José Antonio Pedrosa Galán (born 2 February 1986) 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 for

Gibraltar Football League The Gibraltar Football League is the only senior tier of association football in Gibraltar, founded in 2019 as the Gibraltar National League after a merger of the Gibraltar Premier Division, which served as the top division of football on the R ...

club

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

, on loan from Bruno's Magpies. A known journeyman, Galan is currently the Spanish player who has played in the most countries (14).

Club career

Spain

Galán was born in León,

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

. A

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

youth graduate, he made his debut as a senior with

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 ...

's C-team in 2005, in

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 ...

; in the same season, matches with the reserves 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 ...

. In 2007, after one year at

CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 18, holding home games at '' Estadio Salto del Caballo'', ...

, Galán moved to

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 ...

, being initially assigned to the B-side. In November 2009, after being already called up to the main squad by manager

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fo ...

, he suffered a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury which sidelined him for ten months. Galán was subsequently released by the ''Rojiblancos'', and returned to action in September 2010 while playing for division four club

Atlético Astorga FC Atlético Astorga Fútbol Club is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Astorga, Spain, Astorga in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1969, it plays in the Tercera División RFEF, Tercera Divisió ...

. In January of the following year, he moved to CD Comarca de Níjar in the same tier.

Journeyman

On 16 July 2011, Galán returned to his first club Cultural. On 31 January of the following year he moved abroad, after agreeing to a one-year deal with

Chainat FC Chainat Hornbill Football Club (Thai alphabet, Thai สโมสรฟุตบอลชัยนาท ฮอร์นบิล) is a Thai professional association football club based in Chai Nat province. The club plays in Thai League 2. Hist ...

from the

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

; he was also the first Spaniard to ever appear in the competition. In June 2012, Galán was released due to an

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

injury. In February 2013, he signed a two-year contract with

Liga Indonesia Premier Division Liga 2 (English: ''League Two'') is the second-tier of the football competition system in Indonesia, organized by PSSI. Before 2017, this competition was named the Liga Indonesia Premier Division (from 1994 to 2007, it was the top-tier divisio ...

team

Pro Duta FC Pro Duta Football Club is an Indonesian professional football club based in Medan, North Sumatra. Recently, it won the Indonesian Premier League (IPL) Play-off 2013 and had several friendly matches in Europe and Thailand during the Dare to Dream ...

, becoming the first Spanish footballer in the country in the process. Galán switched teams and countries again on 1 March 2014, signing for

Austrian Football First League The Austrian Football Second League (german: 2. Liga) is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. It was formerly called the First League (''Erste Liga''), from 2002 to 2018. The division currently contains 16 teams, and t ...

SKN St. Pölten Sportklub Niederösterreich St. Pölten is an Austrian football club from Sankt Pölten, capital of the Austrian state of Lower Austria. St. Pölten currently play in the Austrian Football Second League, the second tier of the Austrian footbal ...

. After appearing rarely, he moved to

Shabab Al-Ordon Club Shabab Al-Ordon Club ( ar, نادي شباب الأردن, lit=''Jordan Youth Club'') is a Jordanian professional football club based in Amman, that competes in the Jordanian Pro League. The club was established in 2002 and is considered as ...

in Jordania. On 3 September 2015, Galán joined

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 ...

club

Aris Limassol FC Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadium ...

. He left in December due to a lack of payment, meeting the same fate at his next team,

CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Club Sportiv Municipal Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, commonly known as Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț () or simply as Ceahlăul, is a Romanian football club based in Piatra Neamț, Neamț County, currently playing in the Liga III. Originally established in ...

from Romania. Still in 2016, Galán represented

Persela Lamongan Persatuan Sepakbola Lamongan, or commonly known as Persela, is an Indonesian football club based in Lamongan, East Java. Currently the club plays in Liga 2, the second tier of football in the country. History Although it has been establishe ...

in the

Indonesia Soccer Championship Indonesia Soccer Championship (ISC; id, Kejuaraan Sepak Bola Indonesia), also known as Torabika Soccer Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a temporarily professional football competition system in Indonesia, replacing the temporarily-suspe ...

and Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga (; sv, Tipsligan) is the premier division of Finnish football, the highest tier of the Finnish football league structure, comprising the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agency Veikkau ...

Rovaniemen Palloseura Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football (soccer), football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. In 2019 RoPS participated in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') marking their 32nd season in the top flight (previo ...

. Whilst in representation of the former, he was selected to the July Team of the Month. On 26 July 2017, after unassuming spells at

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in Tercera División RFEF - Group 5, holding home games at Estadi Municipal ...

and

FC Santa Coloma FC Santa Coloma is an Andorran football team based in the village of Santa Coloma, in the parish of Andorra la Vella. The club currently plays in Primera Divisió, and is its current champion and most successful team with thirteen titles. It is ...

(with whom he appeared in the

first qualifying round First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

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 ...

against

FC Alashkert Football Club Alashkert ( hy, Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Ալաշկերտ), commonly known as Alashkert, is an Armenian football club based in the capital Yerevan, founded in 1990 in Martuni and after folding in 2000 re-founded in 2011 ...

, a 1–1 home draw), Galán joined

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Hong Kong Football Association. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inaugural seaso ...

club

Dreams Sports Club Hong Kong Sapling Football Club () are a Hong Kong football club which does not currently compete in the Hong Kong football league system. History On 11 August 2011, Mutual withdrew from the Hong Kong First Division League due to financial probl ...

. Roughly one year later, he switched teams and countries again after signing for

Al-Shamal SC Al-Shamal Sports Club ( ar, نادي الشمال الرياضي) is a Qatari multi-sports club based in Madinat ash Shamal. Al-Shamal was founded in 1980. Its football team currently competes in the Qatar Stars League. History The club was foun ...

in the

Qatargas League The Qatari Second Division ( ar, دوري الدرجة الثانية القطري), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of football league competition in Qatar. Contested ...

Valour FC

On 15 July 2019, Galán signed a multi-year contract with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

side

Valour FC Valour Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home matches at IG Field. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned thro ...

. After making 13 league appearances in his first year and having adapted well to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, he was retained for the following season. In September 2020 Galán signed with Spanish side

Villarrobledo Villarrobledo () is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Albacete, part of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. It's better known for having the world's largest area covered by vineyards (more than 30,000 has., approxima ...

on a season-long deal. The deal was with the view to return to Valour for the

2021 Canadian Premier League season The 2021 Canadian Premier League season was the third season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. Forge FC were defending champions, after defeating HFX Wanderers FC in the 2020 final. The season was planned to co ...

. On 10 May 2021, he re-signed with Valour. In January 2022 he announced his time in

was ending.

References

External links