Manel Martínez Fernández (born 3 November 1973), known simply as Manel, is a Spanish 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 ...

who played as a centre-forward. During his extensive career, he was mainly associated to Logroñés.

Club career

Born in Ripollet,

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 ...

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 ...

, Manel started his career with local CE Sabadell FC, signing for CD Logroñés in 1995 and scoring 27

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 ...

goals in his first year, with

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 ...

promotion. In the following season the Riojan side were relegated again, but he proceeded to add a further 44 goals over the next three second-tier campaigns, being one of the club's all-time best. Manel then moved between

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

(appearing rarely) and

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 following seasons. He also had a brief spell abroad with Derby County, scoring three times in 16 competitive games including twice in a 5–1 home rout of Preston North End in the

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

. Returning home in May 2004, Manel successively represented CF Badalona, Sabadell, UD Ibiza-Eivissa and Lorca Deportiva CF. After retiring in 2009, having totalled 239 matches in the two top divisions of Spanish football with 96 goals, he joined

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football club based in the district of Sant Andreu in Barcelona, Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Camp Municipal Narcís Sala'', with an all-seated capacity of 6,56 ...

– also in his native region – as a youth coach.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manel 1973 births Living people People from Vallès Occidental Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CE Sabadell FC footballers CD Logroñés footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Sporting de Gijón players CF Badalona players Lorca Deportiva CF footballers English Football League players Derby County F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England