José Luis Rondo Polo (born 19 March 1976) is a former 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 ...

. Born in Spain, he played for the Equatorial Guinea national team. He started his career as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, subsequently moving to

right winger 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 ...

and finally

right-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 ...

. He spent his entire career in his native Spain, representing five clubs at the professional level. During six years, Rondo was an

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

international.

Club career

Rondo was born in Palma, Majorca,

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

. An unsuccessful

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

youth graduate – he could only appear for their reserves – he would manage to spend seven seasons in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, with

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

, Elche CF and

UD Vecindario Unión Deportiva Vecindario is a Spanish football team based in Vecindario, Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Gran Canaria, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1962, it helds home games at ''Estadio Municipal de Vecindario'', with a ...

; his first experience at that level was precisely with Mallorca B, in 1998–99 (31 matches played, team relegation). After a one-year spell with

CD Constancia The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in October ...

(

division four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

, also in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

), Rondo signed with neighbours CE Andratx of the same tier.

International career

Spanish-born, Rondo would however represent the land of one of his parents,

, in the molds of several players whom played in Spain:

Javier Balboa Javier Ángel Balboa Osa (born 13 May 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a winger, most notably for Real Madrid and Benfica. After emerging at Real Madrid's youth system, he could never establish himself in its first t ...

Rodolfo Bodipo Rodolfo Bodipo Díaz (born 25 October 1977) is an Equatorial Guinean former footballer who played as a striker, and is a current manager and politician. He appeared in 158 La Liga matches over eight seasons, scoring 32 goals in representation ...

Benjamín Zarandona Benjamín Zarandona Esono (born 2 March 1976), known simply as Benjamín, is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Spain, he represented Equatorial Guinea at international level. He spent most of his professional ...

, etc.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rondo, Jose Luis 1976 births Living people Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Footballers from Palma de Mallorca Spanish men's footballers Equatoguinean men's footballers Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players RCD Mallorca B players Getafe CF footballers Elche CF players CD Castellón footballers Algeciras CF footballers UD Vecindario players CE Constància players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers International sportspeople born abroad CE Andratx footballers