Juan Manuel 'Juanma' Ortiz Palazón (born 1 March 1982) is a Spanish

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 mainly as a

right midfielder 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. ...

. After starting out at

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 ...

he went on to spend most of his professional career with

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

, appearing in 151 official matches over two spells (16 goals) whilst playing four

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 ...

seasons with the club. He also competed professionally in Scotland and Cyprus.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Guardamar del Segura Guardamar del Segura (), or briefly Guardamar, is a municipality of the province of Alicante located at the mouth of the river Segura in southern Valencia (autonomous community), Spain. It is a Mediterranean resort, with a large pine forest abutt ...

Province of Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: / ) is a province located in eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is the second most populated Valencian province, containing the second and third biggest cities in the Valencian Co ...

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

, Ortiz was a graduate of

's youth system, where he played five first-team games during the 2003–04 season, three as a starter. He had previously made his debut with the main squad in the 2001–02 campaign, appearing in one

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 ...

match as the ''Colchoneros'' were promoted, and would spend the next three years on loan at both

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

and

Polideportivo Ejido Poli Ejido 2012 Sociedad Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in El Ejido, Province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo'' ...

, the latter in the second level.

Almería

For 2007–08, Ortiz joined newly promoted

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 ...

, where he was instrumental in helping the

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 ...

side overachieve to a final eighth place in

. He scored two goals, including in a 4–1 away win against neighbours

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 ...

on 19 April 2008, and continued to be regularly used in the following top-flight seasons, inclusively as an attacking

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 ...

. Ortiz played as both right and left-back during the 2010–11 campaign. He netted twice in the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

, both in a 4–3 victory over

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, ...

(8–6 on aggregate) in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

, as the team eventually reached the competition's semi-finals for the first time in their history, being nonetheless relegated after ranking 20th and last. From 2007 to 2009, Ortiz was one of three Almería players with that surname, Mané and José Ortiz being the others.

Rangers

Ortiz signed for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

on 6 July 2011, on a three-year contract. He made his first competitive appearance 17 days later, struggling to make an impact and playing out of position in a 1–1 away draw with Heart of Midlothian. He scored his first official goal on 18 August, in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

qualifier against

NK Maribor Nogometni klub Maribor () is a Slovenian professional Association football, football club based in Maribor, Slovenia. It competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of the Football in Slovenia#League system, Slovenian football league system ...

. On 30 January 2012, after a somewhat disappointing first half to his Rangers campaign, it was announced that Ortiz would rejoin Almería on loan until the end of the season. He netted three times in his first three games, awarding his team nine points after strikes against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

(2–1, home),

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. ( ) is a Spanish professional Football team, football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, the team plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 ...

(1–0, away) and

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

(4–2, home).

Return to Spain

Following Rangers' liquidation after they entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

, several players refused to have their contracts transferred to a new company set up by Charles Green, and both Ortiz and the club agreed on having his link terminated. On 10 July 2012, he signed a two-year contract with

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

. Having signed in the summer of 2014 at the age of 32, Ortiz then spent several seasons in the

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 ...

with

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos. The club also has a men' ...

, sharing teams with a host of compatriots. On 29 September 2017, he returned to his country and signed with amateurs

CF La Nucía Club de Fútbol La Nucía is a Spanish football team based in La Nucía, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1995, it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Camilo Cano'', which has a capacity of 3,000 spectators. Team colo ...

, helping to a first-ever promotion to the

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 ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

. Ortiz returned to

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 December 2019, joining

CF Intercity Club de Fútbol Intercity is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. The club plays in , holding home matches at the ''Estadio Antonio Solana'', with a capacity of 2,000 spectators. ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Juanma 1982 births Living people People from Vega Baja del Segura 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Alicante Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Men's association football utility players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Segunda Federación players Atlético Madrid B players Atlético Madrid footballers CA Osasuna players Polideportivo Ejido footballers UD Almería players Granada CF footballers Hércules CF players CF La Nucía players CF Intercity players Scottish Premier League players Rangers F.C. players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus