Antonio Hidalgo Morilla (born 6 February 1979) 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 ...

who played as a

central 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 ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Sevilla Atlético Sevilla Atlético is a Spanish football team based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1950, it is the reserve team of Sevilla FC. It plays in Segunda Federación, and holds home games at '' Estadio Jesús Navas'', w ...

. Over 17 seasons as a professional, he appeared in 412 games in the Segunda División, scoring 57 goals for six clubs, mainly

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

(five years) and Sabadell (four). 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' ...

, he represented Tenerife, Málaga and Osasuna.

Playing career

Born in

Granollers Granollers () is a city in central Catalonia, about 30 kilometres north-east of Barcelona. It is the capital and most densely populated city in the comarca of Vallès Oriental. Granollers is now a bustling business centre, having grown from a t ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the nort ...

, Hidalgo began starting professionally with

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. Found ...

's reserves, then went on to represent

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

for five seasons. After being an important element during the team's 2001 promotion, he played ten games in the following campaign's

. Hidalgo moved to Málaga CF in the summer of 2005, appearing in 35 matches in his first year as the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

side finished bottom and were relegated. On 15 June 2008, he scored two goals in a 2–1 victory over former club Tenerife, granting top-flight promotion after a two-year absence at the expense of Real Sociedad; he finished the season with 14 league goals, best in the squad. Hidalgo stayed in the Segunda División, however, signing a two-year deal with

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

. In late January 2009, he joined struggling

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

on loan until the end of the campaign, and appeared regularly although very rarely as a starter as the Navarrese eventually stayed in the top division. Upon his return to Aragon, Hidalgo was deemed surplus to requirements. In the dying minutes of the August 2009

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

he arranged a 1+1 deal with second-tier club

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

; at the end of his only season, the 31-year-old was one of 14 players who were not given a contract extension, being released. Hidalgo then had a spell at

, suffering relegation in his sole season before joining

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Sabadell, a city in the province of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holdin ...

of his native region in January 2012, shortly before turning 33. In March 2014, the captain extended his stay with the ''Arlequinats'' for another year. When his contract ended, he played for several weeks with

UE Cornellà Unión Esportiva Cornellà, S. A. D. ( ca, Unió Esportiva Cornellà) is a Spanish football team based in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1951 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding ...

in the Segunda División B before retiring in November 2015, immediately becoming a youth team coach.

Coaching career

In April 2016, Hidalgo assumed his first senior management job at

EC Granollers Esport Club Granollers is a football team based in Granollers in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1913, it plays in the Tercera División RFEF – Group 5. Its stadium is Municipal Carrer Girona with a capacity of 2,500. Seaso ...

. He left the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the '' Segunda División'', and the semi-professional '' Segunda ...

side at the end of the campaign a month later, joining his compatriot

Imanol Idiakez Joseba Imanol Idiakez Barkaiztegi (born 14 March 1972) is a Spanish former Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder, currently Manager (association football), manager of CD Leganés. Playing career Born in San Sebastián, Gipu ...

's staff at AEK Larnaca FC in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

. Hidalgo left his Larnaca contract a year early in April 2019, tasked with keeping former club Sabadell in the third level with seven games to go. He ended a five-year exile from the second tier on 26 July 2020, with a 2–1 playoff final win over Barcelona B. On 20 November 2021, with the team in the

Primera División RFEF Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

relegation places, Hidalgo was dismissed.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hidalgo, Antonio 1979 births Living people People from Granollers Sportspeople from the Province of Barcelona Spanish footballers Footballers from Catalonia Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players CD Tenerife players Málaga CF players Real Zaragoza players CA Osasuna players Albacete Balompié players CE Sabadell FC footballers UE Cornellà players Spain youth international footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers Primera Federación managers Segunda Federación managers CE Sabadell FC managers Sevilla Atlético managers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus