José Manuel Catalá Mazuecos (born 1 January 1985) is a Spanish

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 plays for CD Gerena 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 ...

or a

left back 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Villajoyosa La Vila Joiosa () is a coastal town and municipality in the Province of Alicante, Valencian Community, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. The town is known to the locals simply as La Vila. It is the historic and administrative capital of the ''co ...

Province of Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is the second most populated Valencian province. Likewise, the second and third biggest cities in the Valencian Community (Alica ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous comm ...

, Catalá emerged through local club

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the S ...

's youth ranks, making his senior debut 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 Fo ...

where he successively represented

Villajoyosa CF Villajoyosa Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Vila Joiosa, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1942, in the 2022–23 season, the club competes in Regional Preferente – Group 4, holding home matches at the ' ...

Valencia CF Mestalla Valencia Club de Fútbol Mestalla, shortened to Valencia Mestalla, is the reserve team of Valencia CF, a Spanish football club based in Valencia, in the namesake community. Founded in 1944, and currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group ...

and Alicante CF. He helped the latter promote to Segunda División, in 2008. After suffering immediate relegation with Alicante, Catalá continued in that level with

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, ...

's reserves. He was instrumental as they avoided relegation in their first-ever year in the competition, totalling 2,444 minutes of action and scoring once. Catalá was promoted to the first team for the 2010–11 season, aged already 25. He managed to provide stiff competition to veteran

Joan Capdevila Joan Capdevila Méndez (; born 3 February 1978) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left back. Over 15 seasons in La Liga, he amassed totals of 410 matches and 36 goals, mainly for Deportivo and Villarreal. In a 21- ...

, inclusively relegating the European and

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

to the bench in some games. He finished his first year 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' ...

with 30 competitive matches to his credit – 16 in the league, five 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 footb ...

and nine in a semi-final run 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. ...

El Cádiz hace una oferta a Catalá, defensa del Murcia (Cádiz make an offer to Catalá, Murcia defender)
El Desmarque, 12 July 2013 (in Spanish)– opening the score on 3 January 2011 in a 2–0 home win against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

as the side eventually finished fourth and qualified to 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 competi ...

. After leaving the ''Yellow Submarine'', Catalá totalled just 27 appearances in two seasons for

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 h ...

and

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Div ...

, the latter in 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 official ...

. On 8 August 2014 he changed teams and countries again, joining Veria F.C. of the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

. Catalá made his debut for his new team on 24 August 2014, coming on as a late substitute in a 3–2 home victory over Skoda Xanthi FC. His first start occurred against Ergotelis FC, his two mistakes resulting in both of the opposition's goals in an eventual 2–2 away draw. After failing to perform overall, player and club agreed to mutually terminate the contract on 26 May 2015. In the following years, Catalá played in the Spanish third division.José Manuel Catalá se convierte en el octavo fichaje del FC Jumilla (José Manuel Catalá becomes FC Jumilla's eighth signing)
Tele Jumilla, 21 July 2017 (in Spanish)

Club statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catala, Jose 1985 births Living people People from Villajoyosa Sportspeople from the Province of Alicante Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Villajoyosa CF footballers Alicante CF footballers Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Real Murcia players Racing de Ferrol footballers SD Ejea players FC Jumilla players CD Gerena players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players Super League Greece players Veria F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece