Justo Ruiz González (born 31 August 1969) is a 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

midfielder 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 the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of the Andorra under-21 national team.

Club career

Ruiz was born in

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

. After five years in the Spanish

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 ...

, four with

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 ...

's reserves and one with

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 ...

, he continued his career in the lower leagues, including three seasons with

FC Andorra Futbol Club Andorra is a professional football club based in Andorra la Vella, Andorra, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. The club was founded in 1942 and currently plays its home fixtu ...

(who competed in the Spanish system). In 1998–99, he represented

C.F. União Clube de Futebol União, commonly known as União or União da Madeira, was a Portuguese association football, football club based in Funchal, Madeira, notable for its six appearances in the Portuguese top-flight Primeira Liga, between the 1989� ...

in Portugal's Segunda Liga. The following summer, aged 30, Ruiz moved back to FC Andorra, and spent the remainder of his career in

the country ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, competing well into his 30s with

FC Rànger's FC Rànger's is an Andorran football club based in Andorra la Vella. The team currently plays in Segona Divisió. History The club was founded in 1981, but they only started playing in Andorran leagues in 1999. FC Rànger's aren't associated ...

of the microstate's

Primera Divisió The Primera Divisió (First Division) or Lliga Multisegur Assegurances for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of men's football in Andorra. The league was launched in 1995 sponsored by the local federation (Andorran Football Federation) whic ...

, with whom he signed in 2004. Starting in 2011 and during five years he acted as manager of the former club, resigning from his position in September 2016 alongside his entire staff.

International career

Ruiz won 21

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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 ...

, across five different youth levels. He appeared with the under-20 side at the

1989 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1989 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Saudi Arabia between 16 February and 3 March 1989. The 1989 championship was the 7th contested. The tournament took place across four cities: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, and Ta'if. Qualification ...

. In 1996, Ruiz began representing the Andorra senior team. He played a total of 21

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

games for his adopted country, making his last competitive appearance on 21 November 2007 against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

at the age of 38 years and two months. For several years, Ruiz has worked as manager of the Andorran under-21s.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Andorra's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * * * (for Spain) * (for Andorra) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Justo 1969 births Living people Spanish emigrants to Andorra Naturalised citizens of Andorra Footballers from Vitoria-Gasteiz Spanish footballers Andorran men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Athletic Bilbao B footballers SD Eibar footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers FC Andorra players UE Figueres footballers Liga Portugal 2 players C.F. União players FC Rànger's players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Andorra men's international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Andorran football managers FC Andorra managers