Juan Antonio 'Tuto' Sañudo Herrero (born 13 June 1956) 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 ...

Club career

Born in the village of Serdio in Val de San Vicente, Sañudo played 304

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 ...

matches over the course of ten seasons, with

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

and

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

. He scored 12 goals for the former, which he reached in 1978 from neighbouring

Deportivo Rayo Cantabria Deportivo Rayo Cantabria is a Spanish football team based in Santander, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1993 it last played in Tercera División – Group 3, holding home games at the Campo Municipal Mies de Cozada sports ...

, and made his debut in the Spanish top flight on 7 January 1979 in a 3–1 home win against

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 Spa ...

. 21 days later, also in the league, he grabbed a brace to help the hosts defeat

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 ...

2–1, in an eventual relegation-ending season. Sañudo was voted the league's best defender for the 1985–86 campaign, helping Racing to the 12th position. He played his first and only game in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

on 3 October 1991 at the age of 35, as

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

's Oviedo lost 3–1 at

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

and 3–2 on aggregate in the first round. Sañudo competed in the

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 ...

with both his main clubs, and was at one time Racing's most-capped player in the top division, but was later surpassed by

Pedro Munitis Pedro Munitis Álvarez (born 19 June 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a forward, currently a manager. He was one of the shortest players in La Liga, and was best known for his fighting spirit. His professional career w ...

and

José María Ceballos José María Ceballos Vega (born 7 September 1968) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Born in Pámanes, Cantabria, Ceballos only played for local club Racing de Santander during his career, which spanned 16 p ...

. He retired at the end of 1992–93 at the age of 37, after totalling 3,151 minutes of action to help the

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the east ...

ns to a third promotion to the main tier.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Sañudo worked as an insurance agent and in lodging, and he also provided

commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

for Racing Santander's matches at

Cadena COPE COPE, an acronym for Cadena de Ondas Populares Españolas ("People's Radiowaves of Spain Network") formerly called Radio Popular, is a Spanish language radio station. It is the second most listened to in Spain's generalist radio. Owned by the Spa ...

. On 31 January 2014, Sañudo succeeded Ángel Lavín as chairman as Racing was immersed in a severe institucional and financial crisis. On 14 June of the following year, he was replaced by Manolo Higuera, another former footballer of the club.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanudo, Juan Antonio 1956 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Cantabria Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Rayo Cantabria players Racing de Santander players Real Oviedo players Spanish football chairmen and investors