Jesús Rodríguez Tato (born 12 July 1983) 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 a striker, currently 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 spent most of his career 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 ...

, totalling 191 games and 35 goals in total of seven teams across nine seasons. He also competed professionally in Morocco and India.

Playing career

Murcia

Born in

Murcia Murcia ( , , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the Capital (political), capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the Ranked lists of Spanish municipalities#By population, seventh largest city i ...

, Tato began his development at

Real Murcia CF Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

and concluded it at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, where he made his senior debut for the reserves in the

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. In 2004, he returned to his hometown team in

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 ...

and made his professional debut on 28 March in a 2–0 home win against

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, ...

, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Juanma; he made six further appearances off the bench, as the season ended with relegation. Tato scored his first professional goal on 6 May 2006, a consolation in a 2–1 away loss to

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

in the

. He followed it eight days later with a brace in a 3–1 victory over

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 ...

at the

Estadio de La Condomina La Condomina is a multi-use stadium in Murcia, Spain. The stadium holds 16,500 spectators (6,500 seated) and it is currently used mostly for football matches and music concerts. History La Condomina was built in 1924 with an initial capacity of ...

, also providing an assist for Nacho Garro. Halfway through Murcia's promotion-winning season, Tato returned to

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 ...

by joining

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 ...

team

UE Lleida Unió Esportiva Lleida was a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. It was founded as ''Lérida Balompié-AEM'' on 30 October 1939, and became ''Unión Deportiva Lérida'' in 1947, after a merger with ''C ...

on loan. The following campaign, he remained in the same level at

AD Ceuta Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at '' Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...

, helping them to the play-offs.

Journeyman

In 2008, Tato signed with neighbours

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 sp ...

, and renewed his link after winning promotion to division two via the play-offs in his first season. After a second campaign at the

Estadio Cartagonova Estadio Cartagonova is a multi-purpose stadium in Cartagena, Spain, Cartagena, Spain. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and hosts the home matches of Segunda División club, FC Cartagena. The capacity of the s ...

he moved to

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

, where he netted a career-best 13 goals in his only season, which ended in relegation from the second tier. Tato joined

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 ...

in June 2011, being officially presented on 8 July and hoping to help them gain promotion to the top flight, but he left in January 2013 for fellow second division side

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

for the same reason. He extended his contract at the latter club in the summer, after helping it to the play-offs. In February 2014, Tato signed for

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

for the remainder of the season, and remained a

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 ...

from then until September, when he joined

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 ...

still in the second tier. In July 2015, Tato moved abroad for the first time in his career at the age of 32, joining Morocco's MA Tétouan alongside countryman José Manuel Rueda. He switched to a third continent in September 2016, signing for

FC Pune City Football Club Pune City was an Indian professional Association football, football club based in Pune, Maharashtra, which last participated in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football league system, under licence from All Ind ...

ahead of the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

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 ...

. He played all but four games for the latter, who missed out on the play-offs, and headed the opening goal of a 1–1 draw at

Delhi Dynamos FC Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

on 27 October.

Coaching career

After retiring, Tato worked as assistant manager under his compatriot

Sergio Lobera Sergio Lobera Rodríguez (born 16 January 1977) is a Spanish professional football manager who is currently the head coach of Indian Super League club Odisha. Managerial career Lobera was born in Zaragoza, Aragon. After impressing with Dosa Sal ...

FC Goa Futebol Clube de Goa is an India, Indian professional association football, football club based in Fatorda, Goa, that competes in the Indian Super League (ISL), the top tier of Football in India, Indian football. The club was established on 2 ...

. On 31 January 2020, the pair left the

Fatorda Stadium Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium (also known as Fatorda Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Margao, Goa, India. The venue has been used to host both football and cricket matches. It is Goa's only international stadium and has a seating capac ...

, resuming their association at

Mumbai City FC Mumbai City Football Club is an Indian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is part of the City Football Group. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of the Ind ...

also of the Indian top flight and

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

side Shenzhen Peng City FC.

Honours

Manager

Shenzhen Peng City *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tato, Jesus 1983 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Murcia Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players Real Murcia CF players UE Lleida players AD Ceuta footballers FC Cartagena footballers Albacete Balompié players Xerez CD footballers UD Las Palmas players Girona FC players Real Zaragoza players La Roda CF players Botola players MA Tétouan players Indian Super League players FC Pune City players Gibraltar Premier Division players Lincoln Red Imps F.C. players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Morocco Expatriate men's footballers in India Expatriate men's footballers in Gibraltar Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Gibraltar Spanish football managers Chinese Super League managers China League One managers Shenzhen Peng City F.C. managers Spanish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in China Spanish expatriate sportspeople in China