Patxi Ferreira

Patxi Ferreira
Personal information
Full name Francisco Ferreira Colmenero
Date of birth (1967-05-22) 22 May 1967
Place of birth Saucelle, Spain
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Centre back
Youth career
Deusto
1983–1984 Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1984–1987 Bilbao Athletic 73 (6)
1984–1989 Athletic Bilbao 76 (10)
1989–1995 Atlético Madrid 118 (4)
1993–1994 → Sevilla (loan) 25 (1)
1995–1997 Valencia 60 (4)
1997–2000 Athletic Bilbao 67 (3)
2000–2001 Rayo Vallecano 12 (0)
Total 431 (28)
National team
1983 Spain U16 4 (0)
1984–1985 Spain U18 10 (0)
1985 Spain U19 1 (0)
1985 Spain U20 4 (0)
1986–1990 Spain U21 12 (0)
1988–1989 Spain 2 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Francisco 'Patxi' Ferreira Colmenero (born 22 May 1967) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender.

Club career

Ferreira was born in Saucelle, Province of Salamanca, and moved to the Bilbao area at a young age, making him eligible for to play for Athletic Bilbao under their signing policy. While a member of the youth system at Lezama, he won the Copa del Rey Juvenil in 1984.

Having not yet featured for the reserves, Ferreira made his La Liga debut on 9 September 1984 aged 17 years, 110 days, in a 0–3 away defeat against Sevilla FC – a club record as the youngest player in the competition.[1] A strike by the professional players had forced the organizations to field their youngsters ahead of schedule,[2] and he did not play another league game with the first team for two years; his record stood until Iker Muniain's debut, in August 2009.[3]

During a steady professional career, Ferreira also represented Atlético Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia CF and Rayo Vallecano. He amassed more than 400 official appearances during his 17 years at senior level, 358 in La Liga alone, scoring 22 goals in the competition;[4] career highlights included winning the Copa del Rey twice in a row with Atlético in the early 90s, and featuring in three group stage matches of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League with Athletic. Having achieved three runner-up league finishes (1991, 1996 and 1998), his best individual season was with the latter in 1987–88 as the 20-year-old netted six times in 35 matches to help the Basques to fourth position.

Ferreira retired in 2001 at the age of 34, after a slow year with Rayo – the side from the Madrid outskirts finished in 14th position, and he appeared in less than one third of the league matches. He subsequently became a coach, working as assistant to Gaizka Garitano at SD Eibar;[4] in June 2016, the pair joined Deportivo de La Coruña.[5]

Almost exactly one year later, Ferreira returned to Bilbao Athletic alongside Garitano when the latter was appointed manager.[6]

International career

Ferreira played twice for Spain in as many friendlies, the first being a 1–2 loss with Yugoslavia in Oviedo on 14 September 1988.[7]

Honours

Club

Atlético Madrid

International

Spain U20

References

  1. ↑ "3–0: El Sevilla encontró un ariete" [3–0: Sevilla found a battering ram]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 10 September 1984. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  2. ↑ "A strike by Spanish soccer players forced the league to play its second round Sunday with junior and amateur players". United Press International. 9 September 1984. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  3. ↑ "Muniain ya es el león más joven en la historia de la Liga" [Muniain is now the youngest lion in the history of the League]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 1 September 2009. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Qué fue de… Patxi Ferreira" [What happened to… Patxi Ferreira] (in Spanish). 20 Minutos. 8 July 2013. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
  5. ↑ "Gaizka Garitano, nuevo entrenador del Real Club Deportivo" [Gaizka Garitano, new manager of Real Club Deportivo]. Deportivo La Coruña. 10 June 2016. Retrieved 7 August 2017.
  6. ↑ "Lezama technical chart". Athletic Bilbao. 8 June 2017. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "1–2: Farewell to the "flower"..." [1–2: Farewell to the "flower"...]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 15 September 1988. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  8. ↑ "El Mallorca, finalista elemplar" [Mallorca, the perfect finalist]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 30 June 1991. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.