Javier "Javi" Márquez Moreno (; born 11 May 1986) 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

central 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 ...

Club career

Espanyol

Born in

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 ...

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 ...

, Márquez was a product of hometown

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 was promoted to the first team for the 2009–10 season, making his

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 ...

debut on 19 September by playing 30 minutes at

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

for a 3–2 win, after coming on as a substitute for Ben Sahar. Márquez quickly established himself in the first team and, on 20 December 2009, scored his first goal in a 2–0 home win against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

. However, his campaign ended prematurely in March 2010 after he broke his leg in a match with

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 ...

. Márquez recovered fully for

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, being an undisputed starter for the

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 ...

-led side while partnering another Espanyol youth graduate,

Raúl Baena José Raúl Baena Urdiales (; born 2 March 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder. Club career Espanyol Born in Torrox, Province of Málaga, Andalusia, and after starting his footballing career at local ...

, in central midfield. However, after recovering from another injury, he was deemed surplus to requirements by the manager, and chose not to renew his contract.

Mallorca

On 30 June 2012, Márquez joined

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, ...

as Sergio Tejera moved in the opposite direction. He made his official debut precisely against his former side, starting and playing 54 minutes in the 2–1 home win. Márquez' spell at the Iberostar Stadium was curtailed by an injury to his left

ankle The ankle, the talocrural region or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joint. The ...

, and his team also suffered relegation.

Granada

In the summer of 2014, Márquez signed a four-year contract for

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 ...

after a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long spell at fellow top-tier club

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 ...

. He appeared in 25 games – 15 starts – in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

, 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 narrowly retained their status. Márquez was released in late January 2017, aged 30.

New York Cosmos

On 24 February 2017, the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

announced that they had signed Márquez for the 2017 campaign. He scored his first goal for his new team on 22 April, in a 1–1 home draw against the

Jacksonville Armada FC Jacksonville Armada FC is an American professional soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They were founded in 2013 as an expansion franchise in the North American Soccer League (NASL), the second tier of American soccer, and played unt ...

Gimnàstic

On 8 January 2018,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Márquez agreed to a two-and-a-half-year deal at

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 ...

in the

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 ...

. In November 2020, the 34-year-old announced his retirement.

Personal life

In March 2016, Márquez became the father of a baby boy. As a deference to his wife, he named him Modric after the Croatian footballer.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marquez, Javi 1986 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barcelona 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 RCD Mallorca players Elche CF players Granada CF footballers Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players New York Cosmos (2010) players Kings League players Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Spanish sportsmen