Jonathan Ñíguez Esclápez (born 2 April 1985), commonly known as Jony, is a Spanish 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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Athletic Club Torrellano. Having begun his career in the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s of

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

, he later became a

journeyman A journeyman, journeywoman, or journeyperson is a worker, skilled in a given building trade or craft, who has successfully completed an official apprenticeship qualification. Journeymen are considered competent and authorized to work in that fie ...

Club career

Jony was born in

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

. With the exception of one

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 ...

game with

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

, he played until the age of 26 in lower league football, representing mainly

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 ...

and

Ontinyent CF Ontinyent Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Ontinyent, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1947 it held home games at ''Estadio El Clariano'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. On 28 March 2019, due to economic pr ...

. In the summer of 2011, Jony returned to the second level 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 ...

, playing 33 games (26 starts) as his new team went on to retain their newly acquired league status. He scored his first goal during the following season, but in a 1–5 home loss against

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 ...

on 25 August 2012. On 2 August 2013, following Guadalajara's relegation due to financial irregularities, Jony stayed in division two by signing for two years with

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo ...

. He made 25 competitive appearances over the campaign, being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in the penultimate fixture on 3 May 2014, a 1–0 win over

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

at the Estadio Santo Domingo. Jony moved abroad for the first time on 4 July 2014, signing a two-year deal at Portuguese club

Rio Ave FC Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which flows through the town and into the Atlant ...

. He was not included in their squad for that year's

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

, nor did he feature at all in 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 ...

, his input eventually consisting of three official matches; his sole

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

appearance came on 17 May 2015 in the penultimate game of the season, coming on as a substitute for

Diego Lopes Diego Hipólito da Silva Lopes (born 3 May 1994), known as Diego Lopes, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors. Career Born in São Paulo, Lopes arrived in Portugal i ...

for the final two minutes of a 0–4 loss at

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

. Jony then joined

CD Feirense Clube Desportivo Feirense, commonly known as CD Feirense or just Feirense, is a Portuguese football club based in Santa Maria da Feira. Founded on 18 March 1918, Feirense play in the LigaPro, the second tier of Portuguese football. Their chairma ...

, making one

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

appearance and two unused substitute roles in the Segunda Liga before he and Otávio Guariente had the contracts cancelled. He resumed his career on 10 February 2016 in Slovenia at

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top flight of Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. ...

, and turned down an approach by

CD Alcoyano Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1928 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games in ''Estadio El Collao'', with a 4,850-seat ...

in June. On 8 June 2016, Jony's contract with Koper was mutually terminated. Later that month, he made the move to Alcoyano, and scored a career-best 11 goals over the campaign to reach the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

; this included two in a 3–2 home defeat of

FC Barcelona B FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

on 11 September. Jony signed for

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 ...

in June 2017. Before playing a game, he rescinded his contract and moved to

UCAM Murcia CF Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Fútbol, commonly known as UCAM Murcia or simply UCAM, is a Spanish football club based in Murcia. Founded in 1999 it plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio de La Condomina'', with ...

in the same league on 31 August. On 26 December, he left the latter side by the same manner, and joined

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

from his hometown the next day. Jony scored his first Elche goal on 6 May 2018 to open a 1–1 draw against

provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

rivals

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

in the penultimate round of a season that ended with promotion by the playoffs. After making just one substitute appearance in 2018–19 in the second tier, he was loaned back to Alcoyano in July 2019, this time in the

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 ...

; the move was extended for a further year on 8 September 2020.

Personal life

Jony comes from a football family: his father, José Antonio, played several years with

– including the 1984–85 season 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 ...

– as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. His younger brother,

Aarón Aarón is the Spanish form of the Biblical name Aharon. Notable people who are often referred to solely by this name include: * Puerto Rican Pentecostal sect leader Teófilo Vargas Seín, who uses Aarón as his religious title * Aarón Ñíguez ...

(another midfielder), was also brought up at Valencia, spending his entire senior career in the lower leagues. The youngest, Saúl, was brought up at

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jony 1985 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Elche Association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Villarreal CF B players Ontinyent CF players UD Las Palmas players CD Mirandés footballers CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers AD Alcorcón footballers CD Alcoyano footballers RCD Mallorca players UCAM Murcia CF players Elche CF players Primeira Liga players Rio Ave F.C. players C.D. Feirense players Slovenian PrvaLiga players FC Koper players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Slovenia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia