Severiano Goiburu


Severiano Goiburu Lopetegui was a Spanish footballer who played for the Spain national team. He played for many clubs in La Liga, most notably Barcelona. He is known for scoring the decisive goal in the Spain v England football match.

Club career

Goiburu spent his entire club career in the Spanish first division, including FC Barcelona for five seasons. He moved to the Catalan club from Osasuna for a fee of 25,000 pesetas in 1929, following the match against England.

International career

Goiburu made his first appearance for Spain against Hungary on 19 December 1926. On 15 May 1929, Spain played a friendly match against England, who were widely considered to be the best football team at the time. They had previously beaten France and Belgium 4–1 and 5–1 respectively. However, Spain ended up upsetting the Three Lions and won the match 4–3. Goiburu had scored the decisive goal in the 82nd minute to give Spain the victory, despite being the only amateur footballer on the pitch. He won 12 caps and scored 5 goals in total for his national team.

Career statistics

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
119 December 1926Campo de Coia, Vigo, Spain2–04–2Friendly
28 January 1928Estádio do Lumiar, Lisbon, Portugal2–12–2Friendly
314 April 1929Estadio Torrero, Zaragoza, Spain5–08–1Friendly
414 April 1929Estadio Torrero, Zaragoza, Spain7–08–1Friendly
515 May 1929Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain4–34–3Friendly