La Liga

Do you know how the name Pichichi came to Pichichi award?

Pichichi is a nickname given to Rafael Moreno Aranzadi (23 May 1892 – 1 March 1922), known as Pichichi who played for Athletic Bilbao during the year 1910s and 1920s. He was also Spanish forward. The reason for his nickname because of his frail build. Pichichi was always easily identifiable on the pitch due to a white cloth he tied to his head.

Pichichi was borin in Bilbao and he played in his first Copa Del Rey Final in March 1913. He only played for Athletic Bilbao.

Pichichi subsequently played in five other domestic cup finals, winning four and netting a hat-trick in the 1915 final as Athletic beat RCD Español 5–0. In 1920, Pichichi was a member of the very first Spanish national team that played at the Summer Olympic Games in Belgium. He gained five senior caps during one month, his debut coming on 28 August in a 1–0 win against Denmark.

He died on 2 March 1922 at the age of only 29, victim of a sudden attack of typhus. In 1953, Spanish sports newspaper Diario Marca introduced the Pichichi Trophy in his honour. It was awarded each year to the top scorers in La Liga and Segunda División.

There have been many famous winners of the award over the years. Recently, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have competed for it with Luis Suarez breaking up their monopoly by winning it himself in 2016. The winners list is like a who’s who of goal scoring greats. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Diego Forlan, Samuel Eto’o, Raul, Romario, Bebeto, Christian Vieri, Butragueno, Hugo Sanchez, Quini, Mario Kempes, Ronaldo and, of course, the very first winner Amancio Amaro. What a strike force you could make from any combination of those great names,

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