José Joaquín Moreno Verdú (born 6 January 1975), known as Josico, 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 ...

who played as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

, currently 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 ...

. His 16-year professional career was mainly associated with

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife), the most populous city in the auto ...

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 ...

(six years apiece), and 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' ...

totals of 240 matches and 13 goals over nine seasons.

Playing career

Born in

Hellín Hellín is a city and municipality of Spain located in the province of Albacete, Castilla–La Mancha. The municipality spans across a total area of 781.66 km2. As of 1 January 2020, it has a population of 30,200, which makes it the second largest ...

Province of Albacete Albacete ( es, Provincia de Albacete, ) is a province of central Spain, in the southern part of the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. As of 2012, Albacete had a population of 402,837 people. Its capital city, also called Albacete, is ...

, Josico made his debut in

with

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 ...

in the 1995–96 season, immediately after joining from local amateurs

Hellín Deportivo Hellín Deportivo is a Spanish football team based in Hellín, Province of Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1989 it plays in Tercera División Group 18, holding home matches at '' Estadio Santa Ana'', with a ...

. He played 28 matches (scoring twice), but his team was relegated after five consecutive years in the top division; his first game in the competition occurred on 18 November 1995, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 away loss against

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. Found ...

. Josico went on to represent

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 t ...

for four seasons, joining

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, ...

for the 2002–03 campaign, where he played a major part in the club's domestic and European consolidation: in 2004–05 the player made 29 appearances – 28 as starter – as the

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 wi ...

side finished third, as well as being their captain. Deemed surplus to requirements by Villarreal boss

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Lúis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed teams in Spain, England, Argentina, Chile, China and Ecuador. ...

, Josico joined Fenerbahçe S.K. on 28 August 2008 as the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side was coached by former

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 ...

. After just one season in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, where he was used sparingly, he was released, and quickly signed with one of his first clubs, Las Palmas in the Segunda División, at the same time of former teammate Antonio Guayre. In late May 2011, after having contributed 25 matches to help his team to avoid relegation, the 36-year-old Josico announced his retirement from professional football. He returned to the Canary Islands the following year, being charged with watching the opposing teams.

Coaching career

Josico was appointed Las Palmas' first-team manager on 26 May 2014, replacing the fired

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 ...

after a 2–3 home loss against

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

. He still managed to lead the side to the sixth position in the regular season, then ousted

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, ...

2–0 on aggregate in the top-flight promotion playoffs. On 3 July 2014, Josico moved to the Canarians'

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 ...

in the Segunda División B. In the following years, he continued working in the lower leagues.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Las Palmas * Segunda División: 1999–2000 Villarreal * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2003, 2004 Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Josico 1975 births Living people People from Hellín Sportspeople from the Province of Albacete Spanish footballers Footballers from Castilla–La Mancha Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Albacete Balompié players UD Las Palmas players Villarreal CF players Süper Lig players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Turkey Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Segunda Federación managers UD Las Palmas managers FC Jumilla managers CD Atlético Baleares managers Elche CF managers