José Manuel Rodríguez Benito (born 3 March 1992), known as Chema, is a Spanish professional

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 plays for

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo ...

. Mainly a

central defender 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 s ...

, he can also play as a

left-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 s ...

Club career

Early years

A product of

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

's youth system, Chema was born in

Caudete Caudete () is a municipality of Spain located in the province of Albacete, Castilla–La Mancha. It has a population of 10.163 (From INE 2015). It is part of the Altiplanicie de Almansa ''comarca''. History Following its Christian conquest in 1 ...

Province of Albacete Albacete ( es, Provincia de Albacete, ) is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. As of 2012, Albacete had a population of 402,837 people. Its capital city, also called Albacete, is ...

, and he made his senior debut in 2010 with the reserves. In the following seasons he competed in

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 Di ...

and

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 ...

, representing

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 ...

's C and B teams.

Alcorcón

Chema signed with

in January 2013, being initially assigned to the B side in the fourth division. He was promoted to the first team in August, making his competitive debut on 6 October by starting in a 0–0 away draw against

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

in the

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 ...

. Chema scored his first professional goal on 30 March 2014, his team's only in the 3–1 away loss to

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

. On 9 July, he was definitely promoted to the main squad.

Levante

On 5 August 2016, Chema signed a four-year deal with

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

, still in the second tier. He contributed three goals in 33 appearances in his first season, helping the club to return 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's ...

at the first attempt. Chema's first match in the Spanish top flight took place on 21 August 2017, when he started a 1–0 home win over

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

. He scored his first goal in the competition exactly one month later, helping the hosts defeat

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

3–0 with a spectacular 44th-minute strike from just outside the box.

Nottingham Forest

On 8 August 2019, Chema joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

on a two-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He made his official debut 19 days later, as a substitute in a 3–0 home win against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

in the second round of the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

Getafe and Eibar

Chema returned to Spain on 30 January 2020, after being sold to

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

for an undisclosed fee. On 11 January 2022, he was loaned to second division side Eibar for the remainder of the season. On 21 July 2022, Chema terminated his contract. A few hours later, he returned to Eibar on a three-year deal.

Alcorcón return

On 12 August 2023, after being rarely used during the campaign, Chema returned to Alcorcón.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chema 1992 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Albacete Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Elche CF Ilicitano footballers Atlético Madrid C players Atlético Madrid B players AD Alcorcón B players AD Alcorcón footballers Levante UD footballers Getafe CF footballers SD Eibar footballers English Football League players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England