Juan Díaz Sánchez (6 October 1948 – 3 April 2013), commonly known as Juanito, was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward.

Career

Born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife,

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, Juanito started and finished his 11-year professional career with hometown club CD Tenerife. He played one season 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 ...

with them, then signed for

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 ...

in late February 1972. He made his

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 ...

debut on 19 March, starting in a 1–0 away win against Athletic Bilbao. Juanito contributed 17 games in the 1973–74 campaign as the Catalans won the national championship, scoring in a 3–0 home victory over

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 ...

on 6 January 1974. He appeared in three

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

matches during his spell, netting against OGC Nice in the 1973–74 edition. In 1975, in another winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

move, Juanito joined fellow top-division team

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

for three years. In the 1976 summer, however, he moved to UD Salamanca, going on to compete a further five seasons in the top flight; two of his league goals came against former employers Barcelona (13 February 1977, 2–0 home win) and

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 ...

(1–1 home draw, on 16 March 1980). Juanito retired in 1983 at the age of 34, after one-year spells with Tenerife and amateurs CD Mensajero.

Death

Juanito lost a son whilst a player of Hércules, aged only 15. He himself died on 3 April 2013 in his hometown, at 64.

Honours

Barcelona *

: 1973–74

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Juanito 1948 births 2013 deaths 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Santa Cruz de Tenerife Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CD Tenerife players FC Barcelona players Hércules CF players UD Salamanca players CD Mensajero players