Place of birth Alicante, Spain Name Antonio Martinez Career start 1998 1998–1999 Hercules B Weight 81 kg | Years Team Height 1.82 m Playing position Role Footballer | |
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Full name Antonio Rodriguez Martinez Date of birth (1979-12-17) 17 December 1979 (age 35) Current team Rayo Vallecano (#25 / Goalkeeper) Similar People David Cobeno, Roberto Trashorras, Adri Embarba, Cristian Dario Alvarez, Raul Baena | ||
Antonio Rodríguez Martínez (born 17 December 1979), known as Toño (['toɲo]), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Rayo Vallecano as a goalkeeper.
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He spent most of his career with Racing de Santander, appearing in 183 competitive games over the course of seven seasons. In La Liga, he also represented Granada, Elche and Rayo Vallecano.
Football career
Toño was born in Alicante, Valencian Community. After