Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán

This article is about the Sevilla FC president. For the club's stadium, named after him, see Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium.

Ramón Sánchez–Pizjuán Muñoz (21 December 1900 – 28 October 1956) was a Spanish lawyer. He was the president of Sevilla FC from 1932 to 1941, and again from 1948 to 1956. Under his presidency, the club reached La Liga and won the national cup twice, while the land was brought for the stadium that bears his name.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Sánchez–Pizjuán and the second or maternal family name is Muñoz.

Biography

Born in Seville, he played football as a goalkeeper for Sevilla FC, rising no higher than the club's second team in 1917–18. He then pursued his legal career, before becoming the club's secretary in 1923 and president nine years later.^[1]

In 1933–34, Sevilla won the Segunda División to enter La Liga for the first time, before winning the Copa del Rey in 1935 and 1939. Due to the political upheaval at the time, the tournaments were titled the Copa del Presidente de la República and Copa del Generalísimo, respectively.^[1] In 1937, he purchased land by the club's Estadio de Nervión to build a larger stadium; around the same time, he negotiated for his players to not be conscripted to the Nationalists of the Spanish Civil War, who were then occupying the city.^[1] Players of his club and Seville derby rivals Real Betis were placed in an anti-aircraft unit far from action.^[2]

In 1941, the totalitarian new regime ousted him from his Sevilla presidency to bring in an ideological ally, while giving him a new job as vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Seven years later, he was voted back in by club members. Following his sudden death in 1956, his successor Ramón de Carranza pledged to complete Sánchez-Pizjuán's planned stadium, which was finished in 1958 and has borne his name ever since.^[1]

He has since been honoured by the club on anniversaries of his death, as the "Eternal President".^[3][4]

References

1. Esteves, Adérito (18 October 2018). "Sánchez-Pizjuan: apontou o Sevilha aos títulos e democratizou-o na ditadura" [Sánchez-Pizjuan: he guided Sevilla to titles and democratised them during the dictatorship] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
2. Carreño, Fernando M. (20 July 2011). "El fútbol en tiempos de Franco. I: La guerra" [Football in the times of Franco. I: The war]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 February 2022.
3. "El Sevilla FC recuerda a Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán en el 60 aniversario de su fallecimiento" [Sevilla FC remembers Ramón Sánchz-Pizjuán on the 60th anniversary of his death]. ABC (in Spanish). 28 October 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2022.
4. "Homenaje a Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán en el 65 aniversario de su muerte" [Homage to Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán on the 65th anniversary of his death]. Diario de Sevilla (in Spanish). 28 October 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2022.