José Luis Orbegozo
José Luis Orbegozo Balzola was a Spanish businessman and sports leader, who served as the 22nd president of the Real Sociedad for 16 years between 1967 and 1983.
Sporting career
José Luis Orbegozo was born in San Sebastián on 2 September 1929, and became a member of his hometown club Real Sociedad in 1936, when he was only six years old. In 1966 he joined the board of directors then chaired by Antonio Vega de Seoane Barroso, with the help of his friend Tomás Álvarez de Eulate, and held the position of treasurer until 1967. After the historic promotion to the First Division, he was named president, and he transformed a recently promoted team into a champion team.Under his mandate, Real consolidated its position in the First Division, qualified for European competitions for the first time, and lived its most glorious years with the achievement of two League titles in 1980–81, 1981–82 and a Super Cup in 1982 against Real Madrid. He was a firm defender of the commitment to the youth team and, with him as president, Real opened up to the entire territory of Gipuzkoa. Together with his friend Javier Expósito, he provided the club with important foundations for the future, giving impressive value to the youth team.
In 1980, Orbegozo inaugurated a field in Orbegozo because he wanted to build a new stadium for Real Sociedad in Zubieta. The project took advantage of a subsidy for the use of the new field as the venue for the FIFA 1982 World Cup, but this did not come to pass due to the opposition of the city council. Once San Sebastián was ruled out as the venue for the FIFA World Cup, the project was paralyzed, and the field, whose works had already begun, was converted into a training ground and sports city for Real Sociedad. In 1983, Orbegozo was replaced as president by Iñaki Alkiza and received the gold and diamond medal from the San Sebastian club. However, when he left leaving the club without its own field, without a heritage that would have been key in the future. In fact, when he left the Txuri Urdin entity, he already warned that the club had "a death row".