Andrés Palop Cervera (; born 22 October 1973) 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

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, currently a

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. After having languished on the bench of hometown club

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

for most of his stay, he became a premiere player with

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

well into his 30s, helping it consolidate in both the domestic and European fronts. Over 15 seasons, he appeared in 295 matches in

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 ...

, where he also represented Villarreal in 1998–99. Palop was selected by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

for Euro 2008, but never earned an international

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Club career

Valencia

Born in L'Alcúdia,

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

, Palop was a youth product of local giants

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, and his first professional seasons were spent at neighbours

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

, in a two-year loan spell. He was the undisputed starter in both the side's

promotion in 1998 – a first ever– and relegation the following season, being subsequently recalled by the ''Che''. In his six-year stint with the main squad, however, Palop was mostly backup to veteran Santiago Cañizares, his most games consisting of 15 in his first year. As the club was crowned league champions in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, he could only appear a total of seven times (all in the former campaign), and eventually grew unsettled; he was also part of the squad that won the

2003–04 UEFA Cup The 2003–04 UEFA Cup was won by Valencia in the final against Marseille. It wrapped up a league and UEFA Cup double for Valencia. Porto could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2003–04 UEFA Champions League and a ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sevilla

Palop joined

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 ...

in summer 2005, quickly becoming one of 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' cornerstones as they added five titles in only one year. On 15 March 2007, he made headlines when he scored an injury time-equalising goal in the UEFA Cup round-of-16 tie against

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

, forcing

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

as a result – his team, which had drawn 2–2 at home in the first leg, went on to win 3–2, and eventually the competition for the second consecutive time; in the final against fellow Spaniards

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 ...

he stopped three of four penalty kicks in the shootout, being named '' Player of the match''. In the following campaigns, veteran Palop continued to be first choice, never appearing in fewer than 31 league matches. In 2009–10 he helped to a fourth place in the league, with the subsequent

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, and

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in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

Bayer Leverkusen

In early June 2013, Palop signed a one-year contract with

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

, moving abroad for the first time at the age of nearly 40. He was used exclusively as back-up by the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club, and in April 2014 announced his retirement.

International career

Palop was first called up for

in August 2007, for a friendly with

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, after a last-minute injury to Iker Casillas. However, he did not leave the bench. Uncapped, Palop lost a narrow competition with Pepe Reina of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

for second choice at

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA ( ...

, but beat

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 ...

's Víctor Valdés for the third spot on the squad. During the ceremony following Spain's victory in the tournament, he wore Luis Arconada's original Euro 1984 final shirt; he received the gold medal from

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

(who had won the 1984 continental competition, scoring the final opener from an Arconada blunder), later president of

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

Coaching career

On 18 February 2015, Palop was named manager at CD Alcoyano for the remainder of the season in

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 ...

. In June, after achieving the sufficient qualifications, he took the post on a permanent basis, announcing his exit in May 2016. Palop was appointed as the new head coach of UD Ibiza on 27 September 2018, with that club also competing in the third level. He was dismissed the following 25 February after winning ten of his 21 games, leaving the team eight points from a playoff place. In April 2020, Palop was hospitalised for 12 days during the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Two years later, he was UEFA's ambassador for the Europa League Final at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Style of play

Palop was mainly known for his shot-stopping abilities, and also earned a reputation as a penalty-saving specialist throughout his career.

Career statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Valencia *

: 2001–02 *

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 ...

: 2003–04 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's offic ...

runner-up: 2000–01 Sevilla *

: 2006–07, 2009–10 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

; runner-up

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

*UEFA Cup: 2005–06, 2006–07 *UEFA Super Cup:

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

; runner-up

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palop, Andres 1973 births Living people People from Ribera Alta (comarca) 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Valencia Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Valencia CF players Villarreal CF players Sevilla FC players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players UEFA Europa League–winning players UEFA Euro 2008 players UEFA European Championship–winning players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers CD Alcoyano managers UD Ibiza managers