Andrés José Túñez Arceo (; born 15 March 1987) is a Venezuelan retired 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

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 ...

. He spent the better part of his 17-year career with Celta and Buriram United, winning several titles with the latter club including four Thai League 1 championships. Túñez represented

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

internationally.

Early years

Túñez was born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

to José "Pepe" Túñez and Margarita Arceo, a family of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

immigrants from Galicia. Aged 7, his family would return to their hometown of Bertamirans, Ames.

Club career

Túñez began playing football at Colegio La Salle primary school, in the nearby city of

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

. Three years later, he joined the Escuela de Fútbol de Rosalia de Castro academy. After a two-year spell at

SD Compostela Sociedade Deportiva Compostela is a Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. They play home matches at San Lázaro, and compete in . History A team called Compostela Foot-ball Club was founded in 1928, ceasing to exist ...

, he moved to neighbouring

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

to complete his development. In February 2010, following Jordi Figueras's transfer to

FC Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded 1958 in Russia, in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003 Russia ...

, Túñez was promoted to the first team. He had spent nearly four seasons with the reserves 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 ...

, and finished that campaign with 16 league appearances with the main squad, which competed 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 ...

. Túñez contributed 29 games (all starts) in 2011–12, as Celta returned to

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 ...

after an absence of five years. He scored his only goal of the season on 28 January 2012, in a 1–0 away win against

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 ...

. Túñez played his first match in the Spanish top flight on 18 August 2012, starting in a 0–1 home loss 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 ...

. After being deemed surplus to requirements by new manager

Luis Enrique Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. He is the manager of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playin ...

he moved to Thailand, going on to win several accolades including four Thai League 1 championships; interspersed with this, he served a loan at

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

club

Beitar Jerusalem F.C. Beitar Jerusalem Football Club (), commonly known as Beitar Jerusalem () or simply Beitar (), is an Israeli professional association football, football club based in the city of Jerusalem, that plays in the Israeli Premier League, the top tie ...

alongside his teammate Jonathan Vila. In April 2023, after three seasons with BG Pathum United F.C. also in the Thai top tier, the 36-year-old Túñez announced his retirement.

International career

On 24 February 2010, it was reported in the local papers that the Venezuela national team had approached Túñez's agent with an offer for the player to represent the nation. He made his debut in September of the following year, playing injury time of a 1–0 friendly defeat with

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Career statistics

Honours

Buriram United * Thai League 1:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Thai FA Cup The Thai FA Cup (), known officially as The Football Association of Thailand Cup, is a football cup competition in Thailand. Thai FA Cup is an annual knockout association football competition in men's domestic football. It was held between 1974 a ...

Kor Royal Cup Kor Royal Cup (), known as the Yai Cup () until 1963, was the highest level of club football competition which competed in the tournament in Thailand from 1916 to 1995. It was founded by the Football Association of Thailand in 1916. Department of ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Thailand Champions Cup The Thailand Champions Cup (continuing Kor Royal Cup, a different competition from the Thai Super Cup) is a single-game competition between the winners of previous Thai League 1 and Thai FA Cup, organised by the Football Association of Thailand. ...

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 ...

Thai League Cup The League Cup () is a association football, football cup competition in Thailand. It is also known as Hilux Revo Cup for sponsorship reasons. History Thai League Cup was started by Toyota Motor Corporation, Toyota Motor (Thailand) in the name of ...

Mekong Club Championship The Toyota Mekong Club Championship was an ASEAN Football Federation, ASEAN club competition for men's association football clubs. Five teams entered as respective domestic league winners from ''Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam''. ...

Toyota Premier Cup The Toyota Premier Cup was a single-game cup competition organized by the Toyota and Football Association of Thailand and was first played in 2011. It features the winners of the Thai League Cup and an invited team from the J1 League. The compet ...

BG Pathum United *Thai League 1: 2020–21 *Thailand Champions Cup:

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

runners-up: 2022–23 Individual *Thai League 1 Best XI: 2020–21

References

External links

*
Celta de Vigo biography
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tunez, Andres 1987 births Living people Venezuelan people of Spanish descent Venezuelan people of Galician descent 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Venezuelan men's footballers Footballers from Caracas Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players RC Celta Fortuna players RC Celta de Vigo players Elche CF players Israeli Premier League players Beitar Jerusalem F.C. players Andres Tunez Andres Tunez Andres Tunez Venezuela men's international footballers 2015 Copa América players Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Israel Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Thailand