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Gento
Personal information
Full name	Francisco Gento López
Date of birth	October 22, 1933(1933-10-22)
Place of birth	Guarnizo, Spain
Playing position	Left Winger
Club information
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
	SD Nueva Montaña Unión Club de El Astillero Rayo Cantabria
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1952-1953 1953-1971	Racing Santander Real Madrid	10 (2) 428 (126)
National team
1955-1969	Spain	43 (5)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Francisco "Paco" Gento López (born October 22, 1933 in Guarnizo, Cantabria) is a former Spanish football player.

He débuted in the Primera División with Racing Santander in the 1952-53 season. In the following year, he signed for Real Madrid and became a legendary player of that club, in the number 11 shirt.

The Galerna del Cantábrico (The Storm of the Cantábrico), as he was known, played outside left and was noted not only for having great speed (he could apparently run 100 metres in little over 10 seconds and was almost as quick with a ball at his feet)^{[citation needed]}, but also for his skills with the ball and his relatively high scoring capabilities given his position. He captained a young side, known in Spain as Ye-yé, because of the popularity of The Beatles at that time.

Among other honours, he won the European Cup a record 6 times with Real Madrid (an unmatched record), scoring 30 goals in 89 European Cup career matches. He also played for Spain from 1955 to 1969, winning 43 caps and scoring 5 times.

He has played in 8 European Cup finals (6-2 record) (with a "ninth" appearance in the 1970-1971 Cup Winners' Cup final that Real Madrid lost to Chelsea); a record jointly held with AC Milan's Paolo Maldini (5-3 record). Gento's legendary Real Madrid teammate, Alfredo Di Stéfano (5-2 record) comes second with 7.

After he retired from football in 1971, he decided to take up coaching. He took charge of various lower-league teams, such as Castilla, Castellón, Palencia, and Granada. In the end, he accepted a post working as an ambassador for Real Madrid throughout Europe.

Gento has two younger brothers called Julio (born in 1939) and Antonio (born in 1940) that also are former footballers and both played for Real Madrid but they were not as successful as their older brother Francisco.

• Real Madrid
  • La Liga: 1953-54, 1954-55, 1956-57, 1957-58, 1960-61, 1961-62, 1962-63, 1963-64, 1964-65, 1966-67, 1967-68, 1968-69
  • Copa del Rey: 1962, 1970
  • European Cup: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1966
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1960
  • Latin Cup 1955, 1957

• Spain
  • European Football Championship: 1964

• Francisco Gento's International Appearances and Goals
• Francisco Gento's Goals in European Cups

v • d • e Spain squad - 1962 FIFA World Cup
1 Araquistáin • 2 Sadurní • 3 Carmelo • 4 Collar • 5 del Sol • 6 Di Stéfano • 7 Echeberría • 8 Garay • 9 Gento • 10 Gracia • 11 Rivilla • 12 Peiró • 13 Pachín • 14 Puskás • 15 Eulogio • 16 Reija • 17 Rodri • 18 Adelardo • 19 Santamaría • 20 Segarra • 21 Suárez • 22 Vergés • Coach: Herrera

v • d • e Spain squad - 1966 FIFA World Cup
1 Iribar • 2 Sanchís • 3 Eladio • 4 del Sol • 5 Zoco • 6 Glaría • 7 Ufarte • 8 Amancio • 9 Marcelino • 10 Suárez • 11 Gento • 12 Betancort • 13 Reina • 14 Rivilla • 15 Reija • 16 Olivella • 17 Gallego • 18 Pirri • 19 Fusté • 20 Peiró • 21 Adelardo • 22 Lapetra • Coach: Villalonga

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