Daniel 'Dani' Hernández Santos (born 21 October 1985) is a retired Venezuelan 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 ...

was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

, Hernández played Spanish lower league and amateur football until the age of 25, competing mainly in the

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest munici ...

. During that time, he represented

CF Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish football team based in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with ...

CD Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

, CU Collado Villalba,

Real Madrid C Real Madrid Club de Fútbol C, commonly known as Real Madrid C, was a Spanish association football team that played in the Tercera División – Group 7. It was Real Madrid's second reserve team. They played their home games at La Ciudad del ...

Rayo Vallecano B Rayo Vallecano de Madrid B is the reserve team of Rayo Vallecano, a Spanish football club based in the Madrid neighbourhood of Vallecas. Founded in 1973 and plays in Tercera Federación – Group 7, holding home matches at '' Ciudad Deportiva Ra ...

Real Jaén Real Jaén Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1929 it plays in Tercera División RFEF, holding home matches at ''Nuevo Estadio de La Victoria'', with a capacit ...

Valencia CF Mestalla Valencia Club de Fútbol Mestalla, shortened to Valencia Mestalla, is the reserve team of Valencia CF, a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake community. Founded in 1944, an ...

and

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

, delivering a ''

Player of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

'' performance on 26 October 2010 in a 0–0 home draw against

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 ...

in the

round of 32 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 ...

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 footbal ...

(5–1 aggregate loss). Additionally, he represented

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in t ...

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 ...

in the first part of the 2009–10 campaign, but his input consisted of two domestic cup appearances.

Valladolid

On 19 August 2011, Hernández signed a 1+2 contract with

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 division two. He spent the vast majority of his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ara ...

as understudy to

Jaime Jaime is a common Spanish and Portuguese male given name for Jacob (name), James (name), Jamie, or Jacques. In Occitania Jacobus became ''Jacome'' and later ''Jacme''. In east Spain, ''Jacme'' became ''Jaime'', in Aragon it became ''Chaime'', and i ...

but, due to injury to his teammate, excelled in the

promotion playoffs 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 ...

as the team returned 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 ...

after a two-year absence, conceding only once in four appearances and three starts. Hernández continued to be first choice in the 2012–13 season, helping the

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

side retain their league status after ranking in 14th position. After a one-year loan in the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

with Asteras Tripolis FC, he acted as backup to Javi Varas.

Tenerife

On 15 January 2015,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Hernández joined second-tier

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

on a short-term deal. In May 2018, he became the club's third goalkeeper with the most matches in Spanish competitions, at 138. Hernández subsequently played second-fiddle to Juan Soriano.

Fuenlabrada

On 14 July 2022, the 36-year-old Hernández signed a two-year contract 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 ...

, recently relegated to the

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, formerly known as Primera División RFEF, is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. It is below the top t ...

International career

Hernández made his debut for

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

on 7 September 2010, in a 1–0 friendly win with

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

. As a backup, he was part of the squad that appeared at the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

in Argentina.

Personal life

Hernández's older brother, Jonay, is a former footballer. A defender, he too spent most of his professional career in Spain, also appearing for the Venezuela national team.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Dani 1985 births Living people Venezuelan people of Spanish descent Venezuelan men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Caracas Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players CF Rayo Majadahonda players CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers CU Collado Villalba players Real Madrid C footballers Rayo Vallecano B players Rayo Vallecano players Real Jaén footballers SD Huesca footballers Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Real Murcia CF players Real Valladolid players CD Tenerife players CF Fuenlabrada footballers Super League Greece players Asteras Tripolis F.C. players Venezuela men's international footballers 2011 Copa América players 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Greece