Daniel Rodríguez Pérez (born 27 March 1977), known as Txiki, 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

left 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 ...

Club career

Txiki was born in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

. He spent his first years as a senior in the lower leagues, with

Utebo FC Utebo Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Utebo, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1924 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Santa Ana'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. Se ...

Andorra CF Andorra Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Andorra, Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1957, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Juan Antonio Endeiza'', with a capacity of 3,000 ...

SD Beasain Sociedad Deportiva Beasain is a Spanish football team based in Beasain, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1905 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Loinaz'', with a capacity of ...

and

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 ...

. On 10 October 2001, his 47th-minute

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

was the only goal 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 ...

fixture against

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 ...

, as Cultural went through to 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 ...

; two months later, he signed for that adversary. On 5 January 2002, Txiki made his 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 ...

, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute for

Sietes 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-y ...

in a 2–1 home win over

Polideportivo Ejido Poli Ejido 2012 Sociedad Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in El Ejido, Province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo'', ...

. The following month, he scored in consecutive matches as his team defeated

Real Jaén Real Jaén Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1929 it plays in Tercera División RFEF, holding home matches at ''Nuevo Estadio de La Victoria'', with a capacit ...

(2–0) then drew 2–2 at

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

, being an important member of the

Quique Setién Enrique "Quique" Setién Solar (; born 27 September 1958) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a central midfielder. He is the current manager of La Liga club Villarreal. As a player, he was nicknamed ''El Maestro'', an ...

-led squad as they promoted to

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 ...

runners-up A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

. Txiki made the first of his 26 top-flight appearances (for Racing and overall) on 31 August 2002, starting the 0–1 home loss to

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

. He returned to division two in the next

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, joining

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

initially on loan. After two further second-tier seasons with

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''No ...

, Txiki retired aged 33 following one-year spells in the third with

AD Ceuta Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at ''Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...

and

Zamora CF Zamora Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Zamora, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1968 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a c ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Txiki 1977 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players SD Beasain footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Racing de Santander players Córdoba CF players CD Castellón footballers AD Ceuta footballers Zamora CF footballers