Jordi Gómez García-Penche (; born 24 May 1985) 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

central 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 ...

. After playing for 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 both

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 ...

and

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

, he went on to spend the vast majority of his career in England, mainly with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

, with whom he won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

in 2013.

Club career

Early years

Born in

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 ...

, Gómez emerged through

's youth ranks, and played once for the first team in competitive games, coming on for

Thiago Motta Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is a professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of club Bologna. A midfielder, Motta spent his early career at Barcelona, where he was injury-prone. He played two and ...

in the 68th minute of a 6–0 win against Zamora in the

Copa del Rey 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 ...

, on 11 January 2006. Gómez completed his formation with neighbours

, and made his official debut with the latter in a 4–0 away defeat to

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 ...

on 23 March 2008. He appeared in a further two

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 ...

matches during his tenure, always as a second-half substitute.

Swansea City

On 6 June 2008, Gómez signed for

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

of the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

on a

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 ...

-long

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

, for a fee of £200,000; teammate

Albert Serrán Albert Serrán Polo (born 17 July 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defender for CF Montañesa. He can occupy all three defensive positions. Club career Born in Barcelona, Catalonia, Serrán was a product of RCD Espany ...

also made the move, albeit in a permanent situation. He scored the winning goal with a deflected

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

against rivals

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

on 23 September, in the first

South Wales derby The South Wales derby is a local derby between Welsh association football clubs Cardiff City and Swansea City. The fixture has been described by ''The Independent'' as one of the fiercest rivalries in British football. Although based in Wales, ...

for seven years. Gómez was described by scouts as having "a lovely ability to receive the ball in space or if he is marked tightly, find space after his first touch". Whilst on loan, reports surfaced that Swansea wanted to sign him permanently and other teams were supposedly interested in acquiring his services, but nothing came of it, as manager

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, currently as head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Real Zaragoza ...

eventually announced the club would not be able to retain the player due to his high price tag.

Wigan Athletic

Gómez finished the season with 14 goals in all competitions and returned to Espanyol, being immediately sold to

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

on a three-year contract on 19 June 2009, with the transfer fee estimated to be in the region of £1.7 million – the move also meant he would be reunited with former Swansea boss, countryman Martínez. He made his debut in a 2–0 victory over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

on 15 August, and netted his first goal for the club against

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

on 5 December, albeit in a 2–3 home loss. Gómez scored his second league goal in a 2–0 defeat of

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 2 October 2010. However, during the match, he escaped suffering a

leg A leg is a weight-bearing and animal locomotion, locomotive anatomical structure, usually having a columnar shape. During locomotion, legs function as "extensible struts". The combination of movements at all joints can be modeled as a single ...

injury after a challenge from

Karl Henry Karl Levi Daniel Henry (born 26 November 1982) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Boldmere St. Michaels. Henry was a product of the Stoke City academy who went on to make over 120 appearances for the club, also spending ti ...

. On 17 December 2011, Gómez scored the equaliser for the hosts in a 1–1 draw against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, his fourth goal in five league games. He netted the second goal at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the eighth minute of an eventual 2–1 away win on 16 April 2012 at the

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. It has a current seated capacity ...

, and the Latics once again managed to avoid relegation. On 28 August 2012, Gómez scored once as Wigan defeated

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

4–1 away to reach the third round of the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. On 24 November he netted a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

to help his club win 3–2 at home against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

at the

DW Stadium The DW Stadium is a stadium in Robin Park, in Wigan, within the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The ground is owned and managed by Wigan Football Company Limited, which is 85% owned by Wigan Athletic and 15% owned ...

, becoming just the second Spaniard to achieve the feat in the Premier League after

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of Atlético Madrid Juvenil A. Due to his consistent goalscoring rate as a young player, ...

