Rafael Martín Vázquez (born 25 September 1965) 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 mostly as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He represented most notably

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 ...

, having two different spells and 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 252 games and 42 goals for the club. He also played abroad in Italy, France, Mexico and Germany. Martín Vázquez appeared for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

at the

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

and Euro 1988, winning nearly 40

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

Club career

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 ...

, Martín Vázquez joined the youth academy of

in 1980 at the age of 15 and made his debut for the first team three years later, going on to achieve fame as part of the '' La Quinta del Buitre'' which still included Míchel, Emilio Butragueño, Miguel Pardeza and

Manolo Sanchís Manuel Sanchís Hontiyuelo (; born 23 May 1965) is a Spanish retired association football, footballer who played as a sweeper (association football), sweeper. A part of the famous ''La Quinta del Buitre'' which stemmed from the Real Madrid CF, ...

. In 1989–90, as Real achieved a club and

record of 107 goals, he scored a career-best 14, second only in the squad to

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager, who played as a Forward (association football), forward. A prolific goalscorer known for ...

's 38. After the arrival of Romanian

Gheorghe Hagi Gheorghe Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in ...

, Martín Vázquez decided to accept the offer of

Torino FC Torino Football Club (), colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football league of Italy. Founded in 1906 as ''Foot-Ball Club Torin ...

, but failed to settle in Italy during his two-season spell, although he did help the side reach the 1992 UEFA Cup Final. He then moved to

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

but only lasted two months in France, after which a return to Real Madrid was arranged; in his two stints with the latter he won six leagues, two UEFA Cups and two

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 ...

. As injuries hit him, Martín Vázquez eventually retired from football at the end of 1998, after unassuming spells with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

Atlético Celaya The Club Atlético Celaya was a Mexican football club from Celaya, Guanajuato. The club was formed in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atletico Cuernavaca (Morelos) and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya (Guanajuato) merged. Another team, Atléti ...

– where he teamed up with Butragueño – and

Karlsruher SC Karlsruher Sport-Club Mühlburg-Phönix e. V., better known as Karlsruher SC, is a Football in Germany, German association football club, based in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg that currently plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of Germa ...

(German 2. Bundesliga). Afterwards, he worked with Real Madrid as a youth coach while also keeping fit with the club's veterans.

International career

Martín Vázquez played 38 times for

, including at

UEFA Euro 1988 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. France national football team, Fr ...

and the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

. His debut came on 23 September 1987, in a friendly against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

International goals

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1994–95 *

: 1988–89, 1992–93 *

Copa de la Liga The Copa de la Liga (League Cup in Spanish) was a Spanish football tournament created in 1982. Due to time constraints, saturation and club pressure, the competition only lasted four years, being cancelled in 1986. Winning the trophy helped two ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, 1989,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

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 ...

: 1984–85, 1985–86 *

Copa Iberoamericana The Copa Iberoamericana () or Copa Iberia was a one-off international football competition. It was created to face the champions of the Copa de Oro Nicolás Leoz and the Copa del Rey, as a result of an agreement signed between CONMEBOL and the Roy ...

: 1994 Torino *UEFA Cup runner-up: 1991–92 Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Individual *

World XI The World XI, also known as the FIFA World Stars, is an association football scratch team consisting of players from various countries. The World XI play one-off games against clubs, national teams, collectives of continental teams. The official ...

: 1989, 1990, 1991 *

Don Balón Award From 1976 until 2010, the Spanish sports magazine '' Don Balón'' conferred the Don Balón Award (''Premio Don Balón'') to the best Spanish player, the best foreign player, the best referee and the breakthrough player in La Liga. These awards ceas ...

: 1990

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin Vazquez, Rafael 1965 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Deportivo de La Coruña players Serie A players Torino FC players Ligue 1 players Olympique de Marseille players Liga MX players Atlético Celaya footballers 2. Bundesliga players Karlsruher SC players UEFA Europa League–winning players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's amateur international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish football managers Segunda División B managers Extremadura UD managers