César González Navas (; born 14 February 1980) is a Spanish former

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 ...

. In his country, he played professionally for Málaga B,

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, Gimnàstic and

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, amassing

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 ...

totals of 106 matches and six goals over five seasons. In 2009 he signed for

Rubin Kazan FC Rubin Kazan (; ) is a Russian professional football club based in the city of Kazan. They play in the Russian Premier League. Founded in 1958, Rubin played its first-ever top flight season in 2003. It has remained there through the 2021–2 ...

, remaining in the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

until his retirement.

Club career

Born in

Móstoles Móstoles () is a municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. With over 200,000 inhabitants, it is the region's second most populated municipality after Madrid. Móstoles was a small town for a long time, but ...

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities and 50 provinces of Spain, provinces of Spain. It is located at the heart of the Iberian Peninsula and Meseta Central, Central Plateau (); its capital and largest munici ...

, Navas was brought through the ranks of hometown's

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 ...

, but only played with its B team. He made his

debut in the 2004–05 season, going on to spend two years in the competition with

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 ...

; his first match was on 12 December 2004, as he featured the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win 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– ...

. Navas left Málaga and 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 January 2007, joining top-flight strugglers (eventually relegated)

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

. After his return to

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

he had a trial with English club

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

, but the deal fell through due to a metatarsal injury; he subsequently moved to

also in the top tier, signing for two years. A habitual starter throughout the first half of the 2008–09 campaign, Navas was sold in late February 2009 to Russia's

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 ...

, on a three-year deal worth

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

2 million. He appeared in 28 games in 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 ...

, as the team renewed their

supremacy. On 12 July 2015, Navas signed a one-year contract with

FC Rostov FC Rostov () is a Russian professionalism in association football, professional football club based in Rostov-on-Don. The club competes in the Russian Premier League, playing their home matches at the Rostov Arena. History Soviet era (1930-199 ...

, agreeing to an extension one year later. In June 2017, he left the

Olimp-2 Olimp-2 (, Olympus-2) is a football (soccer), football stadium in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. From 1930 to 2018 it was the home ground of FC Rostov, and in 1958–1970 it was also the home ground of FC SKA Rostov-on-Don, SKA Rostov-on-Don. The stadiu ...

. On 31 August 2017, Rubin Kazan announced the return of Navas. On 14 February 2019, the 39-year-old announced his retirement.

Career statistics

Honours

Rubin Kazan *

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

* Russian Cup: 2011–12 *

Russian Super Cup The Russian Super Cup () is a one-match football (soccer), football annual competition. Its official sponsored name is ''OLIMPBET Russian Supercup'' (). The two participating clubs are the Russian Premier League champions and the Rambler Russian ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Navas, Cesar 1980 births Living people Footballers from Móstoles Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Racing de Santander players Russian Premier League players FC Rubin Kazan players FC Rostov players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Russia 21st-century Spanish sportsmen