Manuel Tena López (born 3 February 1978) 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 ...

. Over 12 seasons, he totalled 208 matches across both major levels of Spanish football and scored five goals, representing mainly Getafe (six years, four in

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 ...

Club career

Tena was born in

Alcalá de Henares Alcalá de Henares () is a Spanish city in the Community of Madrid. Straddling the Henares River, it is located to the northeast of the centre of Madrid. , it has a population of 193,751, making it the region's third-most populated Municipalities ...

, Community of Madrid. He grew as a player in the ranks of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, and first appeared officially for the first team on 9 June 1999 in the semi-finals of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

, coming on as a late substitute in a 6–0 away loss against Valencia CF. His

bow came in the last matchday eleven days later, when he played ten minutes for

Christian Panucci Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. In his playing career he played as a Defender (association football), defender. A versatile footballer, he ...

in the 3–1 home win over Deportivo de La Coruña. Tena moved to

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

in 1999, playing a further 23 top-division matches over two seasons and being loaned to

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

in between. In the summer of 2002 he joined

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 ...

– also in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

– 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 ...

and, instrumental while they achieved promotion to the top flight in 2004, he saw little action after, subbing in in the final minutes of games or playing through injuries and suspensions to teammates; he scored his first goal for the latter on 16 April 2006, in a 1–1 home draw against his first professional club. In July 2008, Tena signed for Rayo Vallecano, recently promoted to the second tier, on a 2+1 deal.Tena se convierte en jugador del Rayo Vallecano (Tena becomes a Rayo Vallecano player)
Diario AS, 18 July 2008 (in Spanish) After only seven league appearances in his second season, he retired from football at the age of 32.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tena, Manuel 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Alcalá de Henares Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Community of Madrid Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Real Valladolid players Córdoba CF players Getafe CF footballers Rayo Vallecano players