José Manuel Suárez Rivas (born 18 February 1974), known as Sietes, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He appeared in 194 La Liga matches over ten seasons, mainly for Racing de Santander. He started his 19-year senior career with

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

Club career

Sietes, who was born in Sietes, Asturias, receiving his nickname from his birthplace,¿Qué fue de Sietes? El jugador ermitaño, concejal, alcalde y ahora scout del Mallorca... (What happened to Sietes? The hermit player, councilman, mayor and now Mallorca scout...)
Diario AS, 12 July 2019 (in Spanish) started playing for local giants

, first appearing with the first team on 27 March 1994 in a 0–0 away draw against Real Valladolid. With just nine La Liga matches throughout the entire season, he did score two goals in back-to-back 3–0 wins, over

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 ...

and

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 ...

. Signing with Valencia CF in the 1995–96 campaign, Sietes was used sparingly over two seasons – underperforming mainly due to homesickness– and moved to Racing de Santander for 1997–98, where he would constantly battle top-flight relegation (which would eventually befall in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, with the club returning in the immediate following season with 39 appearances from the player). His career was unassuming afterwards, with stints mainly in the second division, punctuated by a season with Watford in the English Championship where he did not play one single minute. After only five games for

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

in the 2007–08 campaign, with the Soria team returning to the top division after a three-year absence, Sietes moved to fourth-tier side CD Lealtad in Villaviciosa, remaining there three seasons. On 31 August 2012, after having helped Real Avilés, also in his native region, promote to the third level, the 38-year-old announced his retirement.

International career

Sietes represented Spain at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, appearing once for the quarter-finalists.

Post-retirement

After retiring, Sietes was Avilés' general manager for a brief period of time. Also, he worked as mayor of Rales (a parish in Llanes, from 2007 to 2011), councilman in the Villaviciosa town hall (2011–12) and

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

. Additionally, Sietes was involved in rural tourism.

Honours

Numancia *

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 ...

: 2007–08 Spain U21 * UEFA European Under-21 Championship: runner-up

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

Italia ya ganó un Europeo a España en el 1996 (Italy have already won European Championships against Spain in 1996)
; Orgullo Bianconero, 18 June 2013 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sietes 1974 births Living people People from Villaviciosa, Asturias Spanish footballers Footballers from Asturias Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players Real Oviedo Vetusta players Real Oviedo players Valencia CF players Racing de Santander players Deportivo Alavés players Real Murcia players CD Numancia players CD Lealtad players Real Avilés CF footballers Watford F.C. players Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Olympic footballers of Spain Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England