Rafel Sastre Reus (born 22 October 1975) is a Spanish 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He amassed

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 ...

totals of 311 games and four goals over the course of nine seasons, seven of those with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

. He appeared 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 ...

with the same club, making 52 appearances in that competition.

Club career

Sastre was born in Binissalem,

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands are an archipelago in the western Mediterranean Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago forms a Provinces of Spain, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain, ...

. For 14 professional seasons he represented RCD Mallorca B,

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

(two years in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

) and

. With the

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 ...

club, he amassed totals of 257 games and four goals in the

, including 37 in 2007–08 as it returned to

after a ten-year hiatus; during this timeframe, he was eventually named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Sastre made his first appearance in the top flight at almost 33, in 2008–09's opener, a 1–2 home loss against

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. They compete in La Liga, the top tier of the Football in Spain, Spanish football. The team has pla ...

. In his two years at the

El Molinón Estadio El Molinón (), officially Estadio Municipal El Molinón-Enrique Castro "Quini", is an association football stadium in Gijón, Asturias, Spain. The stadium is the home ground of Sporting de Gijón, Real Sporting de Gijón. With a capacity ...

in that league he totalled 44 matches, with Sporting also retaining their status in the 2009–10 campaign. In June 2011, aged 35, Sastre left Gijón after ten years with the same club and signed for

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club based in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in th ...

of the second tier.El Huesca confirma el fichaje de Rafael Sastre (Huesca confirm signing of Rafael Sastre)
Marca, 22 June 2011 (in Spanish) He retired one year later, after one season in division three with

CD Atlético Baleares Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Palma de Mallorca, Palma, the capital of the Mallorca, island of Mallorca, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Foun ...

.Sastre ficha por el Atlético Baleares, de Segunda B (Sastre signs for Atlético Baleares, from ''Segunda B'')
La Nueva España, 4 July 2012 (in Spanish)

Personal life

Sastre's younger brother, Lluís (ten years his junior), was also a footballer. A

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, they coincided at Huesca in the 2011–12 season.

References

External links

* * 1975 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Mallorca Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players RCD Mallorca B players Cádiz CF players Sporting de Gijón players SD Huesca footballers CD Atlético Baleares footballers {{Spain-footy-defender-stub