Juan José 'Juanjo' Valencia de la Serna (born 18 September 1971) is a Spanish retired 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 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 ...

. He played 191

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 ...

games over the course of nine seasons, in representation of

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

and

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 ...

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

, Basque Country, Valencia joined

for his last year as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

, being signed from neighbouring

Antiguoko Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea (Sport Club of Antiguo in English) is an amateur youth Spanish football club based in Antiguo, a part of San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, Spain. It acts as feeder club to Athletic Bilbao, having previously had the ...

. He was loaned to

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 ...

club

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 4, holding home matches at '' Lasesarre'', with a capacity ...

to start his senior career, but was quickly recalled to play for Athletic's reserves, helping them retain their place in

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 ...

. Valencia made an immediate impact at the first team at the age of 20, replacing the departing Patxi Iru. When

Kike Burgos Enrique "Kike" Burgos Carrasco (born 20 January 1971) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Born in Barakaldo, Basque Country, Burgos was a youth product of local giants Athletic Bilbao. He played 317 games in ...

was injured in pre-season, manager

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. The majority of his player career was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won many nati ...

gave him a first

start against

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

in the opening game of the 1992–93 season (

Julen Guerrero Julen Guerrero López (born 7 January 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played solely for Athletic Bilbao as an attacking midfielder. He is the current manager of the Spain national under-17 team. He appeared in 430 offici ...

made his debut in the same game). He only missed a combined eight league matches in his first four years, but subsequently began to be challenged by

Imanol Etxeberria Imanol Etxeberria Egaña (born 27 March 1973) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 175 La Liga matches during seven seasons, with Athletic Bilbao and Rayo Vallecano. Playing career Early yea ...

. Valencia fell completely out of favour under

Luis Fernández Luis Miguel Fernández Toledo (born 2 October 1959), known as Luis Fernandez, is a French football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez spent most of his playing career for Paris Saint-Germain. He earned 6 ...

and, after 195 appearances in official competitions, signed with fellow league side

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

Later years

Sevilla began 1999–2000 with Valencia as their starting goalkeeper, but during the winter of what was to be a campaign ending with relegation in last place, Norway international goalkeeper

Frode Olsen Frode Olsen (born 12 October 1967) is a Norwegian former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He earned 26 international caps for the Norway national football team, Norway na ...

arrived and took the starting spot, so in April 2000 the former accepted an opportunity to move on to

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 ...

in the second level to cover an injury crisis. He was first choice in the next three seasons, totalling 106 league games. In 2003–04 he was overtaken by the emerging

Roberto The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

, and eventually moved to fellow league club

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

. Valencia was a regular in his first season in

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

– being ranked the second-best in the division – and played the first few games in

the second ''The Second'' is the second studio album by Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf, released in October 1968 on ABC Dunhill Records. The album contains one of Steppenwolf's most famous songs, " Magic Carpet Ride". The background of the origin ...

, but from then on Álvaro Iglesias was preferred as they returned to the top flight after a 56-year wait, by which time the former had already moved on to

. During his brief tenure he played understudy to

Dudu Aouate David "Dudu" Aouate (or Awat, he, דוד "דודו" אוואט, ''pronounced Dūdū Ahwaht''; born 17 October 1977) is an Israeli retired professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper ...

, his first appearance in the top tier after a hiatus of six years occurring on 13 May 2006 against

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, th ...

, following which he retired at the age of 34. Afterwards, Valencia spent some time as a

goalkeeping coach A sports coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the Hun ...

for Athletic Bilbao's youth teams,

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

and

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

International career

Valencia was an important member of the Spain under-21 squad during his eligible years, making his debut at that level two days after his league bow. During his most impressive spell with Athletic he was in consideration for the senior team, but only managed one bench appearance in a friendly against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in February 1995. Valencia took part in one match with the unofficial Basque Country team, in December 1995.

Personal life

Valencia worked as a

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

in partnership with some former teammates, and was also an enthusiast of the racquet sport

padel Padel ( es, Pádel) is a racket sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. Scoring is the same as normal tennis, and the balls used are similar but with a little less pressure. The main ...

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 ...

third place:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile at Colgados por el Fútbol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Juanjo 1971 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Association football goalkeepers Spain under-21 international footballers Basque Country international footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Antiguoko players Bilbao Athletic footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Barakaldo CF footballers Sevilla FC players Sporting de Gijón players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Racing de Santander players