José Manuel Catalá Mazuecos (born 1 January 1985) is a Spanish

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 plays for CD Gerena as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

or a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Club career

Born in Villajoyosa,

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 ...

, Catalá emerged through local club

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

's youth ranks, making his senior debut 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 ...

where he successively represented Villajoyosa CF,

Valencia CF Mestalla Valencia Club de Fútbol Mestalla, shortened to Valencia Mestalla, is the reserve team of Valencia CF, a Spanish football club based in Valencia, in the namesake community. Founded in 1944, and currently plays in , holding home games at '' Ciud ...

and

Alicante CF Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity. History ''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under t ...

. He helped the latter promote to

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 ...

, in 2008. After suffering immediate relegation with Alicante, Catalá continued in that level with

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

's reserves. He was instrumental as they avoided relegation in their first-ever year in the competition, totalling 2,444 minutes of action and scoring once. Catalá was promoted to the first team for the 2010–11 season, aged already 25. He managed to provide stiff competition to veteran Joan Capdevila, inclusively relegating the European and World Champion to the bench in some games. He finished his first year in

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 ...

with 30 competitive matches to his credit – 16 in the league, five in 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 ...

and nine in a semi-final run in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

El Cádiz hace una oferta a Catalá, defensa del Murcia (Cádiz make an offer to Catalá, Murcia defender)
El Desmarque, 12 July 2013 (in Spanish)– opening the score on 3 January 2011 in a 2–0 home win against

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

as the side eventually finished fourth and qualified to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

. After leaving the ''Yellow Submarine'', Catalá totalled just 27 appearances in two seasons for

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

and

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC (, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Division and has won the championship tit ...

, the latter in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

. On 8 August 2014 he changed teams and countries again, joining Veria F.C. of the

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

. Catalá made his debut for his new team on 24 August 2014, coming on as a late substitute in a 3–2 home victory over Skoda Xanthi FC. His first start occurred against Ergotelis FC, his two mistakes resulting in both of the opposition's goals in an eventual 2–2 away draw. After failing to perform overall, player and club agreed to mutually terminate the contract on 26 May 2015. In the following years, Catalá played in the Spanish third division.José Manuel Catalá se convierte en el octavo fichaje del FC Jumilla (José Manuel Catalá becomes FC Jumilla's eighth signing)
Tele Jumilla, 21 July 2017 (in Spanish)

Club statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Catala, Jose 1985 births Living people People from Villajoyosa Footballers from the Province of Alicante Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Villajoyosa CF footballers Alicante CF footballers Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players Real Murcia CF players Racing de Ferrol footballers SD Ejea players FC Jumilla players CD Internacional de Fútbol Sevilla Dos Hermanas players Cypriot First Division players Apollon Limassol FC players Super League Greece players Veria F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece 21st-century Spanish sportsmen