection team from Santa Cruz. During the flight back home it went terribly wrong. The plane crashed somewhere in a nearby mountain area (Viloco). All 78 passenger were killed.

Hernan Andretta

Impact of the disaster: Instantly help was on its way. Argentinian club Boca Juniors provided The Strongest with two promising young players on loan, Luis Bastida and Victor Hugo Romero. The South American Football Asociation donated 2,000 dollar and the benefits from the famous Flamengo-Fluminense derby in Rio de Janeiro were sent to The Strongest.

Best-known deceaced: Bolivian soccer wasn’t big in those days. So even their best players weren’t very famous. Maybe two Argentinans, Eduardo Arrigo (ex-Huracan) and Hernan Andretta were the best-known victims. Andretta had just stated that this would be his last season as a soccer player.

Best-known survivors: Due to various reasons Rolando Vargas, Luis Gini and Marco Antonio Velasco didn’t travel with the team to Santa Cruz and survived.

Pakhtakor Tashkent (Soviet Union), 1979

The team of Pakhtakor Tashkent (now in Uzbekistan) was on their way to Minsk for a league match against Dinamo Minsk on August 11, 1979. Pakhtakor had just promoted to the premier level that season. Somewhere in Ukraïne the plane collided with another airplane. Everyone on both planes, 178 people in total, died.

Mikhail An

Vladimir Fyodorov

Impact of the disaster: All first league clubs in the Soviet Union were told to give three players to Pakhtakor, and on top of this, the club was free from relegationworries for three seasons.
Best-known deceased: Twenty-three year old Vladimir Fyodorov, 18 caps for the Soviet Union and twenty-six year old from Korean desent Mikhail An, two caps.

Best-known survivor: Nobody.

Alianza Lima (Peru), 1987

Alianza Lima had just won a league match 1-0 at Deportivo Pucallpa, and was flying back home on December 8^th, 1987. Arriving in Lima, the flight panel stated that the landing gear wasn’t released. So the pilot made an extra round, after which the tower gave his okay. In order to get enough height, the pilot made another round to prepare for landing. That failed, and the plane crashed into the sea, nine kilometers out of the coast.

Alianza Lima, December 1987

Impact of the disaster: Peruvian topclub Alianza Lima finally had a decent squad with lots of promising young soccer players. It took the club until 1997 to win another championship. After the disaster, the league was stopped for four weeks. After that, Alianza Lima had to put in some youth players, while club legend Teofilo Cubillas and some other ex-players came out of retirement.  To complete the squad, Chilean club Colo Colo loaned them a few players.

Best-known deceased: Peruvian internationals José Casanova, Luis Antonio Escobar en goalkeeper Jose Gonzalez Ganoza.

Best-known survivor: Nobody, the pilot was the only one to survive the crash.

Colourful Team Surinam, 1989

The biggest air disaster in Surinam history took place in the early morning of June 7, 1989 at the Zanderij Airport. Among the 176 victims (eleven survided the crash) were lots of Dutch soccer players from Surinam desent, playing professional soccer in the Netherlands. This team played friendly matches in Surinam, almost every year just after the end of the season in the Netherlands.

The remains of the plane

Impact of the disaster: the team was dissolved, then in 1993 Stanley Menzo started the Suriprofs, a simular team with whom he plays a match every year, most of the time against the champion of the Dutch second division.
Best-known deceased: nearly all the players had good careers at the highest Dutch level, but
Lloyd Doesburg (Ajax), Steve van Dorpel (FC Volendam), Ruben Kogeldans (Willem II), Ortwin Linger (Haarlem), Fred Patrick (PEC Zwolle) en Andy Scharmin (FC Twente) stood out.
Best-known survivors: Only three players survived: Radjin de Haan, Edu Nandlal en Sigi Lens (uncle of Dutch international Jeremain Lens). But none of them ever played soccer at the highest level again. Other survivers are those Surinam players that didn’t board on that plane for different reasons. Some had to play in the relegation round in the Netherlands (Desmond Gemert of NEC, Winnie Haatrecht of SC Heerenveen). Hennie Meijer (FC Groningen) and Stanley Menzo (Ajax) took an earlier flight. Surinam superstars like Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Bryan Roy didn’t got permission from their clubs to travel to Surinam.

National team of Zambia, 1993

Captain Kalusha Bwalya in mourning

On their way to an international match against Senegal, Zambia’s national team crashed into the sea on April 27, 1993 near Libreville, Gabon. One of the engines caught fire and left the passengers no chance of survival.

Impact of the disaster: despite the loss of almost all their players, Zambia still managed to reach the final of the Africa Cup ten months later, which they lost. On a sad note, they didn’t qualify for the World Cup in the USA. Nineteen year after the disaster, Zambia won the Africa Cup and dedicated their win to this team. 

Best-known players: Derby Makinka, Kelvin Mutale and 19-year old Patrick Banda. Coach Godfrey Chitalu also died. He was world news last year when a Zambian journalist claimed Chitalu scored more official goals in 1972 than Lionel Messi did in 2012 (see my article on Kabwe Warriors)

Best-known survivors: captain Kalusha Bwalya made his own flight arrangements from Eindhoven (he played at PSV at the time), and Charles Musonda (Anderlecht) was injured.