Manuel Moreno (born 2 September 1998) is a Spanish

rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...

player who plays for the Spanish national rugby sevens team.

Early life

He was brought up in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

, and played numerous sports as a youngster including tennis, karate and football. He tried rugby union after his older brother Gabi played rugby for Ciencias and had earned a High Performance scholarship after finishing second with his team in the Spanish Championship.

Career

He began playing rugby union for Ciencias Sevilla CR in

. He was subsequently called-up to join the

Spain national rugby sevens team Spain's national rugby sevens team is one of 12 core teams participating in all ten tournaments of the World Rugby Sevens Series, having qualified by winning the 2017 Hong Kong Sevens qualifier tournament. Spain participated as a core team in th ...

in the summer of 2020. He scored the opening try as Spain beat New Zealand at the South Africa Sevens in Cape Town in December 2022. In May 2023, Moreno was chosen among the 14 best rugby sevens players at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series in Toulouse. He played for Spain at the

2023 European Games The 3rd European Games (), also known as the 2023 European Games or Kraków-Małopolska 2023, was an international multi-sport event held from 21 June to 2 July 2023 in Kraków and Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Małopolska, Poland. It was the first ...

. In May 2025, he was in the Dream Team of the Year for the 2024-25 SVNS.

Personal life

He studied medicine alongside his rugby career. He is a keen football fan and a supporter of

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. He has also been employed as a model.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moreno, Manu 1998 births Living people Spanish rugby union players Spain international rugby sevens players Sportspeople from Seville Rugby sevens players at the 2023 European Games European Games medalists in rugby sevens European Games bronze medalists for Spain