José Luis Rondo Polo (born 19 March 1976) is a 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 ...

. Born in Spain, he played for the Equatorial Guinea national team. He started his career as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, subsequently moving to

right 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. ...

and finally

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He spent his entire career in his native Spain, representing five clubs at the professional level. During six years, Rondo was an

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

international.

Club career

Rondo was born in

Palma, Majorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of M ...

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

. An unsuccessful

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, ...

youth graduate – he could only appear for their reserves – he would manage to spend seven seasons in the second division, with

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

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 ...

and

UD Vecindario Unión Deportiva Vecindario is a Spanish football team based in Vecindario, Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Gran Canaria, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1962 and refounded in 2021, they play in , holding home games at '' Esta ...

; his first experience at that level was precisely with Mallorca B, in 1998–99 (31 matches played, team relegation). After a one-year spell with

CD Constancia The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of holding of uncomp ...

(

division four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier L ...

, also in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

), Rondo signed with neighbours CE Andratx of the same tier.

International career

Spanish-born, Rondo would however represent the land of one of his parents,

, in the molds of several players whom played in Spain:

Javier Balboa Javier Ángel Balboa Osa (born 13 May 1985) is a former professional footballer who played as a winger, most notably for Real Madrid and Benfica. After emerging at Real Madrid's youth system, he could never establish himself in its first ...

, Rodolfo Bodipo, Benjamín Zarandona, etc.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rondo, Jose Luis 1976 births Living people Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Footballers from Palma de Mallorca Spanish men's footballers Equatoguinean men's footballers Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players RCD Mallorca B players Getafe CF footballers Elche CF players CD Castellón footballers Algeciras CF footballers UD Vecindario players CE Constància players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers International sportspeople born abroad CE Andratx footballers