Mario Bermejo Castanedo (born 7 October 1978) is a Spanish 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 lea ...

who played as a striker. A veteran in the

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 ...

, he amassed totals of 267 games and 73 goals for eight clubs over nine seasons. 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 ...

, he played for

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, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, Recreativo, Xerez and Celta, scoring 12 goals for Xerez and 17 in total.

Club career

Bermejo was born in Santander,

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

. In his early years he played one game each in

with

and

, and then went on to represent teams in the lower leagues on loan. His official debut with Athletic came in a

1997–98 UEFA Cup The 1997–98 UEFA Cup was won by Internazionale in an all-Italian final against Lazio. It was their third title in eight years in the competition. It was the first instance of the UEFA Cup final being a one-game contest at a neutral stadium, h ...

match at

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

, playing the final 32 minutes in the place of

Ismael Urzaiz Ismael Urzaiz Aranda (; born 7 October 1971) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. Best known for his physical strength and aerial ability, the unsuccessful youth graduate at Real Madrid went on to represen ...

in an eventual 2–1 win; he was deemed eligible to play for the team because of his father's

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

roots and an uncle's connections to the club hierarchy. For the 2002–03 season, Bermejo was released by Athletic and returned to the top flight with

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

. In 2004–05, he was instrumental in helping

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

to retain their status, ending the campaign as top scorer with 25 goals – this included four past

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 ...

in a 6–1 away victory, Ferrol's biggest ever in that league.Bermejo, el pichichi de Segunda, fichaje sorpresa (Bermejo, the ''Segunda'' pichichi, surprise signing)
Diario AS, 17 May 2005 (in Spanish) The following campaigns were also spent in the second division, with

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

and Almería. He scored five league goals for the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns in 2006–07, helping them to reach the top tier for the first time ever. After a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan at

Polideportivo Ejido Poli Ejido 2012 Sociedad Deportiva was a Spanish football team based in El Ejido, Province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969 and dissolved in 2012, it held home matches at '' Estadio Municipal Santo Domingo'' ...

, Bermejo was released and joined another side in the region,

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

. 2008–09 was highly productive both collectively (promotion, also a first-ever) and individually (12 league goals, third-best in the squad, to

Momo Momo may refer to: Geography * Momo (department), Cameroon, a division of Northwest Province * Momo, Gabon, a town in the Woleu-Ntem province * Momo, Piedmont, a town in the province of Novara, Italy People Given name or nickname Athletes * ...

's 17 and

Antoñito Antonio Ramiro Pérez (born 2 February 1978), known as Antoñito, is a Spanish retired Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. He played mainly for Sevilla FC, Sevilla and Xerez CD, Xer ...

's 13), and the player, aged 30, agreed to a new two-year contract. They were immediately relegated the following campaign, but the player ranked amongst the league's top scorers at 12, also netting in

the last minute ''The Last Minute'' is a 2001 British-American urban gothic film, written and directed by Stephen Norrington Stephen Norrington (born 1964) is an English special effects artist and retired film director known for his work in the horror and ...

of a 2–1 home win against Almería on 1 May 2010. Bermejo signed with division two's

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

in late June 2011. He contributed eight goals from 35 appearances – 30 starts – in his first season as the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

returned to the top flight after five years, his third promotion. In July 2014 the 35-year-old retired from the game, and was immediately appointed

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

at his last club.

Honours

Xerez *

: 2008–09 Individual *Segunda División top scorer: 2004–05

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bermejo, Mario 1978 births Living people Spanish people of Basque descent Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Santander, Spain Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Cantabria players Racing de Santander players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players SD Eibar footballers Gimnástica de Torrelavega footballers CE L'Hospitalet players Recreativo de Huelva players Racing de Ferrol footballers Albacete Balompié players UD Almería players Polideportivo Ejido footballers Xerez CD footballers RC Celta de Vigo players Spain men's youth international footballers