Javier "Javi" Ros Añón (born 16 February 1990) 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He totalled 203 games and 18 goals 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 ...

over nine seasons, representing mainly

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

(160 competitive appearances). 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 ...

, he played 15 matches with

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

Club career

Born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

, Ros played his youth football with

. Being signed at the age of only 12, he travelled regularly by

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

from Tudela to the club's training facilities, until eventually moving to a school in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

."Estuve cuatro años viniendo a Zubieta tres días por semana desde Tudela" ("For four years i came to Zubieta three days a week, from Tudela")
; Noticias de Gipuzkoa, 22 July 2012 (in Spanish) He made his senior debut in the 2008–09 season, appearing for 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 suffering relegation. Ros made his first appearance for the first team on 23 May 2009, coming on as a substitute for another youth graduate,

Markel Bergara Markel Bergara Larrañaga (born 5 May 1986) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He spent the better part of his career with Real Sociedad, appearing in 212 competitive matches and scoring four goals ...

, in the early stages of a 1–0 away win against

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

. As the

Basques The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...

had no chance to promote from

from that moment onwards, he started in the last four games of the campaign, renewing his contract until 2014 at its closure. In late January 2010, Ros was loaned to neighbouring

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

in the third tier. Subsequently, he returned to Real Sociedad, going on to be a very important midfield unit for the B's over two full seasons, still in division three. On 19 August 2012, Ros made his first appearance in

, playing 12 minutes in a 5–1 loss at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. He finished his first season with the main squad with just seven competitive appearances, totalling 161 minutes of action. Ros scored his first goal for Real Sociedad on 18 December 2013, opening the 4–0 home win over

Algeciras CF Algeciras Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Algeciras, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1909 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at '' Estadio Nuevo Mirador''. History Foo ...

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 ...

(5–1 on aggregate). His second came on 16 January of the following year in the same competition, the only in the tie against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

to qualify his team for the quarter-finals. On 19 July 2014, Ros joined second-division club

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, ...

on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract. In January 2016, again as a

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 ...

, he moved to

of the same league. A regular starter in his first seasons, Ros lost his starting spot midway through 2019–20, and suffered a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury which kept him out for six months in December 2020. On 30 January 2022, he was loaned to

SD Amorebieta Sociedad Deportiva Amorebieta is a Spanish football team based in Amorebieta-Etxano, in the Basque Country. Founded in 1925, it currently plays in , holding home games temporarily at the Lezama Facilities outside Bilbao (its own ground '' Campo ...

also of the second tier for six months. Ros announced his retirement in May 2024, aged 34.

Personal life

Ros was the fifth of seven brothers and sisters, Mikel being his

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two ...

. His older sibling Iñigo was also a footballer and a midfielder, spending the vast majority of his professional career in the third division and also representing Real Sociedad B and Eibar.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ros, Javi 1990 births Living people Spanish twins 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Pamplona Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers SD Eibar footballers RCD Mallorca players Real Zaragoza players SD Amorebieta footballers CD Badajoz players CF Rayo Majadahonda players