Antonio Álvarez Pérez (born 21 January 1975), known as Ito, is a Spanish retired

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. ...

, and a

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 ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 282 matches and seven goals over ten seasons, mainly with Betis (five years) and Espanyol (three).

Club career

Born in Almendralejo,

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

, Ito started playing professionally with local

CF Extremadura Club de Fútbol Extremadura was a Spanish football team based in Almendralejo, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1924, it played two seasons in La Liga, and held home games at '' Estadio Francisco de la Hera'', with a cap ...

, helping it rise from the third division to

and making his top flight debut on 9 September 1996 in a game 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 ...

. Even though the club was finally relegated he was a key midfield element (39 matches, one goal) and attracted interest from

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

, which he helped qualify for 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 ...

in his sole season. Subsequently, Ito spent six years with Betis, being relegated in his second season but always being an important first-team member, on occasion wearing 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 ...

's armband. Released in 2004, he joined

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

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 ...

. With Espanyol, Ito won the 2006 edition of 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 ...

and, although a reserve in the Catalan team's 2006–07 league campaign – eight appearances – he played in ten

games as they lost the final on penalties, to

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 July 2007, Ito signed with second level side

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

, being released at the age of 34 after two seasons of regular playing time, after which he dropped down a division and joined

CP Cacereño Club Polideportivo Cacereño is a Spanish football team based in Cáceres, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1919, the club plays in , and holds home games at '' Estadio Príncipe Felipe'', with a capacity of 7,000 seats. No ...

in his native region.

International career

After a fine individual campaign with Celta which led to a transfer to Betis, Ito earned his sole

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

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 ...

on 23 September 1998, appearing in the last two minutes of a 1–0 friendly win over

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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 ...

. Previously, he helped the under-21s win the 1998 UEFA European Championships, playing in the final against

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 ...

Honours

Club

Espanyol *

: 2005–06 *

: Runner-up 2006–07

International

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ito 1975 births Living people People from Almendralejo Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Badajoz Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CF Extremadura footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Real Betis players RCD Espanyol footballers Córdoba CF players CP Cacereño players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish football managers