. On 9 March 2013, Gómez provided the cross from which

Maynor Figueroa Maynor Alexis Figueroa Róchez (born 2 May 1983) is a Honduran professional footballer who plays as a centre-back. He is best known for his time at Wigan Athletic, where he made 179 Premier League appearances and won the 2013 FA Cup. Figueroa ...

opened the scoring at Everton, and he himself added the final 3–0 for his team's third goal in as many minutes, in an eventual qualification to the semi-finals of the

. He helped them win the competition, being replaced after 81 minutes by Ben Watson, who went on to score the winning goal; however, only three days later, with him on the pitch again, the side were relegated from the top division following a 1–4 away defeat to Arsenal. Gómez remained at Wigan for their first season back in the Championship, and also took part in the club's inaugural campaign 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 ...

. On 12 December 2013, in the last group stage match, he scored a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

to put his team ahead at

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

, but the Slovene ultimately won 2–1.

Sunderland

On 29 May 2014, Gómez signed a three-year deal with

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

on a free transfer after his contract at Wigan expired. He made his debut on 16 August, coming on as a 68th-minute substitute for

Jack Rodwell Jack Christian Rodwell (born 11 March 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays for Sydney FC as a centre-back or defensive midfielder. Rodwell joined Everton's academy at the age of seven, and made his debut in 2007. He spent fi ...

in a 2–2 draw away to

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, and scored his first goal 11 days later August in a 3–0

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

second round victory at Birmingham City. Gómez scored his first league goal for his new team on 3 November, the second in a 3–1 away win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

. His third goal of the campaign came on 13 December, where he scored a penalty to open the scoring in a 1–1 draw at home to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. On 3 February 2015, Gómez netted another penalty in a 3–1 win at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

in an FA Cup fourth round replay. On 2 May, again from 12 yards, he scored once in each half as the ''Black Cats'' defeated

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

2–1 at the

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

. The following week, his shot was deflected in by

Danny Graham Daniel Graham (born 1978) is an American football player. Daniel Graham may also refer to: * Bob Graham (born 1936), Daniel Robert Graham, American politician *Daniel O. Graham (1926–1995), American general and political activist *Danny Graham ( ...

to give the latter his first Sunderland goal, in a 2–0 away victory over Everton; still in that month, he was ruled out for the last three games of the season with a fractured kneecap. In the last minutes of the 2016 winter

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 win ...

, after making only six appearances in the first half of the season, Gómez was loaned to Championship club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

until June. He scored in his debut on 6 February, helping to a 1–1 draw at

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Three weeks later he netted twice, including a last-minute winner from a 30-yard free kick in a 3–2 win against

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

Three clubs in two years

On 17 August 2016, Gómez rejoined Wigan Athletic on a one-year contract. He returned to Spain after nearly nine years on 31 January 2017, signing with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

of the

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 ...

. Gómez moved to Bulgarian club

Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

on 6 July 2017, on a two-year deal.

Omonia

On 16 August 2018, Gómez joined Omonia of the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

on a two-year contract. Already as

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, he agreed to extensions until 2021 and 2022. Gómez team was leading the 2019–20 championship when the season was abandoned due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

; although they were not awarded the title, they did secure a place in the qualifying rounds of 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 competit ...

. The following campaign proved successful for team and player, as Gómez helped them qualify for the group stage of a European competition for the first time in history. On 29 October 2020, he scored a goal from inside his own half in a 2–1 home loss against PSV in the

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 ...

, breaking the record for the furthest distance for a goal ever scored in the competition. He ended the domestic league as a champion, Omonia's first in 11 years. On 25 November 2021, Gómez scored again from inside his own half in the 89th minute of a 2–2 away draw at Qarabağ in the

Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

. The following February, he suffered a ruptured knee ligament which kept him out of action for several months. He scored his last goal for the club on 5 January in the 1–1 away draw against

Pafos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

, and in May it was announced that the 37-year-old would not be retained.

Career statistics

Honours

Wigan Athletic *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

Omonia *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

: 2021–22 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is us ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Individual *

Team of the Year: 2008–09 *

Player of the Year: 2013–14

References

External links

Levski Sofia official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Jordi 1985 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Barcelona Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Rayo Vallecano players Premier League players English Football League players Swansea City A.F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC Levski Sofia players Cypriot First Division players AC Omonia players FA Cup Final players Spain youth international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Wales Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Wales Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus