Antonio Casado Ruiz (born 20 March 1961) is a Spanish retired

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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent seven seasons in

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 ...

, all with Betis.

Club career

Born in Huelva,

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 ...

, Casado made his professional debut with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in 1981, playing five

games in his first season and scoring in a 2–1 away win against

RCD Español Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

. In the following four top-flight campaigns he was an important first-team member, never appearing in less than 20 matches and adding three

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

appearances during his stint with the club. In the summer of 1987, after featuring rarely for the ''Verdiblancos'' in his last two seasons, Casado joined neighbours Recreativo de Huelva of the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, playing four years with the team and being relegated in his third. He also spent two seasons in that level with

Écija Balompié Écija Balompié, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Écija, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1939, it plays in División de Honor Andaluza, the fifth tier of Spanish football. History In 2007–08 season, the club b ...

(seven overall), suffering another relegation in 1997. Casado retired in June 1999 at the age of 38, after a one-year spell with amateurs

Dos Hermanas CF Dos Hermanas Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Dos Hermanas, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1971 and dissolved in 2014, it last played in Regional Preferente de Sevilla, holding home games at ''Estadio Mi ...

External links

* 1961 births Living people Footballers from Huelva Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Recreativo de Huelva players UE Sant Andreu footballers Écija Balompié players {{Spain-footy-midfielder-stub