José María Mateos y Larrucea (31 March 1888 – 22 December 1963) was a Spanish journalist and football manager who served as the national coach of Spain for over a decade between 1922 and 1933.

[4][5][6] He was orphaned at a very young age, first his father died of a heart condition at the age of 54 and then when he was seven, in 1895, his mother died of pneumonia, so it was his three aunts, his mother's sisters (Dámasa, Vicenta and Estéfana), who carried out his education, very marked by the ethical, moral, and religious values, which accompanied him throughout his life.

[6] With a strong religious background, he became part of the Congregation of the Luises, a Jesuits youth organization whose magazine Semana Católica, he would immediately direct.

[4][5][6][7] Even though his physical abilities were greatly diminished, as he had suffered the amputation of one leg and subsequently became practically blind, he remained in La Gaceta until his retirement.

[5][6][8] He also founded the Látigo Spotivo together with the journalist Rolando, and collaborated with the accurate chronicles of him in the sports newspaper Marca.

[10] In fact, he never mentioned the Club Atleta de los Astilleros del Nervión, nor the Bilbao FC of 1892, two entities founded by British, perhaps due to simple ignorance, but according with historian Josu Turuzeta Zarraga, Mateos intentionally ignored its British background because he was "a Spanish patriot and a fervent Catholic".

[8] Until the 1960s, it was very common to give the reins of the national team not to renowned technicians, but to federations and even prominent journalists, such as Mateos, Ramón Melcón, and Pedro Escartín.

[8] This stimulus apparently worked because in his second match on 14 April 1929, against France, at the Torrero field in Zaragoza, Spain found themselves leading 8–0 in the 85th minute and was still trying to score the ninth, which meant 350 pesetas for each one, so goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora left his goal and approached Mateos and told him sarcastically "How much would you give me if I let them score a goal and you would save a lot of pesetas and...", but he did not have time to continue since Émile Veinante took possession of the ball and then shot from almost fifty meters to seal a 8–1 win.

[8][9] At the end of the match, Mateos went to the federation headquarters to say goodbye, where the General Secretary Ricardo Cabot relieved him from his duties.

[9] An epic afternoon, but at the same time catastrophic for the treasurer of the Spanish Federation, since it meant 600 pesetas to each player as a bonus, totaling a whopping 6,600, a great figure for the time, but when Mateos left, the bonuses for goal difference disappeared in order to avoid repeating accounting imbalances as sovereign as the one that occurred when crushing Bulgaria.

[9] In 1952, the "José María Mateos" trophy was created, and on 28 June, he himself presented the cup to the captain of SD Indautxu, Pachi Urquiola, winner of the final against Barakaldo CF with a result of 1–0.

[8][9] He also received a belated tribute from the press and sports, shortly before he died at his home, when, almost blind, it was already impossible for him to write.

[8] Mateos reduced his journalistic activity due to a surgical intervention, in which a leg had to be amputated, and as a result of his illness he became blind, but even so, he continued to send articles to La Gaceta; he spoke and his wife wrote.