Victoriano "Nano" Rivas Álvaro (; born 7 July 1980), sometimes known as just Nano , 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 mainly 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 ...

, and a

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 ...

. He appeared in 138

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 during seven seasons while scoring ten goals, mainly in representation of Betis (three years) and Levante (two). He also represented in the competition

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

and

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

Playing career

Born in

Ciudad Real Ciudad Real (, ; en, "Royal City") is a municipality of Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha, capital of the province of Ciudad Real. It is the 5th most populated municipality in the region. History It was founde ...

, Castile-La Mancha, Nano made his professional debut with

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

's B-team, playing two full seasons with the third division side. In 2002–03 he was loaned to

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 ...

in the second level, before moving to the club on a permanent deal in the summer of 2003; an undisputed starter with the

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 ...

outskirts team, he scored four goals in 37 games in the 2004–05 campaign, their first ever in

. Nano was signed by

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

in 2005. He was set to have a promising season before being injured in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

group stage match against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

at the

Manuel Ruiz de Lopera Manuel Ruiz de Lopera y Ávalos (born 13 August 1944) is a Spanish businessman who was owner and chairman of football club Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based ...

on 1 November, in his first and only appearance in the competition, as he was ruled out of action for five months; he also featured once 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 ...

and made 14 league appearances in his first year, and played a further 21 matches for a side that finished 16th in 2006–07. Established as first-choice stopper alongside veteran

Juanito Juanito is a given name or nickname, meaning "Little Juan" or Johnny. Notable people with the name include: Professional footballers * Juan Ignacio Gomez Taleb (born 1985), Argentinian forward * Juan Díaz Sánchez (1948–2013), Spanish forwa ...

in the 2007–08 campaign, Nano scored in the first matchday against

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

(1–1 away draw), but suffered a severe knee injury against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

on 16 September 2007, which made him miss six months of action. Upon return from injury, he netted another important goal for the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns, in a 1–1 tie at former club Getafe on 18 May 2008. On 1 September 2008, a one-year loan deal was agreed as Nano joined

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 a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long move. He appeared scarcely throughout his spell, as both stopper and

left back 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 ...

, and his return to Betis would be even more unassuming as it consisted of one league match (18 minutes), with the team failing to return to the top division. In August 2010, aged 30, Nano signed with

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

. An automatic first-choice during his first season, he scored in a 2–0 home win against Atlético Madrid on 4 December. Nano started in all the games for the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

side during the first half of 2011–12, as they spent the vast majority of that period in

qualification positions. In very late January 2012, however, he was sold to Guizhou Renhe F.C. of the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

. Nano announced his retirement in February 2014. On 6 July of the following year, he was appointed

Vicente Moreno Vicente Moreno Peris (born 26 October 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently manager of Saudi Professional League club Al Shabab. He spent most of his career with Xerez, appearing in 4 ...

's assistant manager at

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. ...

Coaching career

On 25 May 2016, Nano was named

Getafe CF B Getafe Club de Fútbol "B" is the reserve team of Getafe CF, club based in Getafe, Madrid metropolitan area, in the namesake community. Founded in 1983, it currently plays in Tercera Federación – Group 7 holding home games at '' Ciudad Deportiv ...

manager. He returned to Gimnàstic roughly one year later, being appointed at the helm of the main squad for the remainder of the season. After managing to narrowly avoid relegation, Nano left ''Nàstic'' in June 2017. The following 29 January, however, he replaced fired Rodri at the helm of the same club, but was himself dismissed on 13 May. In November 2018, Nano was hired by

K.S.V. Roeselare Koninklijke Sport Vereniging Roeselare, abbreviated to KSV Roeselare (),''V.'' in isolation: ., also known in French as KSV Roulers, was a Belgian football club from the city of Roeselare in West Flanders. Its matricule was 134. It last played ...

of the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

, replacing compatriot Jordi Condom. Only two months later he left to assist

Quique Sánchez Flores Enrique "Quique" Sánchez Flores (; born 5 February 1965) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a right-back, currently manager of Getafe. He began his professional career with Valencia in 1984, going on to amass La Liga totals of 304 ga ...

Shanghai Greenland Shenhua F.C. Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in E ...

and was replaced by a third Spaniard,

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Guizhou Renhe *

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh titl ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nano Rivas 1980 births Living people People from Ciudad Real Sportspeople from the Province of Ciudad Real Spanish footballers Footballers from Castilla–La Mancha Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Atlético Madrid C players Atlético Madrid B players Getafe CF footballers Real Betis players Real Valladolid players Levante UD footballers Chinese Super League players Beijing Renhe F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Gimnàstic de Tarragona managers K.S.V. Roeselare managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Shanghai Shenhua F.C. non-playing staff