Alejo Indias Álvarez (born 14 October 1966), known simply as Alejo, 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

. Alejo began his career with

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 ...

, but never made an appearance for the first team. He then became a member of the legendary

Figueres Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...

team that almost earned promotion to

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' ...

in 1991–92, playing alongside players such as

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name. In Spanish, Italian, Croatian and Finnish, it is a masculine given name used as a short form of the names derived from Antonius like Antonio, Ante or Anttoni. In Danish, English, Finnish, Norwe ...

Luis Cembranos Luis Cembranos Martínez (born 6 June 1972) is a Spanish retired professional Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Wide midfielder, right midfielder, currently a Manager (association football), manager. He amassed La Liga ...

Pere Gratacós Pere Gratacós Boix (born 14 February 1958) is a Spanish retired Association football, football Defender (association football)#Centre-back, central defender and coach. Playing career Born in Besalú, Province of Girona, Girona, Catalonia, Grat ...

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and current head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, ...

and

Tintín Márquez Bartolomé "Tintín" Márquez López (born 7 January 1962) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently the manager of Qatari club Al-Wakrah SC. His career was closely associated to Espanyol, as both a player ...

. He joined

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

in late 1992, and made 158 top flight appearances during four and a half seasons with the club, scoring seven goals. He also contested the

1994 Copa del Rey Final The 1994 Copa del Rey Final was the 92nd final of the Spanish cup competition, the Copa del Rey. The final was played at Vicente Calderón Stadium in Madrid on 20 April 1994. The match was won by Real Zaragoza, who beat Celta de Vigo in penalty sh ...

with Celta, which they lost to

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 ...

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

, with Alejo missing the crucial spot kick. Alejo saw out his career with four years at

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Don Benito Don Benito () is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, near the left bank of the Guadiana river. According to the 2014 census, the municipality has a population of 37,011. History Don Benito dates from the 15t ...

in the

province of Badajoz The province of Badajoz () is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in the s ...

Extremadura Extremadura (; ext, Estremaúra; pt, Estremadura; Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is an autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central-western part of the Iberian Peninsula, it ...

, but his family soon relocated to

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 ...

. He began his career in the lower categories of Catalan giants

, making his debut with the B team, Barcelona Atlètic, during the 1984–85 Segunda División season. He began to play more regularly the following season, featuring heavily for the C team, Barcelona Amateur, as they were relegated from Segunda División B. He spent the next three seasons in the second tier with Atlètic, but they were relegated at the end of 1988–89. He left Barcelona that summer without having made any appearances for the first team. Alejo joined another Catalan club, Atlètic's erstwhile Segunda División rivals

, ahead of the 1989–90 season. He made his Figueres debut in a 4–2 home win over

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants, and was part of the Figueres's greatest ever team in 1991–92. They finished the season in 3rd place, only one point short of automatic promotion to

, and qualified for a

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or ...

. They faced

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

in the playoff, but were defeated 3–1 on aggregate, the closest they have ever come to the top flight. Alejo continued to feature the following season, which ultimately ended in relegation, but he departed in December 1992. He left Figueres after 129 appearances and 18 goals in three and a half seasons.

Celta Vigo

He moved into the top flight by signing for

in December 1992. He made his

debut on 20 December as Celta suffered a 1–0 home loss to

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 ...

at Balaídos. He failed to score during his first season with ''Los Celestes'', finally netting for the first time on 10 April 1994 in a 3–2 win over Real Sociedad at Balaídos. He made 40 appearances in his first full season, and was a key part of the side that reached the

. He is most remembered amongst Celta fans for the unfortunate part he played in the events of that final. Celta faced

in the final, which was held at

Vicente Calderón Stadium The Vicente Calderón Stadium ( es, Estadio Vicente Calderón ) was the home stadium of Atlético Madrid from its completion in 1966 to 2017, with a seating capacity of 54,907 and located on the banks of the Manzanares, in the Arganzuela distr ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

on 20 April 1994. After 120 minutes, the match was still goalless, and so

were required to separate the teams. The first four penalties for each side were successful, with Alejo taking Celta's fifth. He scuffed his kick, and the ball rolled tamely into the hands of Zaragoza goalkeeper

Andoni Cedrún Andoni Cedrún Ibarra (born 5 June 1960) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 351 La Liga matches over 17 seasons, representing mostly Zaragoza with which he won three major titles, including the 1995 Cup W ...

Francisco Higuera Francisco Higuera Fernández (born 30 January 1965) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder – sometimes, he could operate as a forward. Nicknamed ''Paquete'', he appeared in 367 La Liga games ...

then stepped up for Zaragoza and scored his penalty past

Santiago Cañizares José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz (; born 18 December 1969) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently a rally driver. A product of Real Madrid's youth academies, he eventually joined the first team but proved unable to ...

to bring an end to Celta's dreams. Alejo's plight drew sympathy from

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Juan Carlos I when he met Celta coach Txetxu Rojo after the match. The penalty incident didn't damage Alejo's Celta career, and he continued to be a crucial part of the side for the next three seasons. He eventually departed Celta in 1997 after 176 appearances and eight goals in four and a half years with ''Los Celestes''.

Elche

Alejo joined

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero The Estadio Martínez Valero is a stadium located in the Spanish city of Elche in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community. It is the home stadium of Elche CF, a team that is currently playing in La Liga. Its name pays tribute to the late pre ...

in the first round of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

. His first goal came on the 12th November in a league fixture against the same opponents, which ended 1–1 at

El Madrigal EL, El or el may refer to: Religion * El (deity), a Semitic word for "God" People * EL (rapper) (born 1983), stage name of Elorm Adablah, a Ghanaian rapper and sound engineer * El DeBarge, music artist * El Franco Lee (1949–2016), American po ...

. Elche were relegated at the end of his first season, but were promoted again at the first attempt. Alejo made 114 appearances and scored four goals in four seasons with Elche, before retiring from professional football in 2001 at the age of 34.

International career

Alejo played several friendly matches with the representative side of his adopted

autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunidá autónoma , alt_name = , map = , category = Autonomous administra ...

Coaching career

After retiring from the professional game, Alejo played at an amateur level for Sant Andreu de la Barca in the Regional Preferente de Catalonia. He later became the club's coach, and then worked as their youth coach.

Personal life

Alejo's son Iago Indias, born in 1996, is a

for Castellón in the Segunda División, having begun his career with

Espanyol 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 ...

. He made over 100 appearances for Espanyol B, but never played for the first team.

Honours

Celta Vigo *

runners-up: 1993–94

Career statistics

:1. Appearances in the 1991–92 Segunda División promotion playoff :2. Appearances in the 1999 Segunda División B playoffs

References

External links

* *
ALEJO INDIAS at yojugueenelcelta.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indias, Alejo 1966 births Living people People from Don Benito Footballers from the Province of Badajoz Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Catalonia Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona C players UE Figueres footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Elche CF players Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish football managers