Francisco Joaquín Pérez Rufete (born 20 November 1976) 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 ...

, and a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. He played predominantly as a

right winger 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. ...

with good dribbling ability, also being a player with a good workrate. He played with seven clubs during his professional career, including

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 ...

(one game) and

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

(two

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 ...

titles). Over 12 seasons, he amassed Spanish top-division totals of 269 matches and 23 goals. Rufete was also an international for Spain.

Playing career

Club

Born in Benejúzar,

Province of Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: / ) is a province located in eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is the second most populated Valencian province, containing the second and third biggest cities in the Valencian Co ...

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 ...

, Rufete was a product of

's youth system. He appeared once for the first team, in 1995–96's final round, a 2–2 away draw against

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 ...

on 26 May 1996, and his first full professional season came in 1997–98 with

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 ...

club

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

. Rufete signed for

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

in January 1999, after having started the campaign with

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

(no appearances). He was instrumental, alongside

Catanha Henrique Guedes da Silva (born 6 March 1972), known as Catanha, is a former professional footballer who played as a striker, and the manager of CD Nerja. Born in Brazil, he represented the Spain national team. He played almost exclusively for ...

and

José María Movilla José María Movilla Cubero (born 8 February 1975) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played mainly as a central midfielder. He played 299 La Liga matches in ten seasons, representing mainly Zaragoza and retiring at 39. Club care ...

, in the side's

promotion 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 were in the

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 ...

the previous season). After two exceptional individual seasons, Rufete moved to

. Although almost never an undisputed starter, he contributed good overall performances and, on 14 March 2004, scored twice at

Celta CELTA is an initial teacher training qualification for teaching English as a second or foreign language (ESL and EFL). It is provided by Cambridge Assessment English through authorised Cambridge English Teaching Qualification centres and can be ...

(2–0) as the ''Che'' went on to win another domestic championship; he was already part of the title-winning squad of 2001–02. After

Quique Sánchez Flores Enrique "Quique" Sánchez Flores (; born 5 February 1965) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a right-back. He began his professional career with Valencia in 1984, going on to amass La Liga totals of 304 games and 16 g ...

arrived at Valencia from

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

, Rufete was released and joined

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 ...

on a free transfer in July 2006. He was constantly hampered by injuries in the 2007–08 campaign, after having appeared in eleven

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

matches during the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

run Run(s) or RUN may refer to: Places * Run (island), one of the Banda Islands in Indonesia * Run (stream), a stream in the Dutch province of North Brabant People * Run (rapper), Joseph Simmons, now known as "Reverend Run", from the hip-hop group ...

to the final in 2007. Rufete was released by Espanyol in mid-July 2009, moving close to home with Hércules on a two-year deal. In his first season, aged 32/33, the veteran totalled nearly 2,000 minutes as the

Alicante Alicante (, , ; ; ; officially: ''/'' ) is a city and municipalities of Spain, municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean port. The population ...

team returned to the top division after an absence of 13 years.

International

Rufete earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for the Spain national team in 2000, the first being in a 2–0 friendly win over

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 29 March in

. He came on as a substitute for

Joseba Etxeberria Joseba Andoni Etxeberria Lizardi (born 5 September 1977) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played mostly as a winger, currently a manager. After starting his career at the age of 17 with Real Sociedad, he quickly switched to Ath ...

at the hour-mark.

Managerial career

Rufete was released by Hércules in late 2011 after the club decided not to renew his contract, and retired from football shortly after. Two years later, he returned to Valencia after being appointed youth coordinator, but switched to

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 ...

after a few months. On 18 April 2018, Rufete was given his first managerial position at

Ibiza Ibiza (; ; ; #Names and pronunciation, see below) or Iviza is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is 150 kilometres (93 miles) from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of th ...

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. His team missed out on promotion with a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

defeat to Atlético Levante in the play-off final on 24 June. Rufete returned to Espanyol as

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an 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 types of sports. The ...

, and became their

interim manager Interim management is the temporary provision of management resources and skills. Interim management can be seen as the short-term assignment of a proven heavyweight interim executive manager to manage a period of transition, crisis or change wi ...

on 27 June 2020 when

Abelardo Fernández Abelardo Fernández Antuña (; born 19 April 1970), known simply as Abelardo as a player, is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. A player with good heading and marking ability, he was also known fo ...

was sacked from the last-placed club with six games to go. The next day, in his first professional game in charge, his side lost by a single goal at home to

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 oversaw their first fall from the top flight since

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Personal life

Rufete's son, also named Franciso, is also a professional footballer.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Málaga *

: 1998–99 Valencia *

: 2001–02, 2003–04 *

: 2003–04 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, 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 offic ...

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 60 ...

Espanyol *

runner-up: 2006–07 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

*
CiberChe stats and bio
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rufete, Francisco 1976 births Living people People from Vega Baja del Segura Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Alicante Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players CD Toledo players RCD Mallorca players Málaga CF players Valencia CF players RCD Espanyol footballers Hércules CF players UEFA Europa League–winning players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Tercera División managers UD Ibiza managers RCD Espanyol managers Valencia CF non-playing staff