Paco Campos

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Campos and the second or maternal family name is Salamanca.

Francisco Campos Salamanca (8 March 1916 – 8 September 1995)^[1] was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward. With 127 goals, 120 of which were for Atlético Madrid, he is the highest scoring player from the Canary Islands in La Liga.^[2]

Paco Campos

Personal information
Full name	Francisco Campos Salamanca
Date of birth	(1916-03-08)8 March 1916
Place of birth	Las Palmas, Spain
Date of death	8 September 1995(1995-09-08) (aged 79)
Place of death	Madrid, Spain
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1934–1936	Marino F.C.
1939	Atlético Madrid
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1940–1948	Atlético Madrid	193	(144)
1948–1952	Sporting Gijón	82	(68)
Total		275	(212)
International career
1941–1942	Spain	6	(5)
Managerial career
1950	Sporting Gijón
1954–1955	Sporting Gijón
1957–1958	Badajoz
1960–1961	Salamanca
1961–1962	Las Palmas
1963–1964	Tenerife
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, he began his career in 1934 with Marino F.C., one of the clubs which fused to create UD Las Palmas.

After the Spanish Civil War, he moved to Atlético Aviación (now Atlético Madrid), with whom he debuted on 7 January 1940 in a Madrid derby against Real Madrid. His first goals were a brace on 4 February in a 4–1 win against Celta de Vigo, and on 8 March he scored a hat-trick against Real Zaragoza as Atlético won 5–1. He finished his first season with 8 goals from 17 appearances, and Atlético won the league.^[3]

Atlético retained the league the following season, and Campos scored 16 in 24 games.^[4] His most prolific season was 1941–42, with 20 goals in 25 games.^[4] In the late 1940s, he was part of the Delantera de la Seda frontline with José Juncosa, Alfonso Silva, Antonio Vidal Caturla and Adrián Escudero.^[5]

He scored 12 goals in Madrid derbies, the most by an Atlético player. (nine in the league, and another three in the cup).^[6]

After nine seasons at Atlético, he joined Sporting de Gijón who had just been relegated to the Segunda División. He was their player-manager for the second half of the 1949–50 season, and the following season was part of their team which gained promotion. He scored 7 goals in 11 games on their return to La Liga in 1951–52^[4] and then retired.

International career

Campos made his debut on 12 January 1941 in a 2–2 friendly draw with Portugal in Lisbon. He followed this game with five goals in his next four internationals, including a brace in a 4–0 win against France at the Estadio de Nervión in Seville on 15 March 1942, eventually finishing with 5 goals from 6 internationals.^[7]

International goals

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first.^[7]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	16 March 1941	Estadio de San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain	Portugal	3–0	5–1	Friendly
2.	28 December 1941	Mestalla, Valencia, Spain	Switzerland	1–0	3–2	Friendly
3.	15 March 1942	Estadio de Nervión, Seville, Spain	France	1–0	4–0	Friendly
4.				3–0
5.	12 April 1942	Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany	Germany	1–1	1–1	Friendly

Managerial career

In his native Canary Islands, Campos managed UD Las Palmas in the 1961–62 Segunda División and CD Tenerife in the same league in 1963–64.^[2]

Honours

Atlético Madrid^[8]

• La Liga: 1939–40, 1940–41
• Copa de Campeones: 1940

Real Gijón

• Segunda División: 1950–51