César Martín Villar (born 3 April 1977) is a Spanish retired 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

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. Over the course of 13 seasons he appeared in 200

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 ...

games, mostly in representation of

Oviedo Oviedo () or Uviéu (Asturian language, Asturian: ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains th ...

and Deportivo, after which he had a six-month spell in England with

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

. A Spanish international during five years, César appeared in

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

Club career

Born in

, César started his professional career in 1994 playing for local

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

. In his debut season he helped with 17

matches as the

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

side, which also featured Croatian

Nikola Jerkan Nikola Jerkan (born 8 December 1964) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He started playing football professionally for NK Zagreb. Playing career Club Jerkan was born in Split. He started his career in youth ...

in the defensive sector, finished ninth. After being instrumental in Oviedo's 1998–99 league campaign by playing 31 games and scoring four goals, César moved to

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 ...

for approximately

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7 million. With the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

he won one league, one

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 ...

and two

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 ...

trophies, but appeared sparingly during his seven-year stay (maximum 20 matches in 2002–03) mainly due to injuries. César fell out of favour when Joaquín Caparrós took over as manager of Deportivo, and eventually moved to

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

on 18 July 2006. Things did not improve at his new team where he only played five times all competitions comprised, also getting

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in a 3–0 league home loss to

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

; on 31 January 2007, he cancelled his contract by mutual consent. César joined

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

on a short-term contract until the end of the season, in February 2007. He made his

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

debut as an injury-time substitute for

Nicolas Anelka Nicolas Sébastien Anelka (born 14 March 1979) is a French professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football), forward. As a player, he regularly featur ...

on 28 April, in a 2–2 draw against Chelsea; on 18 May, after failing to feature in any more matches, it was revealed that he would leave the club after the new manager Sammy Lee decided not to extend his contract, and he subsequently returned to his homeland, signing with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

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 ...

. For the 2009–10 campaign, veteran César continued in the second level, agreeing to a 2+1 contract with

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in , holding home games at ''Nou E ...

. However, after the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

team's relegation, the 33-year-old was one of the many players released from contract, retiring shortly afterwards. César returned to Oviedo in summer 2015, in directorial capacities.

International career

César made his first appearance 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 ...

on 18 August 1999, playing the entire 2–1 friendly win over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

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. He scored twice in his first two

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, both in

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

qualifiers and both through headers. César was included in the

squad, but did not play. Despite showing early promise, his international career never fully took off, mostly because of injury troubles and the emergence of players like

Carles Puyol Carles Puyol Saforcada (, ; born 13 April 1978) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played List of one-club men in association football, his entire career for FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Considered one of the grea ...

and

Pablo Ibáñez Pablo Ibáñez Tébar (born 3 August 1981), sometimes known as just Pablo, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Pablo was born in Madrigueras. He began his football career in the youth teams of his local p ...

; he also found the net in his last match, a 4–0 friendly victory with

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

in the week prior to the continental competition.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Martín goal.''

Honours

Deportivo *

: 1999–2000 *

: 2001–02 *

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 ...

Spain U18 *

UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Cesar 1977 births Living people Footballers from Oviedo Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Spain men's international footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Oviedo Vetusta players Real Oviedo players Deportivo de La Coruña players Levante UD footballers Hércules CF players CD Castellón footballers Premier League players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish football managers Real Oviedo non-playing staff