Daniel Rodríguez Pérez (born 27 March 1977), known as Txiki, 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 as a

left 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. ...

Club career

Txiki was born in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

. He spent his first years as a senior in the lower leagues, with

Utebo FC Utebo Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Utebo, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1924 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Santa Ana'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. Season to season ---- *1 season in ...

Andorra CF Andorra Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Andorra, province of Teruel, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1957, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Juan Antonio Endeiza'', with a capacity of 3,000 seat ...

SD Beasain Sociedad Deportiva Beasain (''Beasain Kirol Elkartea'' in Basque) is a Spanish football team based in Beasain, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1905 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Loinaz'', with a capaci ...

and

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

. On 10 October 2001, his 47th-minute

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

was the only goal 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 ...

fixture against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, as Cultural went through to the

round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

; two months later, he signed for that adversary. On 5 January 2002, Txiki made his debut 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 ...

, coming on as a 60th-minute substitute for

Sietes José Manuel Suárez Rivas (born 18 February 1974), known as Sietes, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back. He appeared in 194 La Liga matches over ten seasons, mainly for Racing de Santander. He started his 19-y ...

in a 2–1 home win over

Polideportivo Ejido Poli Ejido 2012 Sociedad Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in El Ejido, Province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo'' ...

. The following month, he scored in consecutive matches as his team defeated

Real Jaén Real Jaén Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Jaén, Spain, Jaén, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1929 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Nuevo Estadio de La Vict ...

(2–0) then drew 2–2 at

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

, being an important member of the

Quique Setién Enrique "Quique" Setién Solar (; born 27 September 1958) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central midfielder, currently manager of Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan. As a player, he was nicknamed ''El Maestro'', and was bes ...

-led squad as they promoted 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 ...

as runners-up. Txiki made the first of his 26 top-flight appearances (for Racing and overall) on 31 August 2002, starting the 0–1 home loss to

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 ...

. He returned to division two in the next

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, joining

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

initially on loan. After two further second-tier seasons 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 ...

, Txiki retired aged 33 following one-year spells in the third with

AD Ceuta Asociación Deportiva Ceuta was a Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Ceuta. Founded in 1996, its last season was 2011–12 in Segunda División B, holding home matches at '' Estadio Alfonso Murube'', with a capacity of 6,500. ...

and

Zamora CF Zamora Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Zamora, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1968 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Ruta de la Plata'', with a capacity of 7,813 seaters. History ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Txiki 1977 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Utebo FC players SD Beasain footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Racing de Santander players Córdoba CF players CD Castellón footballers AD Ceuta footballers Zamora CF footballers