Fernando Morientes

Early career

Morientes was born in Cilleros, Cáceres, Extremadura, and moved to Sonseca in the Province of Toledo at the age of four. He began his professional career at Albacete Balompié, making his La Liga debut on 7 November 1993 as a 75th-minute substitute for Alejandro in a 2–3 loss against CD Tenerife at the Estadio Carlos Belmonte, and he made one more appearance that season, also from the bench. On 23 October 1994, soon after coming on as a first-half replacement for Alberto Monteagudo, Morientes scored his first professional goal, opening a 2–0 home win over Racing de Santander. He got his first start a week later in a 5–1 loss at RCD Español, and finished the campaign with a total of five goals in 20 league games; additionally, he found the net in each leg of a 3–2 aggregate win over holders Real Zaragoza in the last 16 of the Copa del Rey. Morientes signed with Zaragoza in 1995, where he spent another two seasons, often being partnered up front by Dani, a Real Madrid youth graduate. He made his debut on 9 September away to Real Betis, scoring the team's goal after 48 minutes but being sent off seven minutes later for striking Jaime. On 10 January of the following year, he scored his first professional hat-trick in a 3–2 win at Athletic Bilbao for the domestic cup; his first such feat in the league followed on 3 February in a 4–1 victory over Valencia CF at La Romareda, and eight days later he scored the first goal at SD Compostela and also received his…

Morientes was a reliable performer for the Spain national team since 1998, scoring a brace in the first five minutes of his debut against Sweden on 25 March and adding a further two in each of his next two games, against Northern Ireland and Bulgaria respectively. He ranked fourth on the Spanish all-time topscorer's list with 27 goals in 47 appearances, behind former Real Madrid teammate Raúl, former Valencia teammate Villa and former Madrid captain Fernando Hierro (who took the majority of Spain's free kicks and penalties), although his goals-to-games ratio was higher than Raúl and Hierro. Morientes netted five goals in the two FIFA World Cups he featured in, with two goals in 1998 and three in 2002. In the latter edition he and Raúl played together up front, and both showed impressive form in the tournament; during the quarter-final match against South Korea the former scored a goal in extra-time that was disallowed, although replays suggested the goal was legitimate – Spain eventually lost the match on penalties. After being a surprise omission at UEFA Euro 2000, with coach José Antonio Camacho later admitting after being ousted in the quarter-finals that he had made a mistake by picking Ismael Urzaiz instead, Morientes was selected for Euro 2004 in Portugal, where he scored one of only two goals that the side could manage, in a subsequent group-stage exit. He also played for the nation during the 2006 World Cup qualifiers; however, due to his poor club form for…

Morientes was regarded one of the top strikers of his generation, forming a notable and partnership with Raúl at Real Madrid. He excelled in the air and was an accurate finisher with his head and with his feet, both inside and outside the area; he was also an accurate free kick taker, and was capable of playing off another striker. In his later career, as he lost his pace, Morientes often played in a supporting role, using his strength and control to hold up the ball for teammates.

Morientes married his childhood sweetheart Victoria López on 23 December 1999, in Toledo. They fathered son Fernando, and daughters Gabriela, Lucía and Martina. Morientes's nephew Alberto is also a footballer. An attacking midfielder, he also moved from CD Sonseca to Albacete like his uncle, and made his debut with the first team 32 years after Fernando in 2025.