José Ignacio Castillo Álvarez (born 11 April 1975) is an Argentine 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 lea ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Serie D

A prolific striker, nicknamed ''Nacho'', he moved in Italy in 2001 to join

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 ...

club

Brindisi Brindisi ( ; ) is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an essential role in trade and culture due to its strategic position ...

, offering a massive contribution to their promotion to

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 ...

thanks to 15 goals in 23 matches. Despite this, he was not initially allowed to try his luck into professional football due to his lack of a European Union passport, and consequently opted to join Salentinian Serie D side

Nardò Nardò ( or ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the southern Italian region of Apulia, in the Province of Lecce. Lies on a lowland area placed at south-west of its Province, its border includes part of the Ionian coast of Salento. For centuries, i ...

, where he scored 17 goals. In 2003, he left Nardò for

Vigor Lamezia Vigor Lamezia is an Football in Italy, Italian association football club, based in Lamezia Terme, Calabria. Vigor Lamezia currently plays in Eccellenza, the fifth level of the Italian football league system. History The club was founded in 19 ...

, where he scored an impressive 24 goals in 32 matches.

Gallipoli & Italian nationality

In 2004, Castillo returned to Apulia to join newly promoted but ambitious Serie D side

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

, helping them to gain two consecutive promotions thanks to a 40 goals in 55 matches, being now able to play into Serie C2 during the 2005–06 season after having finally obtained an Italian passport at the age of 29.

Serie B

For the 2006–07 season Castillo agreed to join

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 ...

side

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

in a loan deal, but failed to impress, scoring only 5 goals in 30 matches and being mostly featured as a substitute during the campaign. For the following season he signed for newly promoted Serie B club

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

and presented himself by scoring two winning goals to

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

in his debut match with the ''nerazzurri''. At the end of the season he had scored 21 goals, gaining fifth place in the scorers table.

Serie A

In August 2008 he was signed by newly promoted Serie A club

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce () is a Football in Italy, professional Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2023–24 Serie A, 2023–24 season, the top level of the Italian football league system, Italian footb ...

, thus returning to

Salento Salento (; Salentino dialect, Salentino: ''Salentu''; Griko language, Salento Griko: ) is a Cultural area, cultural, List of historical states of Italy, historical, and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apuli ...

. With the ''giallorossi'' side he scored 7 goals in 29 matches, making his Serie A debut against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

on 31 August 2008. On 20 July 2009, he was officially signed by

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

for €1 million in two-year contract. He played his European debut on 9 December 2009, substituted

Lorenzo De Silvestri Lorenzo De Silvestri (; born 23 May 1988) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football), defender for Serie A club Bologna FC 1909, Bologna. He is an offensive full-back (association f ...

on the 83rd minute against

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

At the time was 1–1 draw and ended in 2–1 by the last minute goal from

Alberto Gilardino Alberto Gilardino (; born 5 July 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker. He was most recently the manager of club Genoa. A prolific goalscorer, in Gilardino's early career he was compared ...

. On 10 January 2010, he scored a crucial goal to seal a 2–1 home win against

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

opponents A.S. Bari.

Bari & Trapani

On 15 January 2010, A.S. Bari signed the Argentine striker from

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

in temporary deal for €300,000.ACF Fiorenrina SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2010
PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
/ref> At the end of season he was signed by Bari in definitive deal for €500,000, in two-year contract. After the end of his contract, Castillo announced his retirement from playing in order to start a coaching career; however, he reverted his decision later in April 2013 to accept a short-term contract till the end of season with

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in 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 ...

club

Trapani Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the mai ...

, who were searching for an emergency striker to strengthen their promotion hopes. Castillo provided only three appearances games with no goals, with Trapani winning the league title nonetheless.

References

External links

Profile at ACF Fiorentina official siteStatistics
at

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

José Ignacio Castillo
at aic.football.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Castillo, Jose Ignacio Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Italian men's footballers ASD Città di Gallipoli players Frosinone Calcio players Pisa SC players US Lecce players ACF Fiorentina players SSC Bari players FC Shakhter Karagandy players Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Naturalised citizens of Italy Italian sportspeople of Argentine descent Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Footballers from Buenos Aires 1975 births Living people ACD Nardò players