Early life and Deportivo La Coruña Luis Suárez Miramontes was born on 2 May 1935, in
A Coruña,
Galicia; He started playing football at Perseverancia, a local team administered by the Santo Tomás
parish; in 1949, aged 14, he joined
Deportivo La Coruña, following a successful trial he had attended after reading an advertisement left on by manager
Alejandro Scopelli, who was helping the club establish a youth academy. After coming through the club's youth ranks and playing for their reserve team,
Deportivo Fabril, and included players such as
Pahiño and
Arsenio Iglesias. in 1960 During the
1954–55 season, the midfielder gained limited playing time with the first team, while also featuring for Barcelona's reserve side,
España Industrial, in the
second division. At the end of the 1956–57 season, he won his first
Spanish Cup with the club. Following the appointment of
Helenio Herrera as Barça's manager at the start of the 1958–59 season, becoming one of the most important players in a team that also included
Ladislao Kubala,
Zoltán Czibor,
Sándor Kocsis,
Ramón Villaverde,
Justo Tejada,
Evaristo and
Eulogio Martínez, among others. when they also reached the
European Cup semi-finals. On 19 October 1960, Suárez scored a goal after a solo action from over the middle of the pitch in a 4–3
Fairs Cup win over
Zagreb XI. with a total of 54 votes. after
Alexia Putellas's back-to-back victories in
2021 and
2022, he retained the title as the only Spanish-born men's footballer to ever receive the award. Suárez received the Ballon d'Or on 9 March 1961, it was the midfielder's last game for the Catalan club. He subsequently became the
world's most expensive footballer, along with
Juan Santisteban. In October of the same year, he suffered a knee injury in a
Fairs Cup match against
Köln, which limited his impact on the pitch during the rest of his first season in Italy. He finished second in the final ranking for the
1961 Ballon d'Or, behind only winner Omar Sívori. At the start of
the following campaign, At the end of the 1962–63 season, the midfielder won his first national title with Inter. Suárez helped the win the
European Cup. On 26 September 1964, Suárez was a part of the Inter side that won the
1964 Intercontinental Cup, having gained a 1–0 victory
after extra time over
Independiente in the tie-breaking match. In December of the same year, he finished second in the final standings for the
1964 Ballon d'Or, behind winner
Denis Law, Suárez also helped the Italian club claim their second consecutive
European Cup, a gesture he eventually came to regret throughout the years. In December of the same year, he was the third most-voted player in the final ranking of the
1965 Ballon d'Or, behind team-mate
Giacinto Facchetti and winner
Eusébio. In May 1967, Suárez was forced to miss the
European Cup final against
Celtic due to an injury, being subsequently replaced by
Mauro Bicicli: Inter eventually suffered a 2–1 defeat. In the following weeks, the Italian club also missed out on their third
national title in a row on the last day (in favor of
Juventus), and got eliminated by
Padova in the
Coppa Italia semi-finals: as a result, they finished the campaign without winning a single trophy. During the
1969–70 campaign, his last season at Inter Milan, Suárez's performances declined due to his deployment as a
sweeper: Between 1961 and 1970, Suárez made a total amount 333 appearances for Inter, scoring 55 goals. as part of a swap deal that saw
Mario Frustalupi join Inter. together with
Giovanni Lodetti. After completing three seasons at Sampdoria, with the club managing to retain their top-flight status in each occasion, he announced his retirement from professional football in 1973, aged 38. ==International career==