Alberto Marcos Rey (born 15 February 1974) is a Spanish retired

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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. After not being able to establish himself at

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 ...

, he went on to spend 15 professional seasons with

Valladolid Valladolid ( ; ) is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and ''de facto'' capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the pr ...

, experiencing two relegations and one promotion and appearing in nearly 500 competitive matches.

Club career

Marcos was born in Camarma de Esteruelas,

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 ...

. After emerging through the ranks of

, he played three

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 ...

matches for the 1995 national champions, his debut coming on 17 April 1994 in a 1–0 away win over

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

. In a subsequent game against

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 effectively marked Bulgarian international

Hristo Stoichkov Hristo Stoichkov Stoichkov (; born 8 February 1966) is a Bulgarian former professional Association football, footballer and current football commentator for TUDN. A prolific Forward (association football), forward, he is widely regarded as the g ...

, but could never break into the first team. In the 1995–96 season, Marcos signed for

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

, going on to be a defensive mainstay for over a decade and eventually gaining team captaincy. From

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

he only missed a total of eight league fixtures, and became, late in 2008–09, the player with most overall matches for the club. Two seasons earlier, as the

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

side returned to the top tier after a two-year absence, he had contributed 29 matches, scoring once. Marcos suffered various injuries the following campaign, and appeared in only 21 league games whilst completing just 12, his third worst input in 15 years with Valladolid. In July 2010, at 36 – and following the team's relegation – he decided to leave the club, holding the records of more league games played (438), more official matches (471) and more games (361) and minutes (31.610) in the top flight. Later that month, Marcos joined

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

of 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 ...

, reuniting with former Valladolid coach Onésimo Sánchez. He was the undisputed starter in his position during the season as the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese retained their league status, and retired from football in June 2011 to become Valladolid's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

.Alberto Marcos: "Por supuesto que tengo la plantilla que quería" (Alberto Marcos: "Of course I have the squad I wanted")
Marca, 4 September 2013 (in Spanish)

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1994–95 Valladolid *

: 2006–07

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marcos, Alberto 1974 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Real Valladolid players SD Huesca footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Real Valladolid non-playing staff