Roberto Rojas González (born 17 November 1974 in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

) is a Spanish retired

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 Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

Football career

Rojas graduated from

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

's youth academy, and played in five matches with the first team during the 1998–99 season. His

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 ...

debut occurred on 14 November 1998, coming on as a substitute for

Christian Panucci Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former footballer and manager. In his playing career he played as a defender. A versatile footballer, he began his career as a right-back, but was also capable of playing on the left; as he ...

at the hour-mark of an eventual 1–2 home loss 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 ...

. Roja's most successful period was lived at

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

, for whom he signed in the summer of 1999. He appeared in 32 games in his first year, helping 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 retain their recently acquired top flight status, and went on to feature for the side that conquered the

2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Málaga, Fulham, and Stuttgart. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

, but only played in 20 league matches in his last two campaigns combined. After one year with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

( third division), Rojas retired in 2007 at nearly 33 years of age, having played one season each with modest clubs from the

area. He did not manage to score one goal during his professional career. Rojas returned to Real Madrid in 2009, being appointed assistant manager in the ''Infantil A'' team. The following season, in the same capacity, he was promoted to the ''Cadete B''. In 2011, he received his first head coaching assignment, returning to the ''Infantil''.

Honours

Real Madrid * Intercontinental Cup:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Málaga *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rojas, Roberto 1974 births Living people Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Málaga CF players Rayo Vallecano players AD Alcorcón footballers UEFA Champions League–winning players