José Antonio Pedrosa Galán (born 2 February 1986) 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 for

Eccellenza Apulia Eccellenza Apulia () is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in the Southern Italian region of Apulia, Italy. It is competed among 20 teams, in one group. The winner of the group is promoted to Serie D. The club who win play-off als ...

club Novoli Calcio 1942. A known journeyman, Galan is currently the Spanish player who has played in the most countries (16).

Club career

Spain

Galán was born in León,

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

. A

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

youth graduate, he made his debut as a senior with

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 ...

's C-team in 2005, in

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 the same season, matches with the reserves in

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 ...

. In 2007, after one year at

CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Toledo, Spain, Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Salto del Cab ...

, Galán moved to

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 ...

, being initially assigned to the B-side. In November 2009, after being already called up to the main squad by manager

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who played as a Forward (association football), forward. A prolific goalscorer known for ...

, he suffered a serious

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury which sidelined him for ten months. Galán was subsequently released by the ''Rojiblancos'', and returned to action in September 2010 while playing for division four club

Atlético Astorga FC Atlético Astorga Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Astorga in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1944, it plays in the . Its stadium is '' Estadio La Eragudina'' with a capacity of 3,000 seats. History In A ...

. In January of the following year, he moved to CD Comarca de Níjar in the same tier.

Journeyman

On 16 July 2011, Galán returned to his first club Cultural. On 31 January of the following year he moved abroad, after agreeing to a one-year deal with Chainat FC from the

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

; he was also the first Spaniard to ever appear in the competition. In June 2012, Galán was released due to an

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 ...

injury. In February 2013, he signed a two-year contract with

Liga Indonesia Premier Division Liga Indonesia Premier Division (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Divisi Utama Liga Indonesia'') was the second-tier of the Indonesian football league system, football competition system in Indonesia, organized by PSSI. The competition starte ...

team Pro Duta FC, becoming the first Spanish footballer in the country in the process. Galán switched teams and countries again on 1 March 2014, signing for

Austrian Football First League The Second League (), commonly known as Admiral 2. Liga for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest professional division in Austrian football. The division currently contains 16 teams, and the champion of the league is promoted to the Austr ...

's SKN St. Pölten. After appearing rarely, he moved to Shabab Al-Ordon Club in Jordania. On 3 September 2015, Galán joined

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 ...

club

Aris Limassol FC Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a professional Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the A ...

. He left in December due to a lack of payment, meeting the same fate at his next team,

CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Club Sportiv Municipal Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, commonly known as Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț () or simply as Ceahlăul, is a Romanian Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Piatra Neamț, Neamț County, currently playing i ...

from Romania. Still in 2016, Galán represented

Persela Lamongan Persatuan Sepakbola Lamongan, commonly known as Persela, is an Indonesian professional football club based in Lamongan, East Java. Currently the club plays in Liga 2, the second tier of domestic football. History Although it has been estab ...

in the

Indonesia Soccer Championship Indonesia Soccer Championship (ISC; ), also known as Torabika Soccer Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a temporary professional football competition system in Indonesia, replacing the temporarily-suspended Indonesia League. It only ran fo ...

and Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

Rovaniemen Palloseura Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

. Whilst in representation of the former, he was selected to the July Team of the Month. On 26 July 2017, after unassuming spells at

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in , holding home games at Estadi Municipal de Futbol de L'Hospitalet, wit ...

and

FC Santa Coloma FC Santa Coloma is an Andorran professional football club based in Santa Coloma, parish of Andorra la Vella, that competes in the Primera Divisió. It is the most successful team in both Primera Divisió and Copa Constitució, having won b ...

(with whom he appeared in the first qualifying round of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

against

FC Alashkert Football Club Alashkert (), commonly known as Alashkert, is an Armenian football club based in the capital Yerevan, founded in 1990 in Martuni and after folding in 2000 re-founded in 2011. They currently play in the Armenian Premier League. The ...

, a 1–1 home draw), Galán joined

Hong Kong Premier League The Hong Kong Premier League () is a Hong Kong professional football league organised by the Football Association of Hong Kong, China. It is currently sponsored by BOC Life and officially known as BOC Life Hong Kong Premier League (). The inau ...

club

Dreams Sports Club Hong Kong Sapling Football Club () was a Hong Kong football club, which since 2020 does not compete in the Hong Kong football league system. History On 11 August 2011, Mutual withdrew from the Hong Kong First Division League due to financial pr ...

. Roughly one year later, he switched teams and countries again after signing for

Al-Shamal SC Al-Shamal Sports Club () is a Qatari multi-sports club based in Madinat ash Shamal. Al-Shamal was founded in 1980. Its football team competes in the Qatar Stars League, the top tier of the national football league system. History Mohammed bin B ...

in the

Qatargas League The Qatari Second Division (), QSD or Second Division League, also was known as Qatargas League due to sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the two-tier football league competition in Qatar. Contested by 8 teams, it operates on a system of p ...

Valour FC

On 15 July 2019, Galán signed a multi-year contract with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

side

Valour FC Valour FC is a Canadian professional soccer club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays their home matches at Princess Auto Stadium. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned throu ...

. After making 13 league appearances in his first year and having adapted well to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, he was retained for the following season. In September 2020 Galán signed with Spanish side

Villarrobledo Villarrobledo () is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Albacete, part of the autonomous community of Castilla-La Mancha. It's better known for having the world's largest area covered by vineyards (more than 30,000 has., approxi ...

on a season-long deal. The deal was with the view to return to Valour for the

2021 Canadian Premier League season The 2021 Canadian Premier League season was the third season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. Forge FC were defending champions, after defeating HFX Wanderers FC in the 2020 final. The season was planned to c ...

. On 10 May 2021, he re-signed with Valour. In January 2022 he announced his time in

was ending.

References

External links