Javier 'Javi' Rodríguez Venta (born 13 December 1975) is a Spanish retired 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

right-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 ...

. 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's ...

totals of 270 matches and two goals over 11 seasons, mainly with

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

(eight years). He also appeared in the competition with

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

and Levante, and had a brief abroad spell in England with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

Career

Early years

Venta was born in

Pola de Siero Pola de Siero (in Asturian and as official name La Pola Siero, and also known as La Pola colloquially) is a town in the autonomous community of Asturias on the north coast of the Kingdom of Spain. It is the administrative capital of the municipal ...

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

. After playing his early career with modest Spanish clubs he was bought in 1999 by

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, th ...

, but would spend the next three seasons with the

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

(

CD Onda Club Deportivo Onda is a Spanish football team based in Onda, Castellón, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1950 it plays in Regional Preferente – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio La Serratella'', with a capacity of ...

) and on loan stints. He made his

debut in the latter predicament in the 2001–02 season, playing 29 league games for

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 ...

who ranked second-bottom.

Villarreal and Levante

In 2002–03, Venta returned to Villarreal and went on to become a steady first-choice throughout the season. In the 2004–05 campaign he appeared in 32 matches as the

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the Carche, El Carche comarca in Región de Murcia, Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance lan ...

side achieved a club-high third place; he was subsequently named by

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 ...

manager

Luis Aragonés Luis Aragonés Suárez (; 28 July 1938 – 1 February 2014) was a Spanish football player and manager. Aragonés spent the majority of his career as a player and coach at Atlético Madrid. He was a prominent player and then coach of the succe ...

in his provisional 27-man squad for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, but he did not make the final cut. In late April 2010, it was announced that both the 34-year-old Venta and

Robert Pires Robert Emmanuel Pires (born 29 October 1973) is a French association football, football coach and former professional Football player, player. Pires played for French clubs FC Metz, Metz and Olympique de Marseille, Marseille prior to his time wi ...

would be leaving Villarreal. During three years he constantly fought for first-choice status with Ángel López, with both appearing in roughly the same number of games. In late August he signed for one year with

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

, returned to the top division after a two-year absence. Venta started in 25 of his 26 appearances in his second season, totalling 2,224 minutes of action as Levante finished sixth and qualified to the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

for the first time in its history. He did not have an offer to renew his expiring contract, however, and returned to Villarreal for a second stint.

Brentford

On 11 July 2013, aged 37, Venta moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining

Football League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

on a one-year deal with an option to extend to a second season depending on appearances. He scored his only goal for the club in a 5–3 win against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

in that season's

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

on 3 September, which also marked his fourth and final overall appearance; he had his contract terminated by mutual consent on the 30th, and returned to Spain for personal reasons.

Honours

Villarreal *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Venta, Javi 1975 births Living people People from Siero Spanish footballers Footballers from Asturias Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Oviedo Vetusta players Marino de Luanco footballers Gimnástica de Torrelavega footballers Villarreal CF players Racing de Ferrol footballers CD Tenerife players Levante UD footballers English Football League players Brentford F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England