Antonio Ramírez Martínez (born 23 November 1986), commonly known as Toño, is a Spanish 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 plays 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 ...

for

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''La Liga'', ''Segunda División'', and its fellow semi-professional divisions '' Primera Federación'' and ''Segunda F ...

club

Náxara CD Náxara Club Deportivo is a Spanish football team based in Nájera in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded on 19 March 1933, it plays in . History Náxara CD originated from enthusiasm of the students of the Santa María La Real school ...

Club career

Born in

Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

, Toño was a Valvanera CD youth graduate. In the summer of 2005, after making his senior debut for the football team of the

University of the Basque Country The University of the Basque Country (, ''EHU''; , ''UPV''; officially EHU) is a Spanish public university of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community. Heir of the University of Deusto, University of Bilbao, initial ...

, he moved to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

and was assigned to their reserves 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 ...

. Toño made his first-team debut on 14 June 2009, coming on as a first-half substitute for Javi Ros in a 1–1

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 ...

home draw against

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

as the starter Eñaut Zubikarai was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

. In July 2009 he was loaned to

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 1922, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez L� ...

from

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 ...

, but appeared exclusively for the B side also in the third tier. In June 2011, after another campaign at ''Sanse'', Toño was definitely promoted to the main squad as third choice to

Claudio Bravo Claudio Andrés Bravo Muñoz (; born 13 April 1983) is a Chilean former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Bravo began his career with Colo-Colo and moved to Real Socied ...

and Zubikarai. After making no competitive appearances, he signed for division two club

CD Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Guadalajara metropolit ...

. Toño appeared sparingly for the Castile-La Mancha team, also suffering administrative relegation. On 16 August 2013, he joined

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

in the third division. On 25 June 2014, Toño moved abroad for the first time in his career, signing for

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos. The club also has a men' ...

in Cyprus. He started during the vast majority of his spell, beating competition of

Alexandre Negri Alexandre Negri (born 27 March 1981) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and who works for Cypriot First Division club Doxa Katokopias as goalkeeping coach. He signed in 2007 from Aris Thessaloniki. Born in B ...

and compatriot

Mikel Saizar Mikel Saizar Soroa (born 18 January 1983) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and the current goalkeeping coach of Real Sociedad C. Club career Born in Ibarra (Gipuzkoa), Saizar made his senior debut with R ...

. On 23 June 2016, Toño returned to Real Sociedad after agreeing to a two-year contract. Completely barred by Gerónimo Rulli, he only made his official debut on 26 October of the following year, keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...

in a 1–0 away win over

Lleida Esportiu Lleida Club de Futbol is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in July 2011, it plays in , holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 seats. History In mid-May 2011, hi ...

in the

round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

. Toño's first appearance in the Spanish top division took place on 27 January 2018 (at the age of 31 years and two months), in a 4–2 defeat at

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

. On 28 June, he returned to AEK for a second spell. Toño returned to Spain in summer 2021, with Racing Rioja CF of the newly-formed Segunda División RFEF.

Career statistics

Honours

AEK Larnaca *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2018

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tono Ramirez 1986 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Logroño Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Segunda Federación players Tercera Federación players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers CD Tenerife B players CD Guadalajara (Spain) footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Racing Rioja CF players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus