Juan Francisco Torres Belén (; born 9 January 1985), known as Juanfran (), 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, rugb ...

who played as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. After starting out at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, he went on to make a name for himself in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Banco Santander, Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaL ...

with

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based i ...

, signing for the latter club in 2011 and going on to win seven major titles, including the 2014 national championship and the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

and 2018 Europa League tournaments. He totalled 427 appearances in Spain's top flight. A Spanish international since 2012, Juanfran was part of the squad that won that year's European Championship, and also represented the nation at the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

and

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

Club career

Real Madrid

Born in Crevillent,

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wi ...

, Juanfran was a product of

's youth academy. He had his first main squad opportunity on 24 January 2004, playing 15 minutes in a 2–1 home win against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...

after solid performances with the B team. Over

that ''That'' is an English language word used for several grammatical purposes. These include use as an adjective, conjunction, pronoun, adverb, and intensifier; it has distance from the speaker, as opposed to words like ''this''. The word did not ori ...

and the following seasons, he would play a further five

matches. Juanfran was loaned out to

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league s ...

for 2005–06 and, although the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

side barely avoided relegation, he featured heavily throughout the campaign, scoring on 22 March 2006 in a 1–1 draw at

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los L ...

. He started his career as a winger.

Osasuna

Juanfran signed with

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El S ...

after a deal that allowed Osasuna to get the player without having to pay a transfer fee and with per-set price of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

10 million, adding several specifics, which included a possibility of a January 2007 recall by Madrid who also retained a buying option at the end of the season. He played his first game for the

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

se on 24 September 2006 in a 2–0 away victory over

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, 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 ...

, and scored the second goal of the match. Additionally, he appeared in nine games and netted once in their semi-final run in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. In 2008–09, Juanfran was again an everpresent fixture in Osasuna's lineups. On 31 May 2009, in the last matchday, he scored from 30 yards in a 2–1 home defeat of former side Real Madrid, which kept the club in the top flight for another year. In the following campaign, as the former fared better in the league by finishing 12th, he scored a career-best four goals.

Atlético Madrid

On 11 January 2011, Juanfran signed for

until June 2015 for a fee of just over €4 million. He made his official debut two days later, starting in a 3–1 away loss against his first professional club Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

. Juanfran scored his first goal for Atlético on 21 May 2011, in a 4–3 win at

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

– the last game of the season – dedicating it to his father who had died two weeks beforehand. In 2011–12 he began being regularly played as a right back, by both

Gregorio Manzano Gregorio "Goyo" Manzano Ballesteros (; born 11 March 1956) is a Spanish football manager. Football career Born in Bailén, Jaén, Andalusia, Manzano's training career started in 1983 at the age of 27. He took charge of several teams in his nat ...

and his successor,

Diego Simeone Diego Pablo Simeone González (; ; born 28 April 1970, nicknamed El Cholo (), is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder; he has been the manager of Atlético Madrid since December 2011. In his cl ...

. In the Europa League final, which his team won 3–0 against Bilbao, he played in that position; after the match, he dedicated the triumph to his late father, saying "My baby son Oliver is here with me; the only words he knows are 'mama' and 'Atleti',I dedicate this win to my family and to my dad, who passed away last year. I know he's up there looking down on us celebrating now." On 24 May 2014, Juanfran played all 120 minutes of the Champions League Final, lost 4–1 to Real Madrid at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, it ...

. He signed a contract extension one month later, running until 2018. Juanfran started both legs of the round-of-16 Champions League tie against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

; on 15 March 2016, in the second match, he took the decisive

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penal ...

in the 8–7

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

win (0–0 on aggregate). In

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the competition, also decided on penalties after a 1–1 draw in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, he was the only player to fail to convert in an eventual defeat to his former club Real Madrid. Juanfran left Atlético upon the expiration of his contract on 30 June 2019, having made 355 appearances and won seven trophies for the club.

