Javier Germán Cruz (born 15 June 1971), known as Javi Germán, is a Spanish retired

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He spent the majority of his career with his hometown club

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 ...

, making 226 appearances and scoring seven goals, including two goals in 38

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 ...

matches.

Career

Germán was born in

, capital of the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

of the same name in the

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 ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, and began his career with

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

. He made his

debut on 2 March 1991, as Cádiz hosted

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 ...

Estadio Ramón de Carranza Nuevo Mirandilla is a football stadium in Cádiz, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Cádiz CF. The stadium was originally inaugurated as ''Estadio Ramón de Carranza'' on 3 September 1955. It has since then been completely rebuilt twice. ...

. He replaced Poli for the last minute of the game as Cádiz held on for an excellent 1–0 victory. This was his only minute of football that season, but he played a bigger part in 1991–92, and helped keep Cádiz in the top flight as they beat

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 ...

in the

relegation playoff Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

. The following year, Cádiz actually were relegated, and they suffered a second consecutive demotion in 1993–94. Germán stayed with the club in

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 ...

for another five and a half seasons, ultimately making over 200 appearances. The best season in this period for both player and club was 1997–98, in which they had a chance to be promoted via the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, missing out to

Barcelona B 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 cit ...

. He left the club in January 2000, joining fellow third tier side Ponferradina. He spent only half a season with Ponferradina before seeing out his career with one year each at Segunda División B sides

Motril Motril () is a town and municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. The main settlement is located a few kilometers inland, separated from the Port of Motril by the Guadalfeo delta. Mo ...

and

Benidorm Benidorm ( , , ) is a municipality in the province of Alicante, Valencian Community, on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Known as the “New York City, New York of the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean”, Benidorm has been a tourist destinatio ...

. He was relegated with Benidorm in 2001–02, and retired at the end of that season as he reached his 31st birthday.

Career statistics

:1. Appearances in the 1991–92 La Liga relegation playoff :2. Appearances in the 1998 Segunda División playoffs

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:German, Javi 1971 births Living people Footballers from Cádiz Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Cádiz CF players SD Ponferradina players Motril CF players Benidorm CF footballers