Alfonso Albéniz

FC Barcelona

In 1901, his father got ill, so they returned to Barcelona, where Albéniz joined the ranks of FC Barcelona, becoming a member of the reserve/second team, which had been created by Luis de Ossó in 1900. At Barça, Albéniz played as a striker with a refined technique. Due to the absences of some of the first-team players, he made his debut with the first team in a friendly match against Club Español (now known as RCD Espanyol) on 1 December, at the age of 16 years and 80 days. Albéniz then played his first official match for the club in the 1901–02 Copa Macaya, the forerunner of the Catalan championship, scoring the opening goal in a 4–2 win over Hispania AC on 6 January 1902, and in doing so at the age of 16 years and 115 days, he became both the youngest player and the youngest goalscorer in Barça's history. Albéniz held both records for just two years until they were broken in 1903 by Carles Comamala, who scored on his debut at 14 years and 219 days. Barcelona went on to win the Copa Macaya title, the club's first-ever piece of silverware, with Albéniz playing 5 matches and netting another goal for a total of two official goals with Barcelona.

1902 Copa de la Coronación

When Barcelona participated in the very first national tournament played in Spain, the 1902 Copa de la Coronación, the club struggled with organizing the trip to Madrid since not all of its first team players could go, so they had to include members of the second team such as…

Albéniz became a football referee in late 1912, being among those who formed the College of Referees of the Central Regional Federation, which was the first college for referees in Spain. Together with the likes of Manuel Prast, José Manuel Kindelán, and Julián Ruete, he was a member of the college's first constitution on 15 April 1914. Albéniz became its president a few weeks later, on 9 May, following the resignation of Prast. On 2 July 1922, Albéniz co-founded the National Committee of Referees and was then elected as its first president, a position that he held for over a year until 1923, when he was replaced by Carlos Dieste. Albéniz returned to the presidency in 1928 (replacing Julián Ruete), becoming the first president of the first edition of the Spanish League in 1929. His second mandate lasted just over year, being replaced by Antonio de Cárcer.

Alfonso Albéniz Jordana was born on 11 September 1885, as the firstborn of the marriage formed by the famous composer and pianist Isaac Albéniz and Rosa Jordana Lagarriga, daughter of the former mayor of the Gràcia district and a former student of Isaac. He was born in Tiana, Catalonia, a town in the east of the Province of Barcelona where his parents had their summer residence. He had an older sister, Enriqueta, who died in its infancy in 1886, as well as a younger sister, Laura (1890–1944), who went on to become a renowned illustrator in the arts of drawing and painting. He was introduced to football in London, where the Albéniz family settled due to the performances of his father, who on numerous occasions took them to Paris, where Alfonso came into contact with rugby, becoming an outstanding rugby player. While still living in Tiana, Albéniz fell in love with a neighbor, Carme Reventós, with whom he became engaged. However, at that time, his parents lived in Paris and the summer romance, which led to several love letters between them, ended in nothing.

Albéniz married Rosalie de Sweert in France in the mid-1910s, with whom he had a daughter, Teresita. Like his sister Laura and his mother Rosa, Albéniz maintained a great friendship with the composer and pianist Manuel de Falla. He was a great-uncle of Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón (mayor of Madrid between 2003 and 2011), and grandfather of Cecilia María Ciganer, who was Nicolas Sarkozy's ex-wife. Albéniz was also a director of the Chamartín club for eight years, from 1913 to 1921. A renowned chemical engineer, he also stood out as a lecturer, and at some point in the mid-1920s, he embarked on a career as a diplomat, becoming an ambassador for Spain in the League of Nations. Transferred in his last years of life to Estoril, Portugal, Albéniz died there in 1941, at the age of 56, due to complications with hypertension. His body was repatriated and buried in the Montjuïc Cemetery.