Alejo Indias Álvarez (born 14 October 1966), known simply as Alejo, 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

centre 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 ...

. Alejo began his career with

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, but never made an appearance for the first team. He then became a member of the legendary

Figueres Figueres (; ) is the capital city of Alt Empordà county, in the Girona region, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Dalí Theatre and Museum, a large museum designed by Dalí himself which att ...

team that almost earned promotion to

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 ...

in 1991–92, playing alongside players such as

Toni Toni, Toñi or Tóni is a unisex given name used in several European countries as well as among individuals with ancestry from these countries outside Europe. In Spanish language, Spanish, Italian language, Italian, Croatian language, Croatian an ...

Luis Cembranos Luis Cembranos Martínez (born 6 June 1972) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a right midfielder, currently a manager. He amassed La Liga totals of 155 games and 22 goals over the course of nine seasons, mainly with Esp ...

, Pere Gratacós,

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and coach. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The first player to sign wi ...

and

Tintín Márquez Bartolomé "Tintín" Márquez López (born 7 January 1962) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently a manager. His career was closely associated to Espanyol, as both a player and coach. Pl ...

. He joined

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, 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), the club was foun ...

in late 1992, and made 158 top flight appearances during four and a half seasons with the club, scoring seven goals. He also contested the 1994 Copa del Rey Final with Celta, which they lost to

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 ...

on penalties, with Alejo missing the crucial spot kick. Alejo saw out his career with four years at

Elche Elche (, ; , , , ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2024's data, Elche has a population of 234,800 inhabitants,

in the second and third tiers.

Club career

Early career

Alejo was born in

Don Benito Don Benito () is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, near the left bank of the river Guadiana. According to the 2014 census, the municipality has a population of 37,011. History Don Benito dates from the 15t ...

in the

province of Badajoz The province of Badajoz ( ; ) is a province of western Spain located in the autonomous community of Extremadura. It was formed in 1833. It is bordered by the provinces of Cáceres in the north, Toledo, Ciudad Real in the east, Córdoba in ...

Extremadura Extremadura ( ; ; ; ; Fala language, Fala: ''Extremaúra'') is a landlocked autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community of Spain. Its capital city is Mérida, Spain, Mérida, and its largest city is Badajoz. Located in the central- ...

, but his family soon relocated to

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

. He began his career in the lower categories of Catalan giants

, making his debut with the B team, Barcelona Atlètic, during the 1984–85 Segunda División season. He began to play more regularly the following season, featuring heavily for the C team, Barcelona Amateur, as they were relegated from

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 ...

. He spent the next three seasons in the second tier with Atlètic, but they were relegated at the end of 1988–89. He left Barcelona that summer without having made any appearances for the first team. Alejo joined another Catalan club, Atlètic's erstwhile Segunda División rivals

, ahead of the 1989–90 season. He made his Figueres debut in a 4–2 home win over

on 3 September 1989, and marked the occasion with a goal. He was a key part of the team for the next three seasons, and was part of the Figueres's greatest ever team in 1991–92. They finished the season in 3rd place, only one point short of automatic promotion to

, and qualified for a

promotion playoff Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. They faced

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

in the playoff, but were defeated 3–1 on aggregate, the closest they have ever come to the top flight. Alejo continued to feature the following season, which ultimately ended in relegation, but he departed in December 1992. He left Figueres after 129 appearances and 18 goals in three and a half seasons.

Celta Vigo

He moved into the top flight by signing for

in December 1992. He made his

debut on 20 December as Celta suffered a 1–0 home loss to

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

at Balaídos. He failed to score during his first season with ''Los Celestes'', finally netting for the first time on 10 April 1994 in a 3–2 win over

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, ...

at Balaídos. He made 40 appearances in his first full season, and was a key part of the side that reached the 1994 Copa del Rey Final. He is most remembered amongst Celta fans for the unfortunate part he played in the events of that final. Celta faced

in the final, which was held at

Vicente Calderón Stadium The Vicente Calderón Stadium ( ) was the home stadium of Atlético Madrid from its completion in 1966 to 2017, with a seating capacity of 54,907. It was located on the banks of the Manzanares, in the Arganzuela district of Madrid, Spain. The ...

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 ...

on 20 April 1994. After 120 minutes, the match was still goalless, and so penalties were required to separate the teams. The first four penalties for each side were successful, with Alejo taking Celta's fifth. He scuffed his kick, and the ball rolled tamely into the hands of Zaragoza goalkeeper

Andoni Cedrún Andoni Cedrún Ibarra (born 5 June 1960) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 351 La Liga matches over 15 seasons, representing mostly Zaragoza with which he won three major titles, including the 1995 Cup ...

. Francisco Higuera then stepped up for Zaragoza and scored his penalty past

Santiago Cañizares José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz (; born 18 December 1969) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. A product of Real Madrid's youth academies, he eventually joined the first team but proved unable to establish hims ...

to bring an end to Celta's dreams. Alejo's plight drew sympathy from

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Juan Carlos I Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until Abdication of Juan Carlos I, his abdic ...

when he met Celta coach Txetxu Rojo after the match. The penalty incident didn't damage Alejo's Celta career, and he continued to be a crucial part of the side for the next three seasons. He eventually departed Celta in 1997 after 176 appearances and eight goals in four and a half years with ''Los Celestes''.

Elche

Alejo joined

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 ...

in the summer of 1997. He made his debut for his new club on 3 September in a 0–0 home draw with

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

Estadio Manuel Martínez Valero es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

in the first round 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 ...

. His first goal came on 12 November in a league fixture against the same opponents, which ended 1–1 at El Madrigal. Elche were relegated at the end of his first season, but were promoted again at the first attempt. Alejo made 114 appearances and scored four goals in four seasons with Elche, before retiring from professional football in 2001 at the age of 34.

International career

Alejo played several friendly matches with the representative side of his adopted

autonomous community The autonomous communities () are the first-level administrative divisions of Spain, created in accordance with the Spanish Constitution of 1978, with the aim of guaranteeing limited autonomy to the nationalities and regions that make up Sp ...

Coaching career

After retiring from the professional game, Alejo played at an amateur level for Sant Andreu de la Barca in the Regional Preferente de Catalonia. He later became the club's coach, and then worked as their youth coach.

Personal life

Alejo's son Iago Indias, born in 1996, is a

for Castellón in the

, having begun his career with

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

. He made over 100 appearances for Espanyol B, but never played for the first team.

Honours

Celta Vigo *

runners-up: 1993–94

Career statistics

:1. Appearances in the 1991–92 Segunda División promotion playoff :2. Appearances in the 1999 Segunda División B playoffs

References

External links

* *
ALEJO INDIAS at yojugueenelcelta.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Indias, Alejo 1966 births Living people People from Don Benito Footballers from the Province of Badajoz Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Catalonia Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona C players UE Figueres footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Elche CF players Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish football managers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen