Francisco Buyo

Francisco Buyo

Personal information
Full name	Francisco Buyo Sánchez
Date of birth	(1958-01-13) 13 January 1958
Place of birth	Betanzos, Spain
Height
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1972–1973	Ural
1973–1975	Betanzos
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1975–1976	Mallorca	16	(0)
1976–1980	Deportivo La Coruña	122	(0)
1978–1979	→ Huesca (loan)
1980–1986	Sevilla	199	(0)
1986–1997	Real Madrid	343	(0)
Total		680	(0)
International career
1977	Spain U20	3	(0)
1977–1978	Spain U21	3	(0)
1979–1987	Spain U23	4	(0)
1979–1983	Spain amateur	11	(0)
1980	Spain B	1	(0)
1983–1992	Spain	7	(0)
Managerial career
1999–2000	Real Madrid C
2000–2001	Real Madrid B
?–?	Jaén B
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Buyo and the second or maternal family name is Sánchez.

Francisco 'Paco' Buyo Sánchez (born 13 January 1958) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Best known for his Sevilla and Real Madrid spells, he appeared in 542 La Liga matches, third all-time highest at the time of his retirement, winning 12 major titles with the latter club.

A Spanish international during roughly one decade, Buyo represented the nation in two European Championships, being a backup on both occasions.

Club career

Buyo was born in Betanzos, A Coruña. At the age of fourteen he began playing football for local Ural CF, for which he appeared as both a goalkeeper and right winger during his one-year spell, achieving the feat of being both unbeaten between the goalposts and also the team's top goalscorer.

Buyo's first professional club was RCD Mallorca, in the second division. After one season he joined Deportivo de La Coruña, where he would stay until 1980, with a loan to SD Huesca – while he performed military service in Jaca – in between. He made his debuts in La Liga in the 1980–81 season with Sevilla FC, being the starting goalkeeper from the beginning; he played there six years, appearing in 242 official matches and also winning his first Spanish national team callup.

Buyo's performance at Sevilla made Real Madrid require his services, signing him in 1986 as a replacement for an ageing Miguel Ángel. In his first season he appeared in all 44 league games (the campaign featured a second stage), the first being a 3–1 win over Real Murcia, being instrumental to the Merengues' national title; he would remain in the capital club until his retirement in 1997, teaming up with the likes of Emilio Butragueño, Manolo Sanchís, Chendo, Rafael Gordillo, Míchel, Hugo Sánchez, Rafael Martín Vázquez, Fernando Hierro, Fernando Redondo, Iván Zamorano and Raúl.

The local success Buyo met with Madrid (six leagues and two Copa del Rey) could not be translated into international accolades, as the side kept being eliminated in European Cup competition. However, in his first season, he did have a memorable performance against Michel Platini's Juventus F.C. in the round-of-16 of the 1986–87 edition: after Madrid won 1–0 in the first leg and Juventus did the same in the second meeting, the winner was decided in a penalty shootout, won by Madrid after he saved three of the opposition's shots; he earned his first Ricardo Zamora Trophy during his second league campaign after conceding only 23 goals in 35 league contests, and his second came in 1991–92 during which he played as many matches, with 27 goals against.

Madrid would win two more league titles with Buyo in goal, the first of which came in the 1994–95 season, during which he also had a streak of 709 minutes without conceding a goal in league play, between 3 December 1994 and 12 February 1995, the fifth-longest streak ever in the Spanish league. In his final year the club won another league, but he did not feature at all, as he was only third-choice behind Bodo Illgner and Santiago Cañizares; he retired with 542 first division games played, the third-most behind another goalkeeper, FC Barcelona's Andoni Zubizarreta, and Eusebio Sacristán.

International career

During Buyo's time at Deportivo, he was selected to the under-21 national team, representing Spain at the 1980 Summer Olympics, where it was eliminated in the first round.

At full international level he was capped seven times, and was part of the squad that finished runner-up at the UEFA Euro 1984. His debut came on 21 December 1983 in the historical 12–1 trouncing of Malta for the qualifying stage, in a match played in Seville.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Buyo had a short coaching spell with youth clubs Real Madrid cadetes and Real Madrid C, only returning to the benches in 2008 with Real Jaén's reserves.

Additionally, he also worked with as a sports analyst in Al-Jazeera, contributing to its La Liga and UEFA Euro 2008 coverage.

Honours

Club

Real Madrid

• La Liga: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1994–95, 1996–97
• Copa del Rey: 1988–89, 1992–93
• Supercopa de España: 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993
• Copa Iberoamericana: 1994

Country

• UEFA European Championship: Runner-up 1984

Individual

• Ricardo Zamora Trophy: 1987–88, 1991–92

External links

• Francisco Buyo profile at BDFutbol
• National team data (Spanish)
• Francisco Buyo at National-Football-Teams.com
• Francisco Buyo – FIFA competition record
• Real Madrid biography (Spanish)