Ángel Martínez Cervera (born 31 January 1986), known simply as Ángel, 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He began his career with

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

, appearing in 59 competitive games and reaching the

2007 UEFA Cup final The 2007 UEFA Cup Final was a football match that took place on 16 May 2007 at Hampden Park in Glasgow, Scotland. In an all-Spanish final, holders Sevilla FC, Sevilla defeated RCD Espanyol, Espanyol 3–1 on Penalty shoot-out (association footbal ...

. Subsequently, he played in England, starting out at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

for whom he signed in 2011.

Club career

Espanyol

Born in

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Ángel was a product of

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

's youth system. He appeared in seven

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 ...

matches with the first team during the 2006–07 season, the first on 11 March 2007 in a 1–1 away draw 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, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

. He added two appearances in their runner-up run in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, winning both games. In the following campaign, Ángel was an important element in the Catalan side, scoring in wins at

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

(3–2) and

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

(2–1) and finishing with 28 league appearances. After

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (born 2 March 1972), also known mononymously by his nickname Poch, is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the United States men's national team. Pochettin ...

's arrival as coach in January 2009, however, he was deemed surplus to requirements: after a loan move had been arranged until the end of the season with

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 ...

club

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 ...

, the deal collapsed as Espanyol did not sign, as originally intended, Argentine midfielder

Oscar Ahumada Oscar Adrián Ahumada (born 31 August 1982) is a former Argentine football midfielder. Club career Born in Zárate, Buenos Aires, Ahumada made his professional debut with Club Atlético River Plate on 24 November 2002, in a 2–1 victory again ...

before the 31st deadline. Ángel was loaned to

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

in the second division for 2009–10, in a season-long move. He was a regular for the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

outskirts team, as they retained their status. In late July 2010, still owned by Espanyol, Ángel signed with another club in that tier, hometown's

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

, sharing teams with his brother

José José is a predominantly Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name Joseph. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese (or ). In French, the name ''José'', pronounced ...

. He made his official debut on 28 August, playing 68 minutes in a 4–2 home victory over

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 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

, and started in 25 of his league appearances – totalling nearly 2,000 minutes of play – during the season in an eventual 11th-place finish.

Blackpool

On 25 July 2011, Ángel signed a two-year contract with English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

, which included an option for a third year. He made his official debut on 11 August in a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

loss against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

in the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the League Cup, and first appeared in the league on 27 September, in a 2–2 draw with

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

at the

Ricoh Arena The Coventry Building Society Arena (often shortened to the CBS Arena or just simply Coventry Arena, and formerly known as the Ricoh Arena) is a complex in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currentl ...

. Toward the end of the season, Ángel became a regular starter for the Seasiders, with manager

Ian Holloway Ian Scott Holloway (born 12 March 1963) is an English professional football manager, former player, media personality and television pundit who is the manager of club Swindon Town. A midfielder, he notably played in the Premier League with ...

saying of him: "He's growing into the country, he's learning to speak English and he's settled down now.

Ludovic Sylvestre Ludovic Sylvestre (born 5 February 1984) is a French former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the sporting director at Red Star F.C., Red Star. Career Youth career Born in the Communes of France, com ...

is really unlucky but I'd be crazy to leave out Ángel. He's almost the first name on the teamsheet at the moment." On 17 April 2012, the day after the manager's comments, he scored his first goal for the team, the only in a victory over

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

. Ángel played 26 games in 2013–14, as Blackpool narrowly avoided relegation after finishing in 20th position. He was also chosen as the club's Community Player of the Year.

Millwall

On 2 September 2014, Ángel agreed to a one-year deal with fellow league club

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, reuniting with former Blackpool boss Holloway. He appeared in his first competitive game on 12 December, starting and playing 89 minutes in a 1–0 defeat of

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

Chesterfield

Ángel signed for Chesterfield on 16 August 2015, agreeing to a two-year deal. He picked up an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

knee injury in September, going on to be sidelined for 15 months. Ángel returned to action for the Spireites on 13 December 2016, in their 8–0 win against Aston United for the DCFA Senior Challenge Cup.

Sabadell

Aged 31, Ángel returned to both his country and his native region, joining

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 ...

club

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a historical List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Sabadell ( Catalonia) Founded in 1903, its first men's team plays in the . Its first CE Sabadell (women), women's tea ...

on 23 August 2017. Three days later, in the second round of the season, he came on as a 62nd-minute substitute in a 2–0 away win over

UE Olot Unió Esportiva Olot, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Olot, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1921, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi Municipal d'Olot'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats. History The histo ...

, with his sibling José playing the entire match for the opposition. Ángel featured regularly during his spell at the

Estadi de la Nova Creu Alta Estadi Municipal de la Nova Creu Alta is a multi-use stadium in Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and hosts the home matches of CE Sabadell FC. The address of the stadium is Plaça Ol� ...

, helping to promote to the second division in

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 ...

. On 3 June 2021, the 35-year-old retired from professional football.

International career

Ángel made three appearances for the Spain under-19 team in 2005, adding another three for the under-21s three years later.

Personal life

Ángel's older brother,

, was also a footballer. A defender, he played mainly with Girona, coinciding with his sibling in 2010–11.

Career statistics

Honours

Espanyol *

runner-up: 2006–07

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Angel 1986 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Girona Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Rayo Vallecano players Girona FC players CE Sabadell FC footballers English Football League players Blackpool F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England