Francisco Rodríguez García (8 March 1934 – 17 May 2022), nicknamed Rodri, was 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 played as a defender.

Club career

Rodri was born in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

. After having already played his youth football at the club, Rodri signed for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in 1958 from neighbours

CD Condal Club Deportivo Condal was a Spanish football club based in Barcelona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1934 and dissolved in 1970, it held home games at ''Camp de Les Corts'', with a capacity of 25,000 spectators. History ...

. He totalled 48 games over his first two seasons, which ended in

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 ...

conquest, but appeared in only nine matches in his last four. Rodri made his debut in the top division with Condal, in a 6–0 away loss 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 ...

on 9 September 1956, with the season ending in relegation. He left Barcelona in 1966 at the age of 32, retiring shortly after. He acted as assistant manager at his main team for six years, mostly under

Rinus Michels Marinus Jacobus Hendricus Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch football player and coach. He played his entire career for AFC Ajax, which he later managed, and played for and later managed the Netherlands national team ...

International career

Rodri earned four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

in 1962, and was included in the squad for that year's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

. In the tournament in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

he appeared in a 1–0 win over

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and a 2–1 defeat to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, in an eventual group-stage exit.

Death

Rodri died on 17 May 2022, aged 88.

Honours

Barcelona *

: 1958–59, 1959–60 *

Copa del Generalísimo 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 ...

: 1958–59, 1962–63 *

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

: 1958–60

References

External links

*
FC Barcelona profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rodri 1934 births 2022 deaths Spanish footballers Footballers from Barcelona Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players CD Condal players FC Barcelona players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Spain B international footballers Spain international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Spanish football managers CD Condal managers FC Barcelona non-playing staff