Manuel Fernández Muñiz (born 9 May 1986), commonly known as Manu, 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

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Gijón Gijón () or () is a city and municipality in north-western Spain. It is the largest city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality by population in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Asturias. It is located on the coa ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, and a product of ''Mareo'',

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 ...

's youth academy, Manu made his professional debut during the 2005–06 season, with the club 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 ...

. In 2007 he joined

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

, spending the better part of his first two years with the reserves. In the 2009–10 campaign, after

Gustavo Munúa Gustavo Adolfo Munúa Vera (born 27 January 1978) is a Uruguayan former Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper, recently Manager (association football), manager of Argentine club Club Atlé ...

's departure to

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

, Manu was promoted to

Dani Aranzubia Daniel Aranzubia Aguado (born 18 September 1979) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He is the current goalkeeper coach of SD Amorebieta, Amorebieta. H ...

's backup. On 23 March 2010, after the latter was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

against precisely Sporting Gijón (''Depor'' eventually finished with nine players) at the 10-minute mark, 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, in a 2–1 away loss. Due to injury to Aranzubia, Manu started

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

's first six games then returned to the bench, appearing 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 ...

as Deportivo were eventually relegated after 20 years. In July he signed with another team in the second division,

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

, and continued competing at that level the following years, in representation of

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo Domingo, ...

and

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

. Manu returned to the

Estadio Riazor Estadio Municipal de Riazor () is an all-seater stadium in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain which is the home stadium of Deportivo de La Coruña. Currently known as Estadio Abanca-Riazor for sponsorship reasons, its name derives from the nearby beach ...

for the 2015–16 season, arriving following injury to habitual starter

Fabri Fabri is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anna Fabri (f. 1496), Swedish publisher and printer * Annibale Pio Fabri (1697–1760), Italian singer and composer * Cornelia Fabri (1869-1915), Italian mathematician * Emanuel Fab ...

. Again, he played second-fiddle, now to

Germán Lux Germán Darío Lux (born 7 June 1982) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After starting out at River Plate, he spent most of his career in Spain with Mallorca and Deportivo. Club career River Plate Lux ...

. In the summer of 2016, Manu signed with Iranian club Machine Sazi FC, newly promoted to the

Persian Gulf Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League (, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Premier League (, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is a professional association football league in Iran and the highest level of the Iranian football league s ...

, on a one-year contract. He returned to Spain halfway through the campaign, joining

Marbella FC Marbella Fútbol Club, formerly known as Unión Deportiva Marbella, is a Spanish football team based in Marbella, the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1997, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Dama de Noche football groun ...

from

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 ...

Honours

Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

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 ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Manu 1986 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gijón Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Sporting de Gijón B players Sporting de Gijón players Deportivo Fabril players Deportivo de La Coruña players Recreativo de Huelva players AD Alcorcón footballers Deportivo Alavés players Marbella FC players Persian Gulf Pro League players Machine Sazi F.C. players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Iran Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Iran 21st-century Spanish sportsmen