José Elpys Espinal Marte (born 14 November 1982) is a Dominican 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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

, currently in charge as assistant coach and team analyst at club

Giana Erminio Associazione Sportiva Giana Erminio S.r.l. is an Italian football club based in Gorgonzola, Lombardy. The team currently plays in Italy's . History The club was founded in 1909 as ''Unione Sportiva Argentia'', and later adopted the current name ...

. He also holds

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

citizenship. He is the twin brother of

Vinicio Espinal Vinicio Edwards Espinal Marte (born 14 November 1982 in Santo Domingo) is a Dominican former football player and current coach. A former Serie A player, he is the twin brother of José Espinal and also holds Italian nationality. Club career ...

Playing career

Along with his twin brother Vinicio, both started their career at

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. José left for

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

clubs from 2001 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2005 played at

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

clubs. He played all four matches in promotion playoffs 2005, and scored five goals. In 2005, he returned to professional football for

Sanremese Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Sanremese Calcio, commonly referred to as Sanremese, is an Italian association football club, based in Sanremo, Liguria. The historical U.S. Sanremese was liquidated in 1987. The present-day club was establishe ...

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

. In the following season, he signed for

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

. He failed secured a regular place in 2007–08 season, and left for

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging ...

clubs on loan. On 31 August 2009, José Espinal was swapped for

Christian Jidayi Christian Jidayi (born 3 March 1987) is an Italian football coach and a former player. Biography Born in Avellino, Campania, Jidayi started his career at Romagna club A.C. Cesena. He left the under-20 reserve team in 2006 for Bellaria – Igea ...

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

. He played his first

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

match for Cesena on 5 January 2010. On 20 January 2010 he was loaned to Giacomense. On 13 July 2010, he signed a one-year contract for the newly promoted Belgian club AS Eupen. In December 2013, Espinal joined to Carlin's Boys. Internationally, José received his first call for

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

in August 2011 to participate in two 2014 World Cup qualifying matches against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

and Surinam, but he did not appear. He made his senior debut on 30 August 2014, when he was a starter in a lost friendly against

Coaching career

On 24 June 2025, José Espinal joined

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

as assistant coach and team analyst for his twin brother Vinicio.

References

External links

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport

1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Santo Domingo Dominican Republic men's footballers Atalanta BC players UC AlbinoLeffe players Novara FC players AC Cesena players Serie A players Serie B players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Men's association football forwards Rovigo Calcio players SSD Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 players SSD Sanremese Calcio players AC Giacomense players Dominican Republic twins Dominican Republic men's international footballers Dominican Republic expatriate men's footballers Dominican Republic expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Dominican Republic expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen {{DominicanRepublic-footy-bio-stub