Antonio Jesús García González (born 24 February 1977), known as Toñito, is a Spanish former

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 ...

who played mainly as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal where he represented five clubs (mainly Sporting), amassing

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal ...

totals of 207 games and 24 goals.

Club career

Toñito was born in

La Orotava La Orotava is a town and a municipality in the northern part of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands of Spain. The area of the municipality stretches from the north coast to the mountainous interior, and includes the summit of the Teide volcano, ...

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the Archipelago, archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitant ...

. A player with skill and teamwork approach alike, he started playing professionally with hometown club

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

. After having made no appearances for the first team, he moved to Portugal for the 1997–98 season and joined

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

, going on to represent in the country

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

C.D. Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team from the Azores Islands as the only team from the archipelag ...

– loaned, where he joined Mauricio Hanuch, also on loan– and

Boavista FC Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

; he played an important part in Sporting's conquest of the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

championship, their first in 18 years, playing 28 games although 25 of those were as a substitute. In the 2005–06 campaign, Toñito returned to Spain and Tenerife, with the club now in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, scoring seven league goals including two in a 3–2 away win against

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club 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 Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadio d ...

on 27 May 2006, before he was stretchered off. After a quick spell in

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

with

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva li ...

he returned to Portugal, netting a late equaliser for

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

at former side Sporting (1–1 in Lisbon),Vukcevic entrou em pânico (Vukcevic panicked)
Record, 4 December 2007 (in Portuguese) although his team would eventually drop down a level. For 2008–09, Toñito moved to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wit ...

Ionikos FC Ionikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Ιωνικός) or Ionikos Nikaia is a Greek professional football club based in Nikaia, Piraeus, Greece, currently competing in the Super League Greece, the top-tier of the Greek football league system. From ...

. However, in January 2009, he switched to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

and

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

, reuniting with former Sporting teammate

Elpídio Silva Elpídio Pereira Silva Filho (born 19 July 1975), known as Silva, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career in Portugal, mainly representing Boavista and amassing Primeira Liga totals of 187 matche ...

; he retired from the game at the end of the season, aged 32.

Honours

Sporting *

: 1999–2000 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains independence from Indonesia and ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tonito 1977 births Living people People from Tenerife Sportspeople from the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Spanish footballers Footballers from the Canary Islands Association football midfielders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Tenerife B players CD Tenerife players Primeira Liga players Vitória F.C. players Sporting CP footballers C.D. Santa Clara players Sporting CP B players Boavista F.C. players U.D. Leiria players Croatian Football League players HNK Rijeka players Ionikos F.C. players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus