Top facts about Telmo Zarra, Telmito the fearful

Pedro Telmo Zarraonanda Montoya, often known as Telmo Zarra or just Zarra, was a Spanish football forward who played from 1921 until 2006.

From 1940 through 1955, he spent the most of his career at

, where he still holds the record for most goals scored in competitive matches (335). Here you can find out the most important facts about Telmo Zarra, the myth of Athletic de Bilbao.

After one season with Erandio, Zarra joined with Athletic. During his 15 years with the club, he became a prolific striker, earning the Pichichi Trophy six times as La Liga's top scorer.

Zarra set a Spanish record of 251 league goals throughout his career, which he held for over six decades until being surpassed by Lionel Messi. His 81 goals in the Copa del Rey are still an all-time high.

Despite his goal-scoring prowess, he only made 20 appearances for Spain. Despite this, he managed to score 20 goals, including four in a single game when Spain defeated Switzerland 6–3 on February 18, 1951.

In the 1950 World Cup finals, he also scored the winning goal as

advanced to the last four, their best result in the tournament until winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup 60 years later.

An important fact about Telmo Zarra is that he played for one year with SD Indautxu and another with Barakaldo CF after leaving Athletic in 1955.

On February 24, 2006, he died of a heart attack at the age of 85. In his honor, the Zarra Trophy is given to the highest-scoring Spaniard in La Liga.

In later years, Zarra opened a sports store in Bilbao and later a restaurant, a business that he ran with his relatives for the rest of his life.

In 1997, the then president of the Athletic, Jose Maria Arrate, coincided with Telmo Zarra in a restaurant and he proposed to hold a tribute in his honor.

Zarra told him that when he was a player, in his last contract Athletic promised him a tribute at the end of his career and that this never came to pass. Thus, Zarra finally received his tribute on August 17, 1997 in San Mamés.

That day, a match was played between Athletic Club and a team from the First Division, which was directed by the then Spanish coach Javier Clemente, who had also been an Athletic player and coach.

Several important personalities such as Alfredo Di Stefano, Ladislao Kubala, José María Maguregui and Rafael Iriondo attended the meeting.

For him, the most emotional presence was that of Bert Williams, the English national team goalkeeper of the famous "Zarra goal" in the 1950 World Cup.

Top facts about Telmo Zarra:

Zarra died on February 23, 2006 at the age of 85 from a myocardial infarction, and his funeral was held on February 27. As soon as his death was made public, countless clubs, institutions and important sports personalities contacted Athletic Club to express their condolences for this event.

In the first league game after his death, the San Mamés stadium observed a minute of silence in recognition, in which the club's anthem was played on piano and at the end of which the entire stadium began to applaud in his honor.

Other fields in Spain that observed a minute of silence were the Santiago Bernabéu, Lasesarre, Chapín, Anoeta, Sánchez Pizjuán and Camp Nou. The sports newspaper Marca created the Zarra Trophy in his honor in 2006 to reward the top Spanish scorer in each season of the National League Championship.

Telmo Zarra early life

Zarra was born in Erandio, Biscay, on January 20, 1921, at the Asa railroad station. Speaking about

Telmo Zarra’s parents

, it should be mentioned that Telmo Zarraonanda, an engineer and the head of Asa station, and Tomasa Montoya were his parents. Zarra was the seventh kid in a family of 10, five of whom were males.

A notable fact about Telmo Zarra is that he loved to play football with his neighbors when he was younger. While other youngsters had handmade or improvised balls, Zarra had access to a genuine ball since two of his brothers played football for Arenas de Getxo in La Liga: Tomás, the eldest brother and goalkeeper, and Domingo, who died during the Spanish Civil War.

"It was plenty with two brothers in the practice of this game," his father said of Zarra's participation in football. Zarra, on the other hand, took to the sport and started playing for a variety of local teams, including Asia and Pitoberese. Regarding

Telmo Zarra’s childhood

, it is worth mentioning that he was dubbed "Telmito the Fearful" at the time because he would play gingerly, embarrassed and self-conscious of his ability.

