Jesús Capitán Prada (born 26 March 1977), known as Capi, is a Spanish former

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 an

attacking 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. ...

, currently

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Real Betis C Real Betis C is a Spanish football club based in Seville, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is the second reserve team of Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, footb ...

. He spent most of his professional career with Betis, which included 209

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 and 16 goals over the course of nine seasons (13 overall).Yo jugué en el Real Betis: Capi (I played for Real Betis: Capi)
;

Vavel Vavel (stylized VAVEL) is a Spain-based sports news website. It has 8 editions; Spain, United States, United Kingdom, France, Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, and Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country p ...

, 21 September 2013 (in Spanish)

Club career

Betis

Capi was born in Camas, Seville,

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 ...

. Apart from a loan spell at

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 ...

in the

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 ...

, he spent the vast majority of his career at

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. He started out with their reserves in the same league, and made his first-team and

debut against

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 ...

on 26 May 1997, one of only two during the season. Capi went to play over 300 competitive games for the

Estadio Benito Villamarín es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

-based club, always as an important part of the squad. He scored his first goal for them on 19 November 2000, albeit in a 1–3 home defeat to neighbouring

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 ...

where he excelled before being stretchered off with 15 minutes to go and the score at 1–1, as the campaign in

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 ...

ended in promotion for both sides in the city. However, in 2004–05, as the team achieved a fourth place in the league, with

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 ...

to 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 ...

, he appeared in only 11 matches, mainly due to injuries. After another two-and-a-half-month spell in the sidelines, Capi returned to action on 4 April 2009, netting as a second-half substitute in a 3–3 home draw with

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

. Betis were eventually relegated to division two. Capi continued to be bothered with injuries in the 2009–10 season, but still contributed 26 appearances – only three complete – as the club failed to regain its lost status. On 19 June 2010, the 33-year-old appeared in his last game as a ''Verdiblanco'', the useless 4–0 home win over

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

(they finished in fourth place, tied with both the second and third-placed teams), his contract subsequently expiring and not being renewed.

Later career

In summer 2012, after a couple of second-tier campaigns with another side in his native region,

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 ...

, Capi signed with amateurs Camas Club de Fútbol, his first-ever club as a footballer. He retired in 2014 at age 37, being immediately appointed as Juan Merino's assistant manager at Betis B.

International career

Capi earned four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Spain national team, making his debut on 27 March 2002 against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in a 1–0 friendly loss in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. He featured in a further three internationals the same year.

Honours

Betis *

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 ...

: 2004–05Dani delivers for Betis
UEFA, 11 June 2005

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Capi 1977 births Living people People from Camas, Seville Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Seville Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Granada CF footballers Xerez CD footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish football managers Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol managers Real Betis non-playing staff