Daniel "Dani" Cancela Rodríguez (; born 23 September 1981) is a former 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 played 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 ...

. Born in Spain, he spent most of his career with

Kitchee Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, in ...

in Hong Kong after signing in 2010, eventually going on to represent the Hong Kong national team.

Club career

Spain

Born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; es, La Coruña ; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality of Galicia, Spain. A Coruña is the most populated city in Galicia and the second most populated municipality in the autonomous community and s ...

, Galicia, Cancela played several years for

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, but only appeared officially for the reserves where he spent five seasons, four in 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 Di ...

. He was also loaned to amateurs Malpica SDC during his contract. After leaving the

Estadio Riazor Estadio Municipal de Riazor (), also known as Estadio ABANCA-RIAZOR for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater stadium in A Coruña, Spain. The stadium is the home of Deportivo de La Coruña, and accommodates a total of 32,660 spectators, making ...

in 2006, Cancela moved to 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 ...

, competing two seasons apiece with

CF Fuenlabrada Club de Fútbol Fuenlabrada, S.A.D. is a football club based in Fuenlabrada, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, the third tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded in 1975. It holds ...

and

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 ...

Hong Kong

Cancela signed for

Kitchee SC Kitchee Sports Club (; ; ) is a Hong Kong professional Association football, football club based in Kowloon. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. The club has won championships in Hong Kong 11 times, in ...

in Hong Kong on 26 July 2010, alongside compatriots

Fernando Recio Fernando Recio Comí (; born 17 December 1982) is a professional footballer who plays mainly as a central defender for Hong Kong Premier League club Lee Man. Born in Spain, he spent most of his professional career with Kitchee in Hong Kong af ...

and Jordi Tarrés. On 28 January of the following year, he renewed his contract for another two years. On 19 August 2022, after a match against BG Pathum United F.C. in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

, Cancela announced his retirement at the age of 40. He made 250 competitive appearances during his spell at the

Mong Kok Stadium Mong Kok Stadium () is a stadium in Mong Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong. With a capacity of 6,664 (comprising four stands of 1,666), it hosts Hong Kong Premier League football matches, with Southern and Kitchee currently sharing the venue. The stadium ...

, winning several honours including eight Premier Leagues.

International career

Cancela received his Hong Kong passport in October 2017, at the age of 36. He made his debut for the national team on 5 October, in a 4–0 friendly win over

Laos Laos (, ''Lāo'' )), officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ, French: République démocratique populaire lao), is a socialist ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Kitchee *

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inaugural seaso ...

: 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2019–20,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Hong Kong First Division The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the third oldest in Asia. The league was formerly the highest division in Hong Kong until the formation o ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12, 2013–14 *

Hong Kong Senior Shield The Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield (), known commonly as the Senior Shield, is the football knockout inter-club competition held in Hong Kong and the fourth oldest football tournament in Asia. Traditionally, only the teams in the Hong Kong Pr ...

: 2016–17, 2018–19 *

Hong Kong FA Cup Hong Kong FA Cup () is a knockout cup competition in Hong Kong football, run by and named after The Hong Kong Football Association. The first edition of the competition was held in 1975, before then the cup was known as the Golden Jubilee Cup. Th ...

: 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2014–15, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 *

Hong Kong Sapling Cup Hong Kong Football Association Sapling Cup (), more commonly known as Sapling Cup (), is a Hong Kong domestic football competition contested by all the teams in the Hong Kong Premier League. The objective of the Cup is to provide more playing opp ...

: 2017–18, 2019–20 *

Hong Kong League Cup Hong Kong Football Association League Cup () is an annual football competition contested by clubs in the top-tier Hong Kong domestic football league (currently Hong Kong Premier League). The cup was relaunched for the 2014–15 season after being ...

: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cancela, Dani 1981 births Living people Spanish emigrants to Hong Kong Spanish footballers Hong Kong footballers Footballers from A Coruña Naturalized footballers of Hong Kong Association football defenders Segunda División B players Tercera División players Deportivo Fabril players CF Fuenlabrada footballers CD Lugo players Hong Kong First Division League players Hong Kong Premier League players Kitchee SC players Hong Kong League XI representative players Hong Kong international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Hong Kong Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong