José Ignacio Martínez García (born 7 March 1989), known as Nacho, is a Spanish 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 plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

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 ...

club Cartagena.

Club career

Rayo Vallecano

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Nacho played lower league and amateur football in his first three years as a senior, representing Fútbol Alcobendas Sport,

CA Osasuna B Club Atlético Osasuna B, usually known as Osasuna Promesas is the reserve team of CA Osasuna, a Spanish football club based in Pamplona, in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1962, currently plays in Primera Federación – Group ...

and

Getafe CF B Getafe Club de Fútbol "B" is the reserve team of Getafe CF, club based in Getafe, Madrid metropolitan area, in the namesake community. Founded in 1983, it currently plays in holding home games at '' Ciudad Deportiva Getafe CF''. History Getafe ...

. In summer 2012 he signed with another club 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 ...

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

's reserves. Nacho made his official debut with Rayo's first team on 31 October 2012, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away loss against

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 ...

in the

round of 32 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 ...

of 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 ...

. He first appeared in

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 ...

on 24 November (again as a starter), in the 2–0 home win 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, ...

. Nacho scored his first goal as a professional on 20 December 2012, netting from 30 metres for his team's second in a 3–0 league victory against

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

. On 31 May 2013, after contributing ten matches to his team's top-flight permanence, he was definitely promoted to the main squad with a contract running until June 2015.

Valladolid

On 6 July 2017, after five full seasons with Rayo, Nacho joined

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

on a two-year deal. He made 22 appearances in his debut campaign (21 starts,

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

included), in a promotion after a fifth-place finish. Nacho and his side again ascended to the top tier at the end of 2021–22, with 34 games and two goals from the player.

Later career

On 13 July 2022, the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Nacho agreed to a two-year contract with

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

. On 8 February 2025, the 35-year-old signed for

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 sp ...

also in the second division.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nacho 1989 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players México FC (Spain) players CA Osasuna B players Getafe CF B players Rayo Vallecano B players Rayo Vallecano players Real Valladolid players CD Tenerife players FC Cartagena footballers