Gerardo García León (born 7 December 1974), known simply as Gerardo, 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 ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

EDF Logroño EDF may refer to: Organisations * Eclaireurs de France, a French Scouting association * Education for Development Foundation, a Thai charity * Électricité de France, a French energy company ** EDF Energy, their British subsidiary ** EDF Luminus, ...

women's team. A defender of wide range, he operated on the right flank. During his extensive professional career he played for ten different clubs, all in his country, after emerging through Real Madrid's youth system. He amassed

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' ...

totals of 240 games and nine goals mainly in representation of Málaga (five seasons), adding 280 matches and 19 goals in the Segunda División.

Club career

Born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

, Gerardo was an unsuccessful Real Madrid graduate – he never appeared for the first team – and started playing professionally in the Segunda División, with CD Leganés,

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with '' ...

and CD Badajoz. In 1998–99 he made his debut in

, playing 34 matches for

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

who was relegated at the season's end. Having started 1999–2000 in the second division, Gerardo was purchased by

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

in January 2000, appearing scarcely for the ''Che'' during the campaign but being a starter in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

loss to Real Madrid. He spent 2000–01 on loan to

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

, also in the top flight. Gerardo had his most successfully period at Málaga CF, playing five seasons for a side that had four consecutive mid-table positions and also helping them win the

2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Málaga, Fulham, and Stuttgart. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- -- ...

. In 2005–06 the team finished last, with the player scoring twice (in two 2–1 defeats). For 2006–07, Gerardo joined Real Sociedad, who would also be relegated at the end of the campaign. He retained his first-choice status in his second and third years. Gerardo moved to Córdoba CF initially for one season, in the last hours of the August 2009

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

. After only 12 second-tier games in the second season, the 36-year-old left after his contract was not re-renewed, and signed for

SD Logroñés Sociedad Deportiva Logroñés is a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. Team colours are white-and-red shirts and black shorts. Hist ...

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 ...

, retiring two years later. After retiring, Gerardo founded the 'Gerardo García León

Tiki-taka Tiki-taka or Tiqui-taca () is a style of play in Spain's football, characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession. The style is primarily associated with the Spain nation ...

Football Academy' and also acted as youth coach for amateurs Comillas CF. On 12 June 2019, he was appointed manager of Primera División (women) team

Personal life

Gerardo's two older brothers,

Eduardo Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male given name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Eduardo Bonvallet, Chilean football player and sports commentator * Eduardo Carvalho, Portuguese footba ...

(born 1969) and Moisés, and younger Manuel (1978), were also footballers. The second, a forward, played nearly 600 games as a professional.El adiós del trotamundos del fútbol (The globetrotter of football's goodbye)
Marca, 3 June 2013 (in Spanish)

Honours

Valencia *

runner-up: 1999–2000 Málaga * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002 Spain U16 *

UEFA European Under-16 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain national under ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

Spain U17 *

FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup, founded as the FIFA U-16 World Championship, later changed to U-17 in 1991 and to its current name in 2007, is the world championship of association football for male players under the age of 17 organized by ''Fédération ...

runner-up:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Leon, Gerardo 1974 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Seville Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid C footballers CD Leganés players UE Lleida players CD Badajoz players Villarreal CF players Valencia CF players CA Osasuna players Málaga CF players Real Sociedad footballers Córdoba CF players SD Logroñés players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spanish football managers Primera División (women) managers