Unfortunately, there is no information regarding Telmo Zarra’s personal life aspects, such as marital status and his children.

Telmo Zarra professional career

Telmo Zarra was the Spanish league’s top scorer for three seasons in a row from 1944 to 1947 and his 33 goals in the 1946-47 season equalled the La Liga record set by

’s Pruden in 1940-41.

He then smashed this record in 1950-51 when he plundered an outrageous 38 goals in 30 La Liga games, a record which was not broken until 2010-11 with Ronaldo’s 40.

Telmo Zarra club career

Zarra's first professional contract was with the Second Division's SD Erandio Club, and he joined the squad for the 1937–38 season. Later, he was recruited by a Biscay squad to play a friendly match against a Guipuzcoa team, in which Zarra scored seven goals in a 9–0 victory.

Athletic Club

Athletic Bilbao was seeking for players to help restore the squad, which had been dismantled years previously due to the Civil War's disarray. For the 1940–41 season, the squad started recruiting young, potential players from Erandio.

An important fact about Telmo Zarra is that he made his Athletic Club debut in a league match against Valencia CF on September 29, 1940. Zarraonanda scored both goals for his side in the game, which finished in a 2–2 tie (including his first league goal, scored 17 minutes into the game).

Zarra briefly left Athletic Bilbao to join the army during the 1941–42 season. He was sent to Ceuta, where he played few friendly games with the local squad.

Zarra's return to Bilbao was marred by one of the worst losses of his career, when he lost in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona. It was the conclusion of regulation time, and neither side had managed to score.

A notable

fact about Telmo Zarra

is that he had a chance to score against rival goalkeeper Miró during extra time, but he missed the shot; as a result, Barça won the match and the Cup.

For both Zarra and Athletic Bilbao, the 1942–43 season was one of the most crucial. Athletic overcame Atlético Madrid and FC Valencia to reach the Copa del Rey final. They faced Real Madrid in the final, and this time, Zarra was able to redeem himself by scoring the game's lone goal, capturing the cup as well as the league championship.

In a match against Barcelona during the 1943–44 season, Zarra suffered his first major injury. For a spell, he couldn't play since he shattered his collarbone. Zarra was able to return to the field after his recovery and assist Athletic win the Copa del Rey with a 2–0 victory against Valencia.

In the 1944–45 season, with Athletic playing Valencia in the Copa del Rey final for the second time, a Valencia player collapsed to the ground four minutes before the end of the game. As a prank, Zarra attempted to stomp the downed player and was sent off by the referee.

This was his first and only expulsion throughout his whole career. Despite this, Athletic won the championship that year courtesy to a 3–2 victory thanks to a goal by Rafael Iriondo.

Zarra's career high point came in the 1944–45 season, when he won his first Pichichi Trophy and scored 20 goals in 26 games. He would go on to win the award five more times (1946, 1947, 1950, 1951 and 1953).

An important

fact about Telmo Zarra

is that he scored 38 goals in 30 league games in the 1950–51 season, a Spanish record that held until the 2010–11 season. Hugo Sánchez of Mexico also set this record, although he did it over the course of 38 games.

During the 1951–52 season Zarra sustained his most severe injury of his career, on 25 November 1951 in a game against Atlético Madrid, when the opposition goalie landed on Zarra's leg.

For a complete recovery, he needed surgery, which forced him to miss the balance of the season. In his comeback season, 1952–53, he appeared in 29 games and scored 25 times, for a combined scoring average of 0.86.

Telmo Zarra's final years and retirement

In the honor of his lengthy career in Spanish football, Zarra was honored with a memorial and benefit match in Madrid on April 29, 1954 (played between two regional choices). Alfredo Di Stéfano, Antonio Puchades, Estanislao Basora, Piru Ganza, Eduardo Manchon, and Cesar Lesmes were among the football VIPs that attended the occasion.

A notable fact about Telmo Zarra is that he was reaching the end of his career and had to watch as new, potential Athletic players took up his position on the squad, notably Eneko Arieta, who would eventually succeed him.

