Juan José 'Juanjo' Valencia de la Serna (born 18 September 1971) is a Spanish retired 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 played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He played 191

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 ...

games over the course of nine seasons, in representation of

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 ...

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 ...

and

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, Basque Country, Valencia joined

for his last year as a

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Aircraft * Ekolot JK-05L Junior, a Polish ultralight aircraft * PZL-112 Junior, a Polish training aircraft * SZD-51 Junior, a Polish-made training and club glider Arts and entertainment Characters * Bowser Jr., ...

, being signed from neighbouring

Antiguoko Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea (Sport Club of Antiguo in English) is an amateur youth Spanish football club based in Antiguo, a part of San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, Spain. It acts as feeder club to Athletic Bilbao, previously having the sam ...

. He was loaned to

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 ...

club

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

to start his senior career, but was quickly recalled to play for Athletic's reserves, helping them retain their place in

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 ...

. Valencia made an immediate impact at the first team at the age of 20, replacing the departing Patxi Iru. When Kike Burgos was injured in pre-season, manager

Jupp Heynckes Josef "Jupp" Heynckes (; born 9 May 1945) is a German retired professional footballer and manager. For the majority of his playing career he was as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach in its golden era of the 1960s and '70s, when they won m ...

gave him a first

start against

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

in the opening game of the 1992–93 season (

Julen Guerrero Julen Guerrero López (born 7 January 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played solely for Athletic Bilbao as an attacking midfielder. He appeared in 430 official games for his only club, scoring 116 goals and helping them to ...

made his debut in the same game). He only missed a combined eight league matches in his first four years, but subsequently began to be challenged by Imanol Etxeberria. Valencia fell completely out of favour under

Luis Fernández Luis Miguel Fernández Toledo (born 2 October 1959), known as Luis Fernandez, is a French football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez spent most of his playing career for Paris Saint-Germain. He earned ...

and, after 195 appearances in official competitions, signed with fellow league side

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

Later years

Sevilla began 1999–2000 with Valencia as their starting goalkeeper, but during the winter of what was to be a campaign ending with relegation in last place, Norway international goalkeeper

Frode Olsen Frode Olsen (born 12 October 1967) is a Norwegian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He earned 26 international caps for the Norway national team. During his career he played for clubs like Viking F.K., Stabæk IF, IK ...

arrived and took the starting spot, so in April 2000 the former accepted an opportunity to move on to

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

in the second level to cover an injury crisis. He was first choice in the next three seasons, totalling 106 league games. In 2003–04 he was overtaken by the emerging Roberto, and eventually moved to fellow league club

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 ...

. Valencia was a regular in his first season in

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 ...

– being ranked the second-best in the division – and played the first few games in the second, but from then on Álvaro Iglesias was preferred as they returned to the top flight after a 56-year wait, by which time the former had already moved on to

. During his brief tenure he played understudy to

Dudu Aouate David "Dudu" Aouate (or Awat, , ''pronounced Dūdū Ahwaht''; born 17 October 1977) is an Israeli retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After playing for several clubs in his country, most notably Maccabi Haifa, he moved t ...

, his first appearance in the top tier after a hiatus of six years occurring on 13 May 2006 against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

, following which he retired at the age of 34. Afterwards, Valencia spent some time as a

goalkeeping coach An athletic coach is a person coaching in sport, involved in the direction, instruction, and training of a sports team or athlete. History The original sense of the word ''Coach'' is that of a horse-drawn carriage, deriving ultimately from the ...

for Athletic Bilbao's youth teams,

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 ...

and

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

International career

Valencia was an important member of the Spain under-21 squad during his eligible years, making his debut at that level two days after his league bow. During his most impressive spell with Athletic he was in consideration for the senior team, but only managed one bench appearance in a friendly against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in February 1995. Valencia took part in one match with the unofficial Basque Country team, in December 1995.

Personal life

Valencia worked as a

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

in partnership with some former teammates, and was also an enthusiast of the racquet sport

padel Padel () is a racket sport typically played in doubles on an enclosed court slightly smaller than a doubles tennis court. It has the same scoring system as tennis, but different rules, strokes, and technique. The balls are similar but softer. ...

Honours

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

third place:

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile at Colgados por el Fútbol
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valencia, Juanjo 1971 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football goalkeepers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Antiguoko players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Barakaldo CF footballers Sevilla FC players Sporting de Gijón players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Racing de Santander players