Josep Moratalla Claramunt (born 1 October 1958) 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 le ...

who played as a

central defender 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 ...

, and a

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 ...

Playing career

Born in

Esparreguera Esparreguera (; es, Esparraguera) is a municipality in Catalonia, in the province of Barcelona, Spain. It is situated in the comarca of el Baix Llobregat. Esparreguera is famous in Catalonia for staging a grand version of the play ''Life and Pas ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Moratalla signed for

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 ...

in 1972 at the age of 13. He played seven seasons with the national powerhouse (also being loaned to Deportivo de La Coruña 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 ...

as he was due to perform his compulsory military service in Galicia), but only appeared a total of 19 times 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 ...

in his first four years, barred by José Ramón Alexanko and

Migueli Miguel Bernardo Bianquetti (born 19 December 1951), known as Migueli, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender. A player of immense physical power – he was nicknamed ''Tarzan''– he was best known for his Barcelona sp ...

– for instance, when the ''Blaugrana'' won the national championship in the 1984–85 campaign, he only totalled 104 minutes in two matches; he made his league debut for the club on 28 February 1982, coming on as a late substitute in a 2–0 home win against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

. Even though used rarely in his beginnings, Moratalla started in the 1982 European Cup Winners' Cup Final, a 2–1 victory over Standard Liège at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

, Additionally, he was brought from the bench in the

1986 European Cup Final The 1986 European Cup Final was a football match held at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, Seville, on 7 May 1986 that saw Steaua București of Romania defeat Barcelona of Spain in a penalty shoot out after 120 minutes of play could not separ ...

, lost in a penalty shootout to

FC Steaua București FC Steaua București was a Romanian professional football club of which two current entities are claiming the records. The original ''FC Steaua București'' team was part of the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club and belonged to the Ministry ...

. Moratalla played with Barcelona until 1988, being first choice in his final two years and adding 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 ...

to his trophy cabinet in his last. He retired from football at only 32 after three seasons in the second level with another team in his native region,

UE Figueres Unió Esportiva Figueres is a Spanish football team based in Figueres, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1919 and refounded in 2007 it plays in the Primera Catalana league, holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal de Vilateni ...

Coaching career

Moratalla started working as a manager in 1992, and all of his clubs hailed from his region of birth and competed in the lower leagues. His first job was at

FC Santboià Futbol Club Santboià is a Spanish football team based in Sant Boi de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1908 it plays in Tercera División – Group 5, holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal Joan Baptista Milà ...

, followed by CE Europa where he would have two separate spells. Moratalla's only experience in

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 ...

came during 2000–01 with

CE Premià Club Esportiu Premià is a Spanish football team based in Premià de Mar, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1915, it plays in Segona Catalana, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal de Premià'', with a capacity of 1,500 ...

, where he ultimately did not possess the necessary requirements to coach at that level after failing his exam. The team eventually ranked in last position, and he went on to be in charge of

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 ...

from

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 ...

for two years. Additionally, Moratalla acted as sporting president of Barcelona's ''Agrupació Barça Jugadors'', who held several activities and events involving past players of the organization.

Honours

Barcelona *

: 1984–85 *

: 1982–83, 1987–88; Runner-up 1983–84, 1985–86 *

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1981–82 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

runner-up:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

European Cup 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 ...

runner-up: 1985–86

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Moratalla, Josep 1958 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Catalonia Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players Deportivo de La Coruña players FC Barcelona players UE Figueres footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers FC Santboià managers CE Europa managers Girona FC managers