Zarra's Athletic career came to an end at the conclusion of the 1954–55 season. From then until his formal retirement from the game in 1957, he committed himself to playing for many clubs in the Second Division; nonetheless, he continued to play football with Biscay's senior players, giving the money raised from these games to charity.

Telmo Zarra international career

On March 11, 1945, Spanish coach Jacinto Quincoces chose Zarra to play for the Spanish national team in a friendly match against

in Lisbon. He played against Portugal again on May 6, that year, and scored two of the four goals that won the match.

After Valencia CF was abolished, Zarra participated in another Copa del Rey final on May 28, 1950, this time against

.

During the final, he scored four of his team's game-winning goals. He scored after 14 minutes, but the game was tied at the conclusion of normal time. Athletic won the cup when Zarra scored a hat trick in extra time. Zarra holds the record for the most goals scored in a Cup final with four versus Valladolid.

Once qualified, the Spanish squad played matches against the United States, Chile, and England in the 1950 FIFA World Cup. In the second encounter, he scored one of the goals in a 2–0 victory against Chile.

The third game, versus England, was dubbed "the game of the century" by Zarra. Zarra's goal past Bert Williams, the English goalkeeper, won the match and moved Spain through to the next round.

This goal, possibly Zarra's most famous, earned the Spanish team the win in the World Cup semi-finals for the first time.

Telmo Zarra Athletic legacy

Zarra, a centre-forward for one of the most successful rojiblanco teams in history, joined Athletic from SD Erandio in 1940 and went on to spend 15 seasons as a lion, winning one Liga, five Copas, and one Copa Eva Duarte during his time with the club.

Furthermore, Zarra was a goal-scoring machine. He won the Pichichi award for best striker in the First Division six times, and he had scored 335 goals in 354 appearances across all competitions by the time he departed Athletic in 1955.

An important fact about Telmo Zarra is that he remains the club's all-time leading scorer, and he was a key member of one of Athletic's most skilled front lines, with Rafael Iriondo, Venancio Pérez, Panizo, and Piru Gainza.

Zarra was born into a footballing family in the town of Erandio. Telmo's father, who was the station chief at the local railway station, was not enthusiastic on Telmo taking up the sport, but two of Telmo's brothers were also professional players, and a young Zarra couldn't get enough of it.

Zarra was signed by Athletic Club while playing for local club SD Erandio. Zarra came to Athletic after scoring seven goals for a Biscay XI against Gipuzkoa in a 9-0 triumph at San Mamés, as Ane Lekuona and Josemari Abaitua recall.

He went on to have an illustrious career with Athletic, and after leaving in 1954-55, he continued to play as an amateur for SD Indautxu and Barakaldo CF.

He scored twice in his La Liga debut for the Lions in a 2-2 draw with Valencia at Mestalla, the first of his 251 goals in the tournament. Zarra was a striker in the strictest meaning of the word, and scoring goals was his first priority. He was swift, strong, astute, and one of the finest ball headers in the sport's history.

Zarra's colleague Gainza reportedly observed, "Football is about scoring goals, and nobody was better at scoring goals than Zarra." In the 1949-50 Copa Del Rey Final versus Real Valladolid, Zarra gave one of his most famous performances in the red and white. Zarra scored in the 14th minute, but the game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Zarra took the game by the scruff of the neck in extra time and scored three more goals to ensure Athletic took home the Cup. It was just another example of Zarra's remarkable knack for finding the back of the goal. "One of the finest attackers I've ever seen," Alfredo Di Stefano said of the lion.

He had six goals in a game once, five goals five times, four goals in eight separate games, and a total of 18 hat-tricks in his career. Telmo scored 20 goals in 20 appearances for the Spanish national team. The most famous was against

at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Zarra epitomized the Athletic Club ethos; his childhood desire was to play for the club, and he was able to do so. He once stated, "The greatest a person could ask for is to be an Athletic Club player."

Zarra is remembered by the Athletic family for being a fantastic guy in addition to his football career. In 1997, he was honored with a testimonial match at San Mamés, where Athletic Club faced a LaLiga XI.

