Rafael 'Rafa' Antonio Ponzo García (born 18 October 1978) is a Venezuelan 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Born in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (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 northern p ...

, Ponzo left his country at the age of 20 and moved to Spain, where he played for the vast majority of his career, albeit almost exclusively in the lower leagues. His first stop was at

Club Siero Club Siero is a Spanish football team based in Pola de Siero, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1916, it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio El Bayu'', with a capacity of 5,000 seats. History Despite being football pre ...

in the fourth division, and he went on to represent, also in that tier,

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

's reserves and

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

, achieving promotion to the third level with the latter in

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

. With his next team,

Girona Girona (; ) is the capital city of the Province of Girona in the autonomous community of Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 106,476 in 2024, but the p ...

, Ponzo achieved two consecutive promotions, making his

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 ...

debut on 30 August 2008 in a 1–0 away win against

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 ...

and appearing in 37 matches during the season to help the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

retain their league status after ranking 16th (44 goals conceded – three of those in a 3–0 loss at Hércules in the late stages in which he was held responsible for the outcome by his own manager

Raül Agné Raül Agné Montull (born 24 May 1970) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently a manager. Playing career Born in Mequinenza, Province of Zaragoza, Aragon, Agné never competed in higher than Segunda Divi ...

). He started 2009–10 back in division three with

Ceuta Ceuta (, , ; ) is an Autonomous communities of Spain#Autonomous cities, autonomous city of Spain on the North African coast. Bordered by Morocco, it lies along the boundary between the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Ceuta is one of th ...

, but moved after a few months to Cyprus, where he played for two clubs in quick succession before returning to his homeland and join

Mineros de Guayana Asociación Civil Club Deportivo Mineros de Guayana, known as Mineros de Guayana or simply Mineros, is a professional football club based in Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela. History The Colegio Loyola Gumilla's field, located in Puerto Ordaz, was us ...

. On 7 July 2011, Ponzo signed with another side in the Spanish third division and

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

Marino de Luanco Club Marino de Luanco is a Spanish football team based in Luanco, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1931 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Miramar'', with a capacity of 3,500 seats. History Marino Luanco was founde ...

. After two years back in his country with Aragua FC, he moved to UES. 38-year-old Ponzo returned to Venezuela in the middle of 2017, signing with

's Angostura FC.

International career

Ponzo made two appearances for the Venezuela national team.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponzo, Rafael 1978 births Living people Footballers from Caracas Venezuelan men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Venezuela men's international footballers Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Cypriot First Division players A.C.C.D. Mineros de Guayana players Aragua F.C. players CD Tenerife B players Real Oviedo players Girona FC players AD Ceuta footballers Marino de Luanco footballers Nea Salamis Famagusta FC players Ermis Aradippou FC players C.D. Universidad de El Salvador players Venezuelan expatriate men's footballers Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Venezuelan expatriate sportspeople in El Salvador Expatriate men's footballers in El Salvador