Daniel "Dani" González Benítez (born 7 April 1987) is a Spanish 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 plays as a

left 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. ...

for

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''La Liga'', ''Segunda División'', and its fellow semi-professional divisions '' Primera Federación'' and ''Segunda F ...

club Huétor Tájar.

Club career

Born in

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

, Benítez began his career in the youth ranks of

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, ...

, but never appeared for the first team officially. He spent the 2007–08 season on loan to

Pontevedra CF Pontevedra Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team in Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 16 October 1941 it currently plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal de Pasarón'', with a capacity o ...

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 ...

, and the following campaign 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 ...

side

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

, also on loan, before being released. In the summer of 2009, Benítez signed for

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

in Italy; he and seven other players were immediately transferred 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 ...

as part of the clubs' partnership agreement. In his second season he scored a career-best ten goals in 36 games as 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 achieved a second consecutive promotion, returning to

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 ...

after 35 years. His volatile character led to his receiving of 13 yellow cards and two

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–750 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

. Benítez failed to find the net during 2011–12, starting in 26 of his 30 league appearances. On 5 May 2012, after the 1–2 home loss against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, he threw a bottle at the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

Carlos Clos Gómez Carlos Clos Gómez (born 30 June 1972 in Zaragoza, Spain) is a First Division football referee. He became a UEFA class referee in January 2009. He began refereeing football matches in 1988, after a year in futsal. In 2001 he played his first ga ...

, which hit him in the face, for which he received a three-month suspension. Upon his return to action, Benítez struggled heavily with injury problems. On 27 March 2014, it was announced he had failed a doping test in a match against

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 ...

held the previous month, in which he was sent off after just 15 minutes on the pitch,

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

being the illegal substance he had allegedly consumed. On 9 January 2016, after nearly 20 months without a club, Benítez joined

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo Domingo, ...

of the second division. He left on 28 June after making no official appearances, moving to third-tier

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

on a one-year contract one month later. In July 2019, following a two-year spell in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

with

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...

, the 32-year-old Benítez returned to both his country and his native region by agreeing to a deal at amateurs

UD Poblense Unión Deportiva Poblense is a Spanish football team based in Sa Pobla, Majorca, in the autonomous community of Balearic Islands. Founded in 1935, it plays in . Team colours are shirt with blue and red vertical stripes, blue shorts and socks. ...

.Dani Benítez vuelve a España de la mano del Poblense, un equipo de Tercera División (Dani Benítez returns to Spain courtesy of Poblense, a ''Tercera División'' team)

Europa Press Europa Press is a Spanish news agency founded in 1953. It broadcasts news 24 hours a day, publishing 3,000 articles on average per day. Originally founded as a book distribution company by five monarchists, Europa Press became a news agency in ...

, 20 July 2019 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benitez, Dani 1987 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Palma de Mallorca Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players RCD Mallorca B players RCD Mallorca players Pontevedra CF footballers Elche CF players Granada CF footballers AD Alcorcón footballers Racing de Ferrol footballers UD Poblense players Udinese Calcio players Cypriot First Division players AEL Limassol players Primera Divisió players UE Sant Julià players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Andorra Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Andorra Doping cases in association football