Antonio Ramírez Martínez (born 23 November 1986), commonly known as Toño, is a Spanish 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 plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Racing Rioja CF.

Club career

Born in

Logroño Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and N� ...

, Toño was a Valvanera CD youth graduate. In the summer of 2005, after making his senior debut for the football team of the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country ( eu, Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea, ''EHU''; es, Universidad del País Vasco, ''UPV''; UPV/EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Bilbao, initially ...

, he moved to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

and was assigned to their reserves 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 ...

. Toño made his first-team debut on 14 June 2009, coming on as a first-half substitute for Javi Ros in a 1–1

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 ...

home draw against

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 ...

as the starter

Eñaut Zubikarai Eñaut Zubikarai Goñi (born 26 February 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently goalkeeping coach of New Zealand club Auckland City FC. Club career Real Sociedad Born in Ondarroa, Biscay, Zubikar ...

was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. In July 2009 he was loaned to

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

from

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 ...

, but appeared exclusively for the B side also in the third tier. In June 2011, after another campaign at ''Sanse'', Toño was definitely promoted to the main squad as third choice to

Claudio Bravo Claudio Andrés Bravo Muñoz (; born 13 April 1983) is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Betis and captains the Chile national team. He started playing with Colo-Colo and moved to Real Sociedad ...

and Zubikarai. After making no competitive appearances, he signed for division two club

CD Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

. Toño appeared sparingly for the Castile-La Mancha team, also suffering administrative relegation. On 16 August 2013, he joined

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

in the third division. On 25 June 2014, Toño moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing for

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

in Cyprus. He started during the vast majority of his spell, beating competition of Alexandre Negri and compatriot

Mikel Saizar Mikel Saizar Soroa (born 18 January 1983) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for SD Amorebieta. Club career Born in Ibarra (Gipuzkoa), Saizar made his senior debut with Real Unión in the 2001–02 season, in the S ...

. On 23 June 2016, Toño returned to Real Sociedad after agreeing to a two-year contract. Completely barred by

Gerónimo Rulli Gerónimo Rulli (; born 20 May 1992) is an Argentine footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Spanish club Villarreal and the Argentina national team. Club career Estudiantes Born in La Plata, Buenos Aires Province, Rulli graduated from local ...

, he only made his official debut on 26 October of the following year, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

in a 1–0 away win over

Lleida Esportiu Club Lleida Esportiu is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in July 2011 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3, holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 sea ...

in the

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

of the

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 ...

. Toño's first appearance in the Spanish top division took place on 27 January 2018 (at the age of 31 years and two months), in a 4–2 defeat at

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 ...

. On 28 June, he returned to AEK for a second spell. Toño returned to Spain in summer 2021, with Racing Rioja CF of the newly-formed Segunda División RFEF.

Honours

AEK Larnaca *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is us ...

: 2018

References

External links

Real Sociedad official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tono Ramirez 1986 births Living people Footballers from Logroño Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Segunda Federación players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers CD Tenerife B players CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Racing Rioja CF players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus