Urbano Ortega Cuadros (born 22 December 1961), known simply as Urbano, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder. Over the course of 16 La Liga seasons (18 for his career), he amassed totals of 301 games and 16 goals, mainly for Espanyol and Barcelona.

Club career

Urbano was born in

Beas de Segura Beas de Segura is a town located in the province of Jaén, Spain. According to the 2009 census ( INE), the town has a population of 5,591 inhabitants. Beas de Segura is a municipality and Spanish town located in the province of Jaén in the au ...

, Province of Jaén. After starting out at Real Jaén and RCD Español, he signed with Catalonia neighbours FC Barcelona in 1982. He only started in two of his nine seasons during his

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

spell, being mainly used as a backup. Subsequently, Urbano returned to Español for two more seasons, with top-flight relegation in 1992–93. He closed out his professional career in 1996, after playing with modest UE Lleida (one year) and

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 ...

(two), with two additional campaigns in the top division, one with each team. Urbano began coaching in 2003, assisting former ''Barça'' teammate Esteban Vigo at numerous clubs, including Romania's

FC Dinamo București Fotbal Club Dinamo București (), commonly known as Dinamo București or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest. Founded in 1948, they have spent almost List of unrelegated association f ...

. His first head coach experience arrived in 2007–08 in

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 ...

, with

CD Baza Club Deportivo Baza was a Spanish football team based in Baza, Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1970, it last played in Primera Andaluza, and held home matches at ''Estadio Constantino Navarro'', with a capacity of 4, ...

. He resigned in June 2008, as the side dropped down a tier. After working as a

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 ...

for Barcelona and Villarreal CF, Urbano returned to another former club, Espanyol (as they were now known), in July 2009, as a sporting director.

International career

Urbano never earned a senior cap for Spain, but was a regular for its under-21 team, also

competing Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...

at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Honours

Barcelona * La Liga: 1990–91 * Copa del Rey: 1982–83, 1987–88, 1989–90 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

* UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1988–89

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Urbano Ortega 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Jaén (Spain) Spanish footballers Footballers from Andalusia Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Jaén footballers RCD Espanyol footballers FC Barcelona players UE Lleida players CP Mérida footballers Málaga CF players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain amateur international footballers Olympic footballers of Spain Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers FC Barcelona non-playing staff Villarreal CF non-playing staff Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania