Julio Salinas

Football player infobox
playername= Julio Salinas


fullname = Julio Salinas Fernández
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1962|9|11
cityofbirth = Bilbao
countryofbirth = Spain
height =
currentclub = retired
position = Striker
years = 1982-1984
1982-1986
1986-1988
1988-1994
1994-1995
1995-1997
1997-1998
1998-2000
clubs = Bilbao Athletic
Athletic Bilbao
Atlético Madrid
FC Barcelona
Deportivo de La Coruña
Sporting de Gijón
Yokohama F. Marinos
Deportivo Alavés
caps(goals) =
068 (13)
075 (31)
146 (60)
024 (12)
054 (24)
047 (34)
050 (12)
nationalyears = 1986-1996
nationalteam = Spain
nationalcaps(goals) = 056 (22)
pcupdate = June 4 2006
ntupdate = June 4 2006

Julio Salinas Fernández (born Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain September 11, 1962) was a Spanish Basque football player during the 1980s and 1990s. Salinas, a forward, made his La Liga debut with Athletic Bilbao in 1982 and subsequently played for six La Liga clubs during the following seventeen years, playing 417 games and scoring 152 goals. His brother, Patxi Salinas Fernández, was also a professional footballer and played for Athletic Bilbao, Celta de Vigo and Spain.

Athletic de Bilbao

In 1984 Salinas won the divisional "Pichichi" award as he helped Bilbao Athletic finish runners-up to Castilla CF in the "Segunda Division". He also played some games for the senior Athletic Bilbao team as they won La Liga in 1983 and the La Liga/Copa del Rey double in 1984.

Atlético de Madrid

His next team was Atlético de Madrid where he spent two seasons and scored 31 goals.

FC Barcelona

However, Salinas is best remembered for his time spent at FC Barcelona. He signed for the club in 1988, after spending two seasons at Atlético Madrid, and subsequently linked up with several other Basque players, including José Ramón Alexanko, Txiki Beguiristain, Goikoetxea and José Mari Bakero. Together they would form the backbone of the legendary "Dream Team". Among the highlights of his time at FC Barcelona were scoring in both the European Cup Winners Cup final in 1989 against Sampdoria and in the Copa del Rey final in 1990 against Real Madrid.

Deportivo de La Coruña

After leaving FC Barcelona, Salinas went on to play for Deportivo de La Coruña, helping them finish second in La Liga in 1995. He was not a regular in the starting line-up but, following his tradition Julito scored 12 goals. In La Coruña he is well remembered for scoring a late equaliser against FC Barcelona in Camp Nou. It was his first visit after leaving FC Barcelona and Julio Salinas came on as a substitute with just 13 minutes to go. Close to the end of the match there was a corner and after a header from José Luis Ribera, central defender of Deportivo de La Coruña, Julio managed to score the goal which was giving a point to Deportivo de La Coruña.

porting de Gijón

New signings of Deportivo de La Coruña meant less chances for Julio Salinas, Dmitry Radchenko one of them. Due to his chances decreasing Julio Salinas left for Sporting de Gijón (1995-97) where he stayed before leaving to Japan. Julio Salinas was very loved in Gijón and the fans of the team used to sign: "Bota de oro, Salinas bota de oro" (Golden boot, Salinas, golden boot".

Yokohama Marinos

Salinas stayed slightly more than a season at Yokohama Marinos, now called Yokohama Flügels Marinos, formed after the fussion between Yokohama Marinos and Yokohama Flügels. And also in Japan Salinas again showed his scoring skills.

Deportivo Alavés

After his experience in Japan Salinas came back to Spain to play in a team close from his home in Bilbao. The team was Alavés.At Alavés he played his last two seasons as a professional footballer(1998- 2000). His last match was against his first team, Athletic, and Salinas scored his last goal in that game.

National team

Salinas made 56 international appearances for Spain between 1986 and 1996, scoring 22 goals. He represented Spain at three FIFA World Cups in 1986, 1990 and 1994 and two European Football Championships in 1988 and 1996. In 1994 during a World Cup quarter-final between Spain and Italy, Salinas famously missed the chance to put Spain into the semi-final. Unfortunately Salinas is very much remembered because of missing this chance and not because of all the goals he scored in his profesional career.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao
*Spanish Champions: 2
**1982-83, 1983-84

FC Barcelona
*UEFA Champions League:1
**1991-92
*European Super Cup: 1
**1992
*European Cup Winners Cup: 1
**1989
*Spanish Champions: 4
**1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1993-94
*Copa del Rey: 1
**1989-90
*Supercopa de España: 2
**1991, 1992

Deportivo La Coruña
*Copa del Rey: 1
**1994-95

Career as a sports journalist

In the 00's Salinas has worked for La Sexta as a speaker during matches. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup he was the main speaker.

External links

* [http://www.lfp.es/historico/primera/plantillas/historial.asp?jug=4658 Julio Salinas at www.lfp.es]
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/php/spieler.php?id=15456 National Football Teams]