São Paulo

On 3 August 2019, Juanfran joined

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state le ...

on a contract running until December 2020. He became the second Spanish footballer to play for the Brazilian club, after Fernando Carazzo Castro in 1936. He made his debut in the

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

fifteen days later, a 1–0 home victory over

Ceará Sporting Club Ceará Sporting Club, or Ceará, as they are usually called, is a Brazilian football team from the city of Fortaleza, capital city of the Brazilian state of Ceará, founded on June 2, 1914, by Luís Esteves and Pedro Freire. Ceará is one of ...

. In February 2021 – with his second season having overrun due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

– Juanfran was released, having totalled 56 games for the ''Tricolor''. Having retired, he returned to Spain and joined the Intercity

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

club in his hometown in July.

International career

Youth

Juanfran had an extraordinary performance at the

2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2004 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was held in Switzerland from 13 to 24 July 2004. Players born after 1 January 1985 can participate in this competition. The tournament was won by Spain, who beat Turkey in the final. It also served as ...

, as

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

won the tournament and the player received the Golden Player award. In a rare achievement, he took part in two FIFA World Youth Championships, the first in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...

where the national team took the silver medal; in the 2005 edition they reached the quarter-finals, eventually ousted by winners

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

Senior

Juanfran made his full side debut on 26 May 2012, playing the entire match in a 2–0 friendly win with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...

St. Gallen , neighboring_municipalities = Eggersriet, Gaiserwald, Gossau, Herisau (AR), Mörschwil, Speicher (AR), Stein (AR), Teufen (AR), Untereggen, Wittenbach , twintowns = Liberec (Czech Republic) , website = ...

, as a right-back. He was selected by manager

Vicente del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

for his

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army d ...

for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, being an unused player as Spain won the tournament in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

. On 16 November 2013, Juanfran scored his first international goal, playing the entire 2–1 friendly victory in

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

. However, this match was ruled invalid by

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

as they had not been notified early enough that the referee would be from Equatorial Guinea. Juanfran was named in Spain's 30-man provisional squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

, and was also included in the final list. With the country already eliminated, he made his tournament debut in the last group game against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, playing the whole 90 minutes and assisting

David Villa David Villa Sánchez (; born 3 December 1981) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. Villa is regarded by pundits as one of the best forwards of his generation, and one of the best Spanish strikers of all time. ...

for the first goal of a 3–0 win. Juanfran featured in the roster for

, where he played all of his team's four games. After two years in the international wilderness, in October 2018 the 33-year-old stated that he was still available for selection by the national side.

Style of play

A former winger, Juanfran usually played as a right-back. While an accomplished defender, he was also known for his ability to get forward and provide accurate

crosses Crosses may refer to: * Cross, the symbol Geography * Crosses, Cher, a French municipality * Crosses, Arkansas, a small community located in the Ozarks of north west Arkansas Language * Crosses, a truce term used in East Anglia and Lincolnshire ...

for teammates inside the box.

Personal life

Juanfran married Verónica Sierras, with whom he had two children, Óliver and Alexia.

Career statistics

Club

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Juanfran goal.''

Honours

Espanyol *

: 2005–06 Atlético Madrid *

: 2013–14 *Copa del Rey: 2012–13 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

; runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

: 2011–12, 2017–18 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

runner-up: 2013–14, 2015–16 Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply UEFA Under-19 Championship or the UEFA Euro U-19, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain and England ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight ...

Spain U20 *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 wh ...

runner-up:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

Individual * La Liga Team of the Season: 2013–14 *UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2015–16 *

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

La Liga Team of the Season: 2015–16

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Juanfran 1985 births Living people People from Crevillent Sportspeople from the Province of Alicante Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Association football defenders Association football wingers Association football utility players La Liga players Segunda División B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players RCD Espanyol footballers CA Osasuna players Atlético Madrid footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players São Paulo FC players UEFA Europa League winning players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain international footballers UEFA Euro 2012 players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2016 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Brazil