Juan Carlos Arteche

Born in Maliaño, Cantabria, Arteche began playing professionally with local Racing de Santander after starting in basketball and tennis. He made his debut in the 1976–77 season and appeared in 16 La Liga games as the club finished 15th, barely avoiding relegation. After one more year with Racing, Arteche signed for Atlético Madrid, being an undisputed starter early on as well as captain. In 1984–85, he helped the Colchoneros to the second position in the league only behind champions FC Barcelona and that campaign's Copa del Rey; subsequently, they reached the final of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, a 3–0 loss against FC Dynamo Kyiv. After only two matches in 1988–89, mainly due to serious personal problems with elusive Atlético chairman Jesús Gil, Arteche chose to retire at 32.

Arteche won four caps for Spain in three months, his debut coming against Romania on 12 November 1986 for the UEFA Euro 1988 qualifiers. In his last appearance, he could not stop England's Gary Lineker from scoring all of the opposition's goals in the 4–2 friendly loss in Madrid.

Atlético Madrid

Copa del Rey: 1984–85; runner-up: 1986–87 Supercopa de España: 1985 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup runner-up: 1985–86