Jesús Rodríguez Tato (born 12 July 1983) is a Spanish former

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 ...

who played as a striker, currently

assistant 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 o ...

China League One The Chinese Football Association China League (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (中甲联赛), is the second level of professional football in China. Above League One is the Chinese Super League. Prior to the formation of ...

club

Sichuan Jiuniu Sichuan Jiuniu Football Club (Simplified Chinese: 四川九牛足球俱乐部) is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the China League One division under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The te ...

. He spent most of his career in

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 ...

, totalling 191 games and 35 goals in total of seven teams across nine seasons. He also competed professionally in Morocco and India.

Club career

Murcia

Born in

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

, Tato began his development at

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 ...

and concluded it at

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 ...

, where he made his senior debut for the reserves in

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 ...

. In 2004, he returned to his hometown team 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 ...

and made his professional debut on 28 March in a 2–0 home win against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Juanma; he made six further appearances off the bench, as the season ended with relegation. Tato scored his first professional goal on 6 May 2006, a consolation in a 2–1 away loss to

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''No ...

in the

. He followed it eight days later with a brace in a 3–1 victory over

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

at the

Estadio de La Condomina La Condomina is a multi-use stadium in Murcia, Spain. The stadium holds 6,500 spectators and it is currently used mostly for football matches and music concerts. History La Condomina was built in 1924 with an initial capacity of 16,800 spectator ...

, also providing an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

for Nacho Garro. Halfway through Murcia's promotion-winning season, Tato returned to

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 ...

by joining

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 ...

team

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 '' ...

on loan. The following campaign, he remained in the same level at

AD Ceuta Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at ''Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...

, helping them to the play-offs.

Journeyman

In 2008, Tato signed with neighbours

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 spe ...

, and renewed his link after winning promotion to division two via the play-offs in his first season. After a second campaign at the

Estadio Cartagonova Estadio Cartagonova is a multi-purpose stadium in Cartagena, Spain, Cartagena, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and hosts the home matches of Segunda División club, FC Cartagena. The capacity of the st ...

he moved to

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

, where he netted a career-best 13 goals in his only season, which ended in relegation from the second tier. Tato joined

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

in June 2011, being officially presented on 8 July and hoping to help them gain promotion to the top flight, but he left in January 2013 for fellow second division side

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

for the same reason. He extended his contract at the latter club in the summer, after helping it to the play-offs. In February 2014, Tato signed for

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

for the remainder of the season, and remained a

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 ...

from then until September, when he joined

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

still in the second tier. In July 2015, Tato moved abroad for the first time in his career at the age of 32, joining Morocco's

Moghreb Tétouan Moghreb Atletico Tetouan ( ar, المغرب أتلتيكو تطوان; acronym MAT) is a Moroccan football league system, Moroccan football club based in Tetouan. MA Tétouan was founded in 1922 and used to compete in the Tétouan local compétit ...

alongside compatriot José Manuel Rueda. He switched to a third continent in September 2016, signing for

FC Pune City Football Club Pune City was an Indian professional football club based in Pune, Maharashtra, which last participated in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football league system, under licence from AIFF. The club was founded in ...

ahead of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

. He played all but four games for the latter, who missed out on the play-offs, and headed the opening goal of a 1–1 draw at

Delhi Dynamos FC Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

on 27 October. After retiring, Tato worked as assistant manager under his compatriot

Sergio Lobera Sergio Lobera Rodríguez (born 16 January 1977) is a Spanish professional football manager who is the current manager of China League One club Sichuan Jiuniu. Football career Lobera was born in Zaragoza, Aragon. After impressing with Dosa Sal ...

FC Goa Football Club Goa is an Indian professional football club based in Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was established on 26 August 2014. Nicknamed as '' Gaurs'', the club plays their h ...

. On 31 January 2020, the pair left the Fatorda Stadium, resuming their association at Mumbai City FC also of the

and

side Sichuan Jiuniu FC.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tato, Jesus 1983 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Murcia Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players Real Murcia players UE Lleida players AD Ceuta footballers FC Cartagena footballers Albacete Balompié players Xerez CD footballers UD Las Palmas players Girona FC players Real Zaragoza players La Roda CF players Botola players MA Tétouan players Indian Super League players FC Pune City players Gibraltar Premier Division players Lincoln Red Imps F.C. players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Morocco Expatriate men's footballers in India Expatriate men's footballers in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China