Juan Carlos Ablanedo Iglesias (; born 2 September 1963) is a Spanish former

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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. Due to his above-average reflexes he was nicknamed ''El gato'' (cat), and represented local

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, P ...

for almost 20 years as a professional.Ablanedo, el portero más seguro (Ablanedo, the safest goalkeeper)

El País ''El País'' (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. ''El País'' is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . ''El Pa ...

, 13 November 1985 (in Spanish)

Club career

Ablanedo was born in

Mieres Mieres is a municipality of Asturias, northern Spain, with approximately 38,000 inhabitants. The municipality of Mieres is made up of the capital, Mieres del Camino and the villages of Baiña, Figaredo, Cenera, Loredo, La Peña, La Rebollada, S ...

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 ...

. During his career he played solely for

after being a product of the club's famed youth system, ''Mareo'', and received his first-team debut on 2 January 1983, as a second-half substitute in a 1–0 home win against

RCD Español Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

after José Aurelio Rivero was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. After two further appearances the following season, Ablanedo became the Asturian side's undisputed starter, totalling 399

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 ...

appearances. In the 1986–87 campaign, as Sporting finished fourth, he appeared in 42 matches (out of 44, as the league had a second stage). Ablanedo retired from football after 1998–99, with Sporting now 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 ...

. He also had some serious injuries during his career, playing only two games in his last season and none in 1991–92. He was awarded three

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ic ...

awards during his career.

International career

Ablanedo earned four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

, the first coming on 24 September 1986 in a 3–1 friendly victory over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and municipality by population in the autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay, in the cent ...

. He was a backup in both the

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

and

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

s. Previously, Ablanedo helped the nation's under-21s conquer the 1986 European Championship.

Personal life

Ablanedo's older brother, José Luis, was also a footballer. A defender, he too played several top-tier seasons with Sporting, and they were hence known as ''Ablanedo I'' and ''Ablanedo II''.Qué fue de… Ablanedo (What happened to… Ablanedo)
20 minutos, 20 June 2008 (in Spanish)

Honours

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 compe ...

Individual *

: 1984–85, 1985–86, 1989–90

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ablanedo, Juan Carlos 1963 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Mieres, Asturias Association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sporting de Gijón B players Sporting de Gijón players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain international footballers 1986 FIFA World Cup players 1990 FIFA World Cup players