On February 23, 2006, Zarra died away. At Lezama, he is commemorated with a bust, and he continues to serve as a role model for present and future Athletic Club players.

Telmo Zarra’s record broken by Messi

In its current incarnation, football is dominated by the rise of the superstar. With the sport becoming more and more of a worldwide phenomenon, it is spreading its tentacles into previously unaffected locations. As a result of this expansion, new generations of supporters are born, as well as a fresh passion for their favorite team.

The presence of a superstar within a team increases the growth of fandom;

, Lionel Messi,

, and Eden Hazard are examples of this, as are the markets they have opened up for their respective clubs.

Players of this caliber are well-known across the globe, and supporters hundreds of miles away from their club's stadium might have the same emotional affinity to them as locals. This was not the case before the relatively recent history of football, and many fans believe that a return to a more perceived tighter bond would be preferable.

These players immediately rose to prominence in the community, with their likenesses gracing the jerseys of youngsters and being the subject of countless debates among adults, and their image became associated with the club.

However, in the case of teams with a limited worldwide appeal, whose primary following is mostly drawn from a local or national population, their heroes are often drawn from their golden years, when they challenged the elite and their players were the greatest.

Athletic Bilbao, a Spanish club that hasn't won a major trophy since winning La Liga in 1984 and has a roster made up entirely of Basque players, matches this criteria well.

They create their heroes in Bilbao, and Telmo Zarra is the most famous of all the San Mamés residents. Bilbao is Zarra.

Heroes at provincial teams are often revered for their commitment and respect for the team, with their skill taking a backseat or, in some cases, being inflated. This is not the case with Zarra. His stay at Bilbao coincided with the Basque club's most successful era, and he played a pivotal part.

Bilbao has always been firmly pro-Basque, with the club using a cantera policy of solely recruiting Basque players, a stance that has characterized Los Leones.

Zarra was born in the Basque village of Erandio in 1921 and started his junior career with local sides Asua and Pitoberese before joining S.D. Erandio at the age of 16. In his first two seasons with the club, Erandio played him little until becoming him a fixture in the first team in the 1939-40 season, scoring 12 goals in 20 games.

That summer, he transferred to Athletic, where he made eight appearances and scored six goals before being called up to serve in the Spanish army. Zarra was stationed in the Spanish North African colony of Ceuta, where he had just completed a horrific civil war that had taken the life of his brother Domingo.

He returned to Bilbao after almost a year away, but his goalscoring abilities were unaffected as he scored 26 goals in 28 games to finish the season as the club's leading scorer.

The 1942-43 season followed a similar trend, with Bilbao scoring 25 goals in as many games to win the La Liga and Copa del Rey double. Zarra ended the season as the club's top scorer for the 10th time in his 15 years with the club.

Bilbao were seldom a dominating force as the seasons progressed, earning four more Copa del Rey wins but just one Liga title in the 1940s and 1950s. However, when Zarra approached his peak, his incredible goal-scoring consistency maintained, and records crumbled.

From 1944 to 1947, he was the top scorer in the Spanish league three years in a row, and his 33 goals in the 1946-47 season tied the La Liga record established by Atlético Madrid's Pruden in 1940-41. Zarra then broke this record in 1950-51, scoring 38 goals in 30 La Liga games, a record that was not broken until Ronaldo's 40 goals in 2010-11.

Zarra was sidelined for the whole next season after breaking his leg early in the season, but he returned for his last season as La Liga's leading goalscorer, with 24 goals in 1952-53.

Zarra was also the first and most coveted Pichichi award winner at the conclusion of that season, which was named after former Bilbao striker Rafael Moreno and awarded to the league's best scorer.

His La Liga and Copa del Rey goal records are the two most well-known statistics related with Zarra. From 1955 until 2014, his league goal record of 251 was notably held for 59 years. Messi finally shattered it, and Ronaldo fell to second position in 2015 as their personal rivalry persisted.

