Full name Andrés Palop Cervera Playing position Team Apps Weight 83 kg Position Goalkeeper | Years Team Height 1.84 m Career start 1993 | |
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Date of birth (1973-10-22) 22 October 1973 (age 43) Similar Frédéric Kanouté, Julien Escudé, Fernando Navarro, Ivica Dragutinović, Carlos Marchena Profiles | ||
Andrés Palop Cervera (born 22 October 1973) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and a current manager.
Contents
- Valencia
- Sevilla
- Bayer Leverkusen
- Coaching
- International career
- Managerial statistics
- Club
- International
- References
After having languished on the bench of hometown club Valencia for most of his stay, he became a premiere player with Sevilla well into his 30s, helping it consolidate in both the domestic and European fronts. Over the course of 15 seasons he appeared in 295 games in La Liga, where he also represented Villarreal in 1998–99.
Palop was selected by Spain for Euro 2008, but never gained an international cap.
Valencia
Born in L'Alcúdia, Valencian Community, Palop was a youth product of local giants Valencia CF, and his first professional seasons were spent at neighbours Villarreal CF, in a two-year loan spell. He was the undisputed starter in both the side's La Liga promotion in 1998 – a first ever – and relegation the following season, being subsequently recalled by the Che.
In his six-year stint with Valencia's main squad, however, Palop was mostly backup to veteran Santiago Cañizares, his most games consisting of 15 in his first year. As the club were crowned league champions in 2002 and 2004, he could only appear seven times combined (all in the former campaign), and eventually grew unsettled.
Sevilla
Palop joined Sevilla FC in the 2005 summer, quickly becoming one of the Andalusians' cornerstones as they added five titles in only one year. On 15 March 2007, he made headlines when he scored an injury time-equalising goal in the UEFA Cup round-of-16 tie against FC Shakhtar Donetsk, forcing extra time as a result – Sevilla, which had drawn 2–2 at home in the first leg, went on to win 3–2, and eventually won the competition for the second consecutive time; in the final against fellow league team RCD Espanyol he stopped three of four penalty kicks in the shootout, being named Man of the match.
In the following campaigns, veteran Palop continued to be an undisputed starter for Sevilla, never appearing in fewer than 31 league matches. In 2009–10 he helped to a fourth place in the league, with the subsequent qualification to the UEFA Champions League, and victory in the Copa del Rey.
Bayer Leverkusen
In early June 2013, Palop signed a one-year contract with Bayer 04 Leverkusen, moving abroad for the first time at the age of nearly 40. He was used exclusively as back-up by the German Bundesliga club, and in April 2014 he announced his retirement.
Coaching
On 18 February 2015, Palop was named manager at CD Alcoyano for the remainder of the season in Segunda División B. In June, after achieving the sufficient qualifications, he took the post on a permanent basis, announcing his exit in May 2016.
International career
Palop was first called up for Spain in August 2007, for a friendly with Greece, after a last-minute injury to Iker Casillas. However, he did not leave the bench in the match.
Uncapped, Palop lost a narrow competition with Pepe Reina of Liverpool for second-choice at UEFA Euro 2008, but beat FC Barcelona's Víctor Valdés for the third spot on the squad. During the ceremony following Spain's victory in the tournament, he wore Luis Arconada's original Euro 1984 final shirt. He received the gold medal from Michel Platini (who had won the 1984 continental competition, scoring the final opener from an Arconada blunder), later president of UEFA.