Pablo Infante Muñoz (born 20 March 1980) 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

left winger 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 ...

. A

late bloomer A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual. Late bloomer or Late bloomers may also refer to: * ''Late Bloomers'' (2006 film) (German: ''Die Herbstzeitlosen''), 2006 Swiss film directe ...

, he spent most of his professional career at Mirandés, appearing in nearly 350 competitive games and amassing

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 ...

totals of 55 matches and 11 goals for the club (104/15 overall).

Club career

Mirandés

Born in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

, Infante played at youth level with local

Real Burgos CF Real Burgos Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1983, it ceased to compete in 1996 and returned in 2011, holding home games at ''Complejo Deportivo San Amaro'', ...

, Vadillos CF and Racing Lermeño. His first six years as a senior were spent in amateur football. Infante made his professional debut in the 2005–06 season, with

CD Mirandés Club Deportivo Mirandés is a Spanish football team based in Miranda de Ebro, Province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 3 May 1927, the club competes in the Segunda División, holding home matches at ''Esta ...

in the

fourth division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

, which he helped promote to the

third level Tertiary education, also referred to as third-level, third-stage or post-secondary education, is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank, for example, defines tertiary education as including univers ...

in his fourth year. In 2011–12, his name became known in Spain after the

club's performances in the campaign's

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 ...

, disposing of

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 ...

sides

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 ...

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 ...

, with the player scoring four of the team's six goals in those four matches, and eventually being crowned the competition's top scorer; in the domestic league, he netted 13 times in the

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of Se ...

alone to help his team promote to division two for the first time ever. On 28 June 2012, the 32-year-old Infante renewed his contract with Mirandés for one further season. He played his first game in the second tier on 17 August, starting in a 0–1 home loss against

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in t ...

. Infante scored his professional goals on 1 September 2012, netting a brace in a 4–0 away victory over

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 ...

Ponferradina

On 13 July 2014, after a nine-year spell at the

Estadio Municipal de Anduva Estadio Municipal de Anduva is a stadium in Miranda de Ebro, Spain. It has a capacity of 5,759 spectators and opened on 22 January 1950. It is the home of CD Mirandés of the Segunda División. History The first game on the stadium was played on ...

, Infante signed a one-year deal with fellow league club

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

. He scored four times from 32 appearances in his debut campaign, adding seven assists for the seventh-placed team.

Personal life

After numerous media interviews in Spain, it emerged that Infante spent years refusing offers from club in higher divisions due to his work as director of a bank branch, located 50 kilometers from Mirandés' facilities. He was a graduate in

Business Administration Business administration, also known as business management, is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. From the point of view of management ...

from the

University of Burgos The University of Burgos (in Spanish: Universidad de Burgos and often abbreviated UBU) is a public university in the Spanish city of Burgos with about 10,000 students studying over 30 different undergraduate degrees, over 20 PhD Programmes, as wel ...

, and played the vast majority of his career in teams in the

Province of Burgos The Province of Burgos is a province of northern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Palencia, Cantabria, Vizcaya, Álava, La Rioja, Soria, Segovia, and Valladolid. ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Infante, Pablo 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Burgos Spanish footballers Footballers from Castile and León Association football wingers Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Racing Lermeño players Arandina CF players CD Mirandés footballers SD Ponferradina players