Daniel Cifuentes Alfaro (born 13 July 1980), known as Cifu, is a Spanish

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 as a

right 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

Cifu was born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

. An unsuccessful graduate of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

's youth system, he went on to make his professional debut with

Zamora CF Zamora Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Zamora, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1968 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a c ...

, spending most of his early career in the

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 ...

. In the 2005–06 season, Cifu joined

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 ...

for

€ 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 ...

450.000, making his

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 ...

debut on 21 September 2005 and playing the full 90 minutes in the 3–2 home win over

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 ...

. Never an important element for the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...

he would be loaned, in January 2007, to

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 ...

club SD Ponferradina, and he scored once for his new team, in a 3–3 away draw against

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

– who led 3–0 at the hour mark – on 1 April; Ponferradina would be, however, relegated. Cifu signed for

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

in August 2007. After having featured in only nine matches throughout the campaign, he was released by mutual consent in October of the following year. In late January 2009, Cifu moved to

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

, being part of the squad that returned to the second tier after a one-year absence. In the following season he was an undisputed starter (34 games, 33 starts), but 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 would be immediately relegated. On 21 July 2011, Cifu joined Recreativo de Huelva on a two-year deal. He went on to spend three seasons in the second division with the club, scoring his only goal on 19 October 2013 to help the hosts recover from a three-goal disadvantage against

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

to draw 3–3. Cifu retired in 2020 at the age of 40, following short spells with Lincoln Red Imps (

Gibraltar Premier Division The Gibraltar Premier Division was a football league established by the Gibraltar Football Association (GFA) in 1905, and the top tier of football in Gibraltar. It originally contained eight member clubs, but it has grown over the years. In 19 ...

), Zamora, Atlético Mancha Real and . However, he joined on 25 September 2020.

International career

On 31 December 2017, Cifu announced he would part of the technical staff of the Equatorial Guinean national team for local-based players soon to compete at the

2018 African Nations Championship The 2018 African Nations Championship, known as the Total African Nations Championship (also referred to as CHAN 2018) was the 5th edition of the African Nations Championship, a biennial football tournament organized by the Confederation of Afric ...

.Bodipo alista a otro carismático ex recreativista para Guinea Ecuatorial (Bodipo enlists another charismatic former ''recreativista'' for Equatorial Guinea)
Diario de Huelva, 31 December 2017 (in Spanish)

References

External links

*
Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cifu 1980 births Living people Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Real Madrid C footballers Zamora CF footballers SD Eibar footballers Real Sociedad footballers SD Ponferradina players Real Valladolid players Cádiz CF players Recreativo de Huelva players Gibraltar Premier Division players Lincoln Red Imps F.C. players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Equatorial Guinea