Francisco José "Curro" Montoya Gómez (born 13 February 1977) 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 defensive midfielder.

Club career

Montoya was born in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

. After starting his development at

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

he finished it with neighbouring Valencia CF, going on to spend five years with their reserves in the

third division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. In 2000–01 he made 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, appearing rarely for

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

in a relegation-ending season. Subsequently, Montoya played seven years in the second level, with Real Jaén, Elche CF,

Ciudad de Murcia Club de Fútbol Ciudad de Murcia, usually abbreviated to Ciudad de Murcia, was a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the namesake autonomous community. They played at the 16,000-seater ''Estadio de La Condomina''. Ciudad Murcia was reloca ...

and

Granada 74 CF Granada 74 Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Granada 74, was a Spanish football team based in Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It has not registered in any competition since 2009, it held home matches at ''Estadio La ...

. In his debut campaign at the latter club he suffered a serious injury which sidelined him for several months, as the team suffered relegation. In 2009–10, Montoya represented

Atlético Ciudad Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

and Orihuela CF, both in division three and both undergoing institutional and economic problems. For the following season, he joined

CF La Nucía Club de Fútbol La Nucía is a Spanish football team based in La Nucía, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1995, it plays in Segunda Federación - Group 3, holding home games at '' Estadio Camilo Cano'', which has a capacity of 3 ...

of the fourth tier.

International career

Montoya represented

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 in Malaysia. It was th ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, playing four games for the eventual quarter-finalists in a squad which also featured Valencia youth graduates

David Albelda David Albelda Aliqués (; born 1 September 1977) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently a manager. He played mainly for local Valencia during his extensive professional career, being team captain for ov ...

, Miguel Ángel Angulo and

Javier Farinós Francisco Javier Farinós Zapata (born 29 March 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder. He amassed La Liga totals of 225 games and 18 goals over ten seasons, mainly in representation of Valencia (four years), Villarre ...

Honours

Spain U18 * UEFA European Under-18 Championship:

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Montoya, Curro 1977 births Living people Footballers from Alicante Spanish footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers CD Numancia players Real Jaén footballers Elche CF players Ciudad de Murcia footballers Granada 74 CF footballers Orihuela CF players Spain men's youth international footballers