Rafel Sastre Reus (born 22 October 1975) is a Spanish former 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

right 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 ...

. He amassed

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 311 games and four goals over the course of nine seasons, seven of those with

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 ...

. He appeared 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 ...

with the same club, making 52 appearances in that competition.

Club career

Sastre was born in

Binissalem Binissalem is a small municipality in the district of Raiguer on Majorca, one of the Balearic Islands, Spain, and the centre of the island's wine region of Binissalem DOP. Transport Binissalem's railway station is served by frequent service ...

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

. For 14 professional seasons he represented

RCD Mallorca B RCD Mallorca B, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Palma, Majorca, in the Balearic Islands. Founded in 1967, it is the reserve team of RCD Mallorca and currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 3, holding home matches at '' Est ...

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 ...

(two years in the

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 ...

) and

. With the

Asturias Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...

club, he amassed totals of 257 games with four goals in the

, including 37 in 2007–08 as it returned to

after a ten-year hiatus; during this timeframe, he was eventually named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Sastre made his first appearance in the top flight at almost 33, in 2008–09's opener, a 1–2 home loss against

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 ...

. During his two years at the ''

El Molinón Estadio El Molinón (), officially Estadio Municipal El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini", is an association football stadium in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Real Sporting de Gijón. With a capacity of 29,029 seats, El ...

'' in that league he totalled 44 matches, with Sporting also retaining their status in the 2009–10 campaign. In June 2011, aged 35, Sastre left Gijón after ten years with the same club and signed for

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 ...

of the second tier.El Huesca confirma el fichaje de Rafael Sastre (Huesca confirm signing of Rafael Sastre)
Marca, 22 June 2011 (in Spanish) He retired one year later, after one season in division three with

CD Atlético Baleares Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares, S.A.D. ( ca, Club Esportiu Atlètic Balears) is a Spanish football team based in Palma, Majorca, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded on 1920, it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

.Sastre ficha por el Atlético Baleares, de Segunda B (Sastre signs for Atlético Baleares, from ''Segunda B'')
La Nueva España, 4 July 2012 (in Spanish)

Personal life

Sastre's younger brother, Lluís (ten years his junior), was also a footballer. 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 ...

, they coincided at Huesca in the 2011–12 season.

References

External links

*
Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sastre, Rafel 1975 births Living people Footballers from Mallorca Spanish footballers Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players RCD Mallorca B players Cádiz CF players Sporting de Gijón players SD Huesca footballers CD Atlético Baleares footballers