Ramón de Cárdenas

Cárdenas was born in Madrid as the son of Ramón de Cárdenas y Padilla (1852–1926), a journalist born in Havana who had emigrated to Madrid at the end of the 19th century and who belonged to the Spanish nobility.[4] He developed a deep interest in football in his youth, and soon enough he became one of the first football personalities in the capital. Cárdenas was one of the enthusiastic footballers that joined and played for Sky Foot-Ball Club, the first club to ever exist in the capital. However, the instability within the club prevented its development, and after suffering two major splits in 1900 and 1901, Cárdenas decided to leave the club in the third split, on 15 March 1902, joining Madrid FC, who had just been officially established on 6 March in the infamous meeting held in the back room of Al Capricho.[5] The last match he played for Sky was on 9 March, in a friendly between the club's members, as part of Sky's build-up for the upcoming Copa de la Coronación, the forerunner of the Copa del Rey founded a year later. In this game, Cárdenas played for the White Team and netted a goal in a 1–2 loss.[6]

Together with Julián Palacios, the Padrós brothers (Carlos and Juan), the Giralt brothers (José, Armando, Mario) and Antonio Neyra, Cárdenas was a member of Madrid FC's first-ever complete season, in 1902–03.[7] A solid midfielder, he was nonetheless one of the several players who left Madrid FC at the end of 1903 to form their own club, Español de Madrid,[2] among whom were Antonio Neyra and the Giralt brothers.[8] Cárdenas played an important role in helping Español de Madrid win the 1903–04 Campeonato Regional Centro, hence qualifying to the 1904 Copa del Rey, which ended in controversy as they were unable to participate in the final, meaning Athletic Club were declared the champions.[9]

In 1905, after two years with Español de Madrid, José and Armando Giralt decided to return to Madrid FC, and Cárdenas followed them, but unlike the pair of brothers, Madrid's board of directors did not accept him back, so he joined Athletic Madrid instead, the Madrid branch of Athletic Club de Bilbao. Cárdenas stayed closely linked to both clubs, alternating between both sides.[1] In 1907, the best players from Athletic and Unión Vizcaino came together to form Club Bizcaya, which was specially created to take part in the 1907 Copa del Rey, and Cárdenas was elected into the final cut, where he featured alongside the likes of Juan Arzuaga, the Sena brothers (Alfonso and Miguel), and Charles Simmons.[10] He helped this team reach the final, where they faced his former club Madrid FC, and losing 0–1 thanks to a late goal from Manuel Prast.[11]