Roberto Ríos Patus (born 8 October 1971) is a Spanish retired 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 central defender.

Club career

Although Basque-born (in Bilbao), Ríos emerged through the youth system of Real Betis, making his professional debut 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 ...

in the 1992–93 season. He went on to contribute importantly in the Andalusians' promotion the following year – although appearing in only 19 matches he scored four times – and become a regular first-team member onwards. In summer 1997, following rumours of a transfer to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

earlier in February, Ríos was signed by

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 ...

for 2 billion pesetas, a then-record for a national player. In his first season, he netted twice in 32 games (including once in a 5–1 home thrashing of

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a Spanish football team based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga ( 1995–96 and 1997–98), the club was dissolved in 2000, due to serious economic debts. Its ...

, on 21 December 1997) as the Basque side finished runners-up in La Liga. After spending the first months of the 2002–03 campaign without a club and having totalled only 27 appearances in his last three years at Athletic, Ríos trained with West Bromwich Albion. However, in January 2003 he rejected a contract offer from the Gary Megson-led team, stating "I don't want to fool anyone" about his chances of regaining full fitness. Ríos retired aged 30, due to persistent injury problems. He returned to Betis in 2010, as part of newly appointed manager Pepe Mel's coaching staff.

International career

Ríos was capped 11 times by Spain, with his debut coming on 9 October 1996 in a 0–0 away draw with the Czech Republic in the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

qualifiers. In spite of having appeared significantly during the campaign and coming from a solid club season with Athletic, he was overlooked for the final stages in France.

Personal life

Ríos' father, Eusebio, was also a footballer (and a defender). He too played most of his career at Betis, and later became a coach, also managing the team.Fallece a los 73 años Eusebio Ríos (Eusebio Ríos dies at the age of 73)

Diario de Sevilla ''Diario de Sevilla'' is a Spanish newspaper founded in 1999 in Seville. It is part of the communications group Grupo Joly. Its circulation as of 2013 was 23,172. The current ''Diario'' is not to be confused with a previous periodical of the sam ...

, 12 May 2008 (in Spanish)

Honours

Spain U21 * UEFA European Championship third place:

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rios, Roberto 1971 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Bilbao Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England West Bromwich Albion F.C. non-playing staff