Óscar Montalbán Ramos (born 17 May 1976), known as Rubio, is a Spanish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

who played as a

central defender 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 ...

Playing career

Spain

After playing several years in the lower leagues, Rubio signed with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in 1998, spending the vast majority of his spell in 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 ...

with the reserves. He made his only appearance for the first team in the 1998–99 edition 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 ...

, against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

: after a 6–0 away loss, he featured in the second leg, an insufficient 2–1 win. Rubio was loaned to

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Mérida, Spain, Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga (1995–96 La Liga, 1995–96 and 1997–98 La Li ...

for 1999–2000, failing to appear in a single match. In January 2000, he was released by Madrid and joined

CD Toledo Club Deportivo Toledo, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Toledo, Spain, Toledo, in the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. Founded in 1928 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Salto del Cab ...

also of

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 ...

– both clubs would be relegated at the end of the season, the former due to financial irregularities.

Livingston

Rubio spent his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

in top-flight football with Portugal's

S.C. Farense Sporting Clube Farense, simply known as Farense, is a Portuguese professional association football, football club based in Faro, Portugal, Faro in the Faro District, district of the same name and the region of Algarve. Founded in 1910, the club ha ...

, playing less than half of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

games as his team finished in 13th position. He 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 ...

side Livingston in July 2001, going on to make a total of 148 official appearances for them over the next four years and score eight goals. In the 2001–02 campaign, Rubio appeared in 33 matches as the ''Livi Lions'' finished in a best-ever third place, with the subsequent

qualification Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. He then made history by becoming the first ever Livingston player to score in a European competition, when he netted a header in the club's first game, a 1–1 draw at

FC Vaduz Fussball Club Vaduz (En: ''Football Club Vaduz'') is a professional association football, football club from Vaduz, Liechtenstein that plays in the Challenge League (Switzerland), Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football. The club pla ...

(eventual

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

qualification). He contributed to the team's victorious run in the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League cup in ...

in 2003–04, including starting and finishing the final against Hibernian.

Later career

Rubio left Livingston in July 2005 and moved back to his country, spending one season in the third tier with

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 ...

. He retired in 2009 at the age of 33 after three years with amateurs

Galáctico Pegaso Galáctico Pegaso was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Tres Cantos, in the autonomous Community of Madrid. Founded in 1962 and dissolved in 2010, it held home games at ''Estadio La Foresta'', with a capacity of 2,00 ...

, also in his native

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 ...

Post-retirement

After retiring, Rubio worked as an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

teacher at the Educrea High School. He was also a manager at amateur level.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rubio 1976 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football central defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players RSD Alcalá players RCD Mallorca B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players CP Mérida footballers CD Toledo players Rayo Vallecano players Primeira Liga players S.C. Farense players Scottish Premier League players Livingston F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Spanish football managers Tercera División managers