Javier Artero López (born 16 April 1975) 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. After playing for five teams in the lower leagues of his country he joined Dundee in Scotland, spending two years with the club before being forced to retire at only 27, due to illness.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...

, Artero started playing football with local amateurs

CD Colonia Moscardó The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octobe ...

. In 1995 he signed with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, but never made it past the C team, also being loaned to another club in the community,

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

of Segunda División, and appearing very rarely over the course of his only season. Subsequently, Artero dropped down to

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, 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 Fo ...

and joined

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. They won the UEFA Intert ...

, helping the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

ns to return to the second tier after which he signed for another side in that league,

CD Badajoz Club Deportivo Badajoz is a Spanish football team based in Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1905 and refounded in 2012, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, and holds home games at '' Estadio N ...

. He scored his only goal as a professional in his country on 29 November 1998, the only in an away win against

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches a ...

Dundee

In 1999, Artero moved abroad to

San Lorenzo de Almagro Club Atlético San Lorenzo de Almagro, commonly known as San Lorenzo de Almagro or simply San Lorenzo (in English: ''Saint Lawrence''), is a sports club of Argentina in the Boedo district of Buenos Aires. It is best known for its football tea ...

from Argentina. From March–May of the following year he was loaned to

Dundee F.C. Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland, founded in 1893. The team are nicknamed "The Dark Blues" or "The Dee". The club plays its home matches at Dens Park. The club was formed after a mer ...

of the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

, with the deal being made permanent on 1 July for £300,000, a club record. On the 30th, he scored in a 2–0 away victory over

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

. Artero contributed one goal to a 5–0 home defeat of St Mirren on 18 November 2000. He enjoyed his best years as a professional with the Dark Blues, appearing in 75 competitive games with the side and helping them to the sixth place in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ar ...

, with the subsequent

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International F ...

. On 1 August 2001, the 26-year-old Artero was admitted to hospital with an unknown disease, which was revealed to be multiple sclerosis early into the following month. Even though he was still able to take part in some matches in the 2001–02 season, he was forced to retire from football in August 2002, being immediately named Dundee's international

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement * Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

. Artero worked as a football analyst after retiring, being a co-commentator on

Real Madrid TV Real Madrid TV is a free digital television channel, operated by Real Madrid specialising in the Spanish football club. The channel is available in Spanish and English. It is located at Ciudad Real Madrid in Valdebebas (Madrid), Real Madrid's trai ...

.Javier Artero: “No me importaba dejar el fútbol; sólo pensaba en vivir” (Javier Artero: "I did not mind leaving football; I only thought about living")
La Galerna, 11 November 2016 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Artero, Javier 1975 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers CD Leganés players Málaga CF players CD Badajoz players Argentine Primera División players San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Scottish Premier League players Dundee F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland People with multiple sclerosis