Jesús Vicente García Pitarch Marco (born 14 November 1963) 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

left winger 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. ...

Playing career

Also known as ''Suso'' in his playing days, García Pitarch was born in

La Pobla de Vallbona La Pobla de Vallbona () is a municipality in the province of Valencia in the Valencian Community, Spain. History of the shield of La Pobla de Vallbona The shield of La Pobla de Vallbona was mainly created to avoid fraud and mistakes with documen ...

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 ...

, and played 120

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 over the course of six seasons (21 goals), spending two apiece with local

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 ...

, Español and Logroñés. He made his debut in the competition on 8 January 1984 in a 0–3 home loss against

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

where he featured 16 minutes, and finished his first season with the ''Che'' with 16 games and six goals. Whilst with

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 ...

's Español, García Pitarch missed the entire 1986–87 campaign due to a bout of

glomerulonephritis Glomerulonephritis (GN) is a term used to refer to several kidney diseases (usually affecting both kidneys). Many of the diseases are characterised by inflammation either of the glomeruli or of the small blood vessels in the kidneys, hence the ...

. He went on to recover fully and, 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 ...

, represented

Figueres Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

, Orihuela Deportiva (scoring a career-best 22 goals in 1990–91 but still suffering team relegation, due to irregularities), Mérida and

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

Post-playing career

García Pitarch majored in law in 1987, opening a firm in his hometown. After being in charge of the club's academy, he worked as a

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

with Valencia, replacing

Javier Subirats Javier Subirats Hernández (born 2 October 1957) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder. Most of his career was closely associated with Valencia, as a player and director. Over the course of 11 seasons, he amassed La Liga to ...

and remaining in office until June 2004 – initially being fired in December of the previous year – leaving as manager

Rafael Benítez Rafael Benítez Maudes (born 16 April 1960) is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He was most recently the manager of La Liga club RC Celta de Vigo, Celta Vigo. Beníte ...

. During five seasons, García Pitarch worked in the same capacity at

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, being responsible for signing the likes of

Diego Forlán Diego Forlán Corazo (born 19 May 1979) is a Uruguayan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former football player who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Regarded as one of the best forwards of his ...

and

José Antonio Reyes José Antonio Reyes Calderón (; 1 September 1983 – 1 June 2019) was a Spanish professional footballer who played mainly as a left winger and also as a forward. He made his debut for Sevilla aged 16 and signed for English club Arsenal in J ...

. On 4 July 2012, he was elected president of Hércules in the second division, also being the main decider in the football department. García Pitarch left the

Estadio José Rico Pérez Estadio José Rico Pérez is a multi-purpose stadium in Alicante, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches, being home to Hércules CF. It also hosted World Cup matches when Spain organized the event in 1982 Wor ...

after just one year, going on to work as director of football with

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

Baniyas Club Baniyas Sports & Cultural Club is an United Arab Emirates, Emirati sports club based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi. The club's association football, football section competes in the UAE Pro League. Presidency * SourcePreside ...

(

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

) and Valencia. He left his role with the latter club on 7 January 2017.

Aston Villa

On 9 October 2018, García Pitarch was appointed as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

, where his key duties included player recruitment. On 27 July 2020, he was dismissed from this role after chief executive

Christian Purslow Christian Purslow (born 14 December 1963) is a British businessman who was most recently the chief executive officer of the Premier League club Aston Villa Football Club. He was the co-founder of private equity firm MidOcean Partners and was the ...

carried out a "long-term strategic review of how the club can improve its recruitment".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia Pitarch, Jesus 1963 births Living people People from Horta Oest Footballers from the Province of Valencia Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers CF Gandía players Valencia CF players RCD Espanyol footballers UE Figueres footballers Orihuela Deportiva CF footballers CD Logroñés footballers CP Mérida footballers Villarreal CF players Real Murcia CF players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spanish football chairmen and investors Valencia CF non-playing staff Aston Villa F.C. directors and chairmen Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England 20th-century Spanish sportsmen