Paulino Alcantara - best goalscorer in Barca history

Alcántara, Philippine born Barca player was one of those players that deserves a special place in the hall of fame. Record he accomplished is unlikely to be surpassed anytime in the close future. All in all, Paulino scored 357 goals in 357 games wearing FC Barcelona shirt.

Needles to say, he was the club`s first star back in the 20s and he was renown for his deadly shot and prowess in front of the goal, reputation that went well beyond Barca borders.
One particular incident marked his way to an instant legend. April, 1922. an international match Spain-France. Alcantara hits the ball so powerful that it literally ripes the back of the net.
It is said that long after he scored that goal youngsters tried to emulate their idol`s feat.

Paulino Alcantara finished his career in 1927 to become a doctor. This still wasn't his goodbye to Barca as he was on the directors board from 1931-34.

His stat is amazing.

:shock:

Alcantara in action :2145960713mundoemot


International Career : debuted as Catalan XI, also played for Philippine National Team and later for Spain.

Sick stat.. He made his debut for us at the age of 15 y.o. ?

Paulino as a professional doctor

Source: Howie Severino's blog at GMA Pinoy TV

what a ledge !

Any relation to Thiago Alcantara of the youth system?

Nope..

Back in his days, football didn't actually earn you much money, so he retired early from his football career and went on to become a doctor (see MJ's picture).

That's a pretty cool fact. Still around just now in a way, some of the smaller nation's national sides are composed of builders and tradesmen, not full-time footballers, which in a way makes it more impressive that they're there. Also it's a shame he's not related to Thiago, that would've been really special

Isn't César Rodríguez the all-time goalscorer ??

Alcántara scored 357 goals in 357 matches, and César scored 235 goals in 348 games. That makes him the third highest scorer for the club.

Paulino Alcántara

He looks Spanish to me, probably he was born over there because he's parents went in the Philippines while the islands were under Spanish domination and they probably moved back soon as they received independence a bit before he was born.
Of course in the 20's things were different, I wonder how much exactly did the players earn in those years.

Paul, he's a Filipino mestizo (half Spanish, half Ilo-Iloan) I believe. I doubt two Spanish people would make a child in Ilo Ilo.... Then again, I am part Spanish (or maybe Catalonian? IDK), Basque, Chinese, and German.... He would get close to nothing in money since he's Filipino, which is explained below.

Assuming that Catalonia had the same racial mentality as Spain, Filipinos then were like the Native Americans or Africans to them: weird, naive, ritualistic, and stupid. Good thing this opinion hasn't carried on in the 21st Century because these labels don't hold true to any racial group.

He was born in the general area where most of my family were born (mom and dad moved to the US). It means a lot to me to have a Filipino Visayan playing for Barcelona. Too bad he's faded out there. He's only a ghost compared to the pro basketball players now.

I'm hijacking this......: IMO, Filipinos are natural footballers/soccer players. Almost every toddler (and older) play takyan (IDK if this is a Tagalog thing though) and sports like footvolley are very popular there. However, most Filipinos (unlike I) aspire to be wonderful basketball players because US basketball teams put money there exclusively in the Philippines. There's nothing at all for soccer. Most European clubs put money into South America (which now has an amazing football/soccer culture), but what about Southeast Asia? They also have the culture for it to be popular, there just needs to be exposure from the competitive levels.