Zarra, on the other hand, seems to be on track to maintain his title as the Copa del Rey's all-time leading scorer, with 81 goals to Messi's 39 and Ronaldo's 21.

His position in the pantheon of Spanish greats is undeniably cemented, as shown by the establishment of the Zarra trophy in 2006, which is presented to the top Spanish goal scorer in La Liga.

Despite the fact that Zarra's name isn't as well-known as contemporaries

and Alfredo Di Stéfano — two of the game's earliest superstars – his goal totals outnumber both of them. Zarra was not a public character; his amazing work in Bilbao was done secretly, which endeared him even more to the ardent local support.

While he may not be featured in arguments about the best of all time, he was and will continue to be the greatest in at least one part of northern Spain. Their own Basque superstar, if you will.

Some quick facts about Telmo Zarra:

A prolific scorer, he was the top scorer in the history of the Spanish First Division for more than 60 years, with 251 goals. Even as of 2020, he is still the top scorer in the Spanish Soccer Championship (Cup) with 81 goals, and for Athletic Club with 335 goals.

He is also the second footballer who has won the Pichichi trophy for the top scorer in the First Division the most times, achieving this award six times, only surpassed by Lionel Messi, who won his seventh award in 2020.

His specialty was head shots, which made him famous throughout Europe. His most memorable goal was the one achieved against the England team in the 1950 Soccer World Cup in Brazil, which classified Spain among the four best teams in the world for the first time in its history. He played twenty games with the national team, scoring 20 goals.

Due to his special impact, goals, achievements and career, in 2016 he was declared dean of the football hall of fame, posthumously, by FIFA.

A notable

fact about Telmo Zarra

is that he made his debut for Athletic Club on September 29, 1940, in a league match against Valencia CF that ended with a tie at two. Zarra was the author of the two goals scored by the Basque team, which in turn meant his debut as a scorer in the highest category of Spanish football.

His first goal in the First Division was achieved 17 minutes after making his debut. During season 1941-42 Zarra temporarily left the Athletic to join the army.

In the 1950-51 season, Zarra achieved another of his greatest records by scoring 38 goals in 30 league games. It took many decades for this record to be equaled by Hugo Sánchez in the 1989-90 season, although the Mexican achieved it in 35 games.

It was not until the 2010-11 season that this record was surpassed by the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored 40 goals in 34 league games, and later by the Argentine

, who reached 50 goals. 29 During the 1951-52 season.

During the 1953-54 season, Zarra began to receive criticism for his poor form, and many were already predicting the end of his career, especially when a promising young man named Eneko Arieta snatched the title from him.

In his last two seasons with Athletic, Erandio striker played only 11 games and scored 5 goals, so at the end of the season 1954-55 he decided to end his career. On April 19, 1954, Zarra received a tribute in Madrid in recognition of his long career in Spanish football.

He was with the Spanish soccer team on 20 occasions. His debut as a player for the Spanish team was on March 11, 1945 in the Portugal 2: 2 Spain match played in Lisbon.

An important fact about Telmo Zarra is that he was the author of one of the most important goals of the national team in its history, the one known as "Zarra's goal"; He scored the 1-0 against England in Rio de Janeiro at the 1950 FIFA World Cup, which allowed the team reach the final stage (semifinal), itsbest finish in a world until 2010.

He scored a total of 20 goals for the national team, scoring four goals in the match Spain 6 - 3 Switzerland.

He participated with the Spanish team in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, playing six games against the United States, Chile, England, Uruguay,

, and Sweden. In that tournament he scored four goals, against the United States, Chile, England and

.

Telmo Zarra social media

Regarding

Telmo Zarra social media

, it should be mentioned that he did not have any social media pages during his lifetime.

Telmo Zarra body measurements

Speaking about

Telmo Zarra body measurements

, it should be mentioned that the legendary player was 180 cm and 72 kg.

Telmo Zarra net worth and salary

Telmo Zarra’s net worth

was $4 million to $5 million dollars at the time of his death. From his major profession as a soccer player, he had amassed a substantial fortune.

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