Alejandro "Álex" Bergantiños García (born 7 June 1985) is a Spanish former 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 lea ...

who played as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He spent his entire career contracted to Deportivo, making 336 official appearances and being loaned to several other teams. He played 118

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

games for Deportivo and Xerez and 247 in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

for those two,

Granada Granada ( ; ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada (Spain), Sierra Nevada mountains, at the confluence ...

, Gimnàstic and

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

Career

Bergantiños was born in

A Coruña A Coruña (; ; also informally called just Coruña; historical English: Corunna or The Groyne) is a city and municipality in Galicia, Spain. It is Galicia's second largest city, behind Vigo. The city is the provincial capital of the province ...

. He had his first professional spell as a footballer in 2008, at already 23: loaned by local club

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, he was an essential midfield figure as

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

achieved a first-ever top flight promotion – 31 games, 21 starts and 2,085 minutes played. In very late August 2009, after tying him to the club for four more years, ''Depor'' agreed to loan Bergantiños once again to the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns, in another

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long move. He made his

debut on 30 August, playing the last 30 minutes in a 2–0 away loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

, and produced roughly the same numbers than in the previous year as the

ns were immediately relegated. Bergantiños moved on loan to

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

for the 2010–11 campaign. He left in January 2011 to begin yet another loan, at

rivals

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

. Bergantiños returned to Galicia in 2011–12, and soon became a regular, appearing in all the league games and helping his team achieve promotion back to the top flight. He scored his first goal in the competition on 20 October 2012, but in a 5–4 home defeat to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. Weeks later, he extended his contract until 2016, with a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in an employment contract. It allows the employee to terminate the contract unilaterally upon payment of a specified (usually substantial) fee to the employer. The fee may be paid by the employ ...

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

10 million. In September 2015, Bergantiños signed a new deal lasting until 2018. On 12 December that year, against Barcelona again but at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

, he helped the visitors come from behind 2–0 to draw it 2–2 by netting in the 85th minute. On 2 March 2017, in his first league game of the season, Bergantiños had an accidental collision with

Fernando Torres Fernando José Torres Sanz (; born 20 March 1984) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former Football player, player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. He is the curr ...

, from which the

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

striker suffered cranial injuries; he visited the opponent in hospital shortly afterwards. Ten days later, he scored the winner in a 2–1 victory over reigning champions Barcelona at the

Estadio Riazor Estadio Municipal de Riazor () is an all-seater stadium in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain which is the home stadium of Deportivo de La Coruña. Currently known as Estadio Abanca-Riazor for sponsorship reasons, its name derives from the nearby beach ...

. On 11 July 2017, shortly after committing himself to another year at Deportivo, Bergantiños was loaned to

for one year. Upon returning home, he became the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Bergantiños remained at Deportivo following their historic relegation to

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. The 35-year-old skipper signed a new deal on 5 October that year, to last until 2022. Bergantiños retired in summer 2023.

Career statistics

Honours

Xerez *

: 2008–09 Deportivo *Segunda División: 2011–12

References

External links

Deportivo official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergantinos, Alex 1985 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from A Coruña Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Deportivo Fabril players Deportivo de La Coruña players Xerez CD footballers Granada CF footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Sporting de Gijón players