Julio Álvarez Mosquera (born 1 May 1981) is a

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

n retired 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 le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. He appeared in 98

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

games over five seasons (14 goals), representing

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

, Rayo Vallecano, Murcia,

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of the same name. It lies on southeastern Iberia on the Mediterranean Sea. Caliph Abd al-Rahman III founded the city in 955. The city gr ...

and

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

. In addition, he played 376 matches in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, mainly at the service of Numancia. After competing for Spain at youth level, Álvarez represented

internationally.

Club career

Real Madrid

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

, Álvarez was born in

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

and moved to Spain aged 4 to reunite with his parents, settling in

Sada, Galicia Sada is a municipality of northwestern Spain in the province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community eu, autonomia erkidegoa ca, comunitat autònoma gl, comunidade autónoma oc, comunautat autonòma an, comunidat autonoma ast, comunid ...

. He showed early promise while playing for Spain at youth level, winning the 1999 Meridian Cup with the under-17 team and also appearing at the

1998 UEFA European Under-16 Championship The 1998 UEFA European Under-16 Championship was the 16th edition of UEFA's European Under-16 Football Championship. Scotland hosted the championship, during 26 April – 8 May 1998. 16 teams entered the competition, and Republic of Ireland defeat ...

(third place). Subsequently, he joined

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 ...

to finish his development but, despite very good performances overall for the B and C sides, could never break into the main squad. Álvarez was loaned by Real to

for 2000–01. However, he was mostly injured, and could not help the Cantabria team to escape

relegation at the season's end. The following campaign, with 31 matches and one goal, he helped them to quickly return to the top flight. In July 2002, Álvarez was sent on loan again, to top-tier club Rayo Vallecano where he scored eight times, but again his side was relegated, now as last.

Murcia

Álvarez signed a four-year contract with Real Murcia on 15 July 2003. He suffered an injury before playing any games for his new club, and struggled throughout the vast majority of the season, finishing with 12 just appearances as the side went on to rank 20th in the main division. Fully recovered, Álvarez went on to be a very important team player, despite a poor year collectively in 2005–06 that almost ended in another relegation – he also established himself as a free kick specialist.

Numancia and Almería

Álvarez was deemed surplus to requirements in summer 2006 and, on 9 August, he joined

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

on a two-year deal. Playing as an attacking or

holding 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 ...

, he was a regular starter under manager

Andoni Goikoetxea Andoni Goikoetxea Olaskoaga (born 23 August 1956), Goiko for short, is a Spanish former football centre-back and manager. He was known for his aggressive play and was nicknamed "The Butcher of Bilbao". He mainly played for Athletic Bilbao; amo ...

; the Sorians won the 2007–08 championship with Goikoetxea's successor

Gonzalo Arconada Gonzalo Arconada Echarri (born 23 July 1961) is a Spanish football manager. Coaching career Arconada was born in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, and started coaching while still in his teens, with youth sides ''Juveniles de La Salle'' and ''Danak''. H ...

, five points clear of

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

. Álvarez's contract expired at the end of the season, and UD Almería signed him on a free transfer on 3 July 2008, reuniting him with Arconada.

Mallorca and Tenerife

After an irregular spell in

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, 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 ...

, especially after the arrival of manager

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fo ...

, Álvarez was released hours before the

transfer deadline A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer w ...

in August 2009, and moved to

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

shortly after. On 23 July 2010, after helping the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

side to finish fifth and

qualify 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 Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, the 29-year-old signed a three-year contract with CD Tenerife, who had in turn been relegated from the top division.

Numancia return

On 11 August 2011, Álvarez returned to Numancia after terminating his contract with Tenerife. In the 2014–15 campaign, he scored a career-best 12 goals under

Juan Antonio Anquela Juan Antonio Albacete Anquela (born 11 September 1957) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a winger. Playing career Born in Linares, Jaén, Anquela spent the better part of his 17-year senior career in the lower leagu ...

. Álvarez agreed to a new three-year deal with the club on 2 March 2017. In April, he suffered an ankle injury which kept him out for 13 months. On 13 July 2018, 37-year-old Álvarez announced his retirement from professional football. One year later, he was named

Bolo Bolo may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Bolo, a fictional tribe in ''bolo'bolo'' by P.M. * Bolo, a character in the ''Shantae'' series * ''Bolo'' universe, a science fiction universe created by Keith Laumer * Prin ...

's assistant at SD Ponferradina, recently returned to the second tier.

International career

Álvarez won 28 caps for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

across all youth levels. On 14 October 2011, after switching allegiance to his country of birth, the 30-year-old made his debut for

in a 1–0 home win against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualifiers. Additionally, Álvarez played three games for the unofficial Galicia team, scoring a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in a 1–1 draw with

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

Balaídos The Estadio Municipal de Balaídos (), known as Abanca-Balaídos for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater stadium located in Vigo, Spain. It is owned by the Vigo's city council, and is the home of La Liga club Celta Vigo. The stadium opened on ...

on 27 December 2007.

Personal life

Álvarez's older brother, Javier (born 1980), was also a footballer and a midfielder. He spent his entire career in Spanish amateur football; in addition, he represented

in three

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the ''Beach Soccer World Champions ...

s (

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Career statistics

Honours

Numancia *

: 2007–08

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarez, Julio 1981 births Living people Venezuelan people of Spanish descent Venezuelan people of Galician descent Spanish footballers Venezuelan footballers Footballers from Caracas Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Racing de Santander players Rayo Vallecano players Real Murcia players CD Numancia players UD Almería players RCD Mallorca players CD Tenerife players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Venezuela men's international footballers