Alejandro "Álex" Bergantiños García (born 7 June 1985) is a Spanish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defensive midfielder. He spent his entire professional career contracted to Deportivo, making over 250 appearances and being loaned to several other teams. He played 118

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

games for Deportivo and

Xerez Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

and 247 in

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

for those two,

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, Gimnàstic and Sporting Gijón.

Club career

Bergantiños was born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

. He had his first professional spell as a footballer in 2008, at already 23: loaned by local club Deportivo de La Coruña, he was an essential midfield figure as Xerez CD achieved a first-ever top flight promotion – 31 games, 21 starts and 2,085 minutes played. In very late August 2009, after tying him to the club for four more years, ''Depor'' agreed to loan Bergantiños once again to the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns, in another

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long move. He made his

debut on 30 August, playing the last 30 minutes in a 2–0 away loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

, and produced roughly the same numbers than in the previous year as the

ns were immediately relegated. Bergantiños moved on loan to Granada CF for the 2010–11 campaign. He left in January 2011 to begin yet another loan, at

rivals Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Bergantiños returned to Galicia in 2011–12, and soon became a regular, appearing in all the league games and helping his team achieve promotion back to the top flight. He scored his first goal in the competition on 20 October 2012, but in a 4–5 home defeat to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. Weeks later, he extended his contract until 2016, with a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

10 million. In September 2015, Bergantiños signed a new deal lasting until 2018. On 12 December that year, against Barcelona again but at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

, he helped the visitors come from behind 0–2 to draw it 2–2 by netting in the 85th minute. On 2 March 2017, in his first league game of the season, Bergantiños had an accidental collision with Fernando Torres, from which the

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

striker suffered cranial injuries; he visited the opponent in hospital shortly afterwards. Ten days later, he scored the winner in a 2–1 victory over reigning champions Barcelona at the

Estadio Riazor Estadio Municipal de Riazor (), also known as Estadio ABANCA-RIAZOR for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater stadium in A Coruña, Spain. The stadium is the home of Deportivo de La Coruña, and accommodates a total of 32,660 spectators, making ...

. On 11 July 2017, shortly after committing himself to another year at Deportivo, Bergantiños was loaned to

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

for one year. Upon returning home, he became the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. Bergantiños remained at Deportivo following their historic relegation to

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

. The 35-year-old skipper signed a new deal on 5 October that year, to last until 2022.

Career statistics

Honours

Xerez *

: 2008–09 Deportivo *Segunda División: 2011–12

References

External links

Deportivo official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergantinos, Alex 1985 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from A Coruña Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Deportivo Fabril players Deportivo de La Coruña players Xerez CD footballers Granada CF footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Sporting de Gijón players