José María Romero Poyón (born 10 December 1978), known as José Mari, 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 forward. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 270 matches and 49 goals over eleven seasons, mainly 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 ...

– for which he signed at the age of 18 from

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

, going on to score 34 times in 144 appearances – 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 ( ...

(four years apiece). He also played professionally in Italy for

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. José Mari was a Spanish international in the 2000s.

Club career

José Mari was born in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

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 ...

. After growing through the ranks of local

(first appearing with the main squad aged just 18, in a 2–0 defeat at

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

on 5 March 1997, and making 21

appearances with seven goals during that season, as his team was finally relegated), he signed with

. At Atlético, José Mari totalled 18 league goals in his first two seasons. Highlights included scoring at both home and away wins over

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in 1999 (separate seasons, both by 3–1); these happened to be Atlético's only competitive victories in the Madrid derby in a span covering almost 20 years. José Mari failed to settle in Italy after a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

19 million move to

in January 2000– Atlético were relegated at the end of the campaign– and was subsequently loaned to the ''Colchoneros'' for 2002–03, their first back in the top flight after a two-year absence. His second spell there was less successful, with the high point being a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in a 3–3 home draw against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

on 10 November 2002. José Mari agreed to a deal at

in the summer of 2003, for an undisclosed fee. He went on to play a key role in that year's

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

triumph, and the side's best-ever league finish (third in 2004–05, with four goals in 30 matches). In 2007, after falling out of favour at Villarreal with the arrival of

Giuseppe Rossi Giuseppe Rossi (; born 1 February 1987) is a former professional association football, footballer who played as a forward (association football), forward. Born in the United States, Rossi spent most of his career in Europe with Villarreal CF, Vi ...

and the recovery of longtime injury absentee

Nihat Kahveci Nihat Kahveci (born 23 November 1979), better known mononymously as Nihat, is a Turkish former professional footballer who played as a forward and right winger for Beşiktaş, Real Sociedad and Villarreal. He works as a football commentator for ...

, José Mari returned to Seville, joining

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on a one-year deal. He scored his first goal for his new club more than a year after his arrival, on 24 September 2008, in a 3–2 away loss to

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 ...

; despite still having a contract running until June 2010, he was released in late December and, the following month, moved to

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 ...

with

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 June 2010, after one and a half seasons of regular playing time, with six league goals in his last year, José Mari became 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 ...

and was released. The following month, the 31-year-old signed for Xerez, recently relegated to the second tier. He netted a career-best 17 times in his first season – 33 games, all starts – helping his team to the eighth position.

International career

José Mari represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on four occasions, in a two-year span. His debut came on 25 April 2001 as he played the second half of a 1–0 friendly win over

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, in Córdoba. Previously, José Mari was a member of the national squad which won the silver medal at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

. He scored three goals during the competition.

Post-retirement

After retiring, José Mari began practicing

bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the practice of Resistance training, progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's skeletal muscle, muscles via muscle hypertrophy, hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to a ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each José Mari goal.''

Honours

Villarreal *

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

Spain U23 * Summer Olympic silver medal:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mari, Jose 1978 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Seville Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players Atlético Madrid footballers Villarreal CF players Real Betis players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Xerez CD footballers Serie A players AC Milan players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Spain Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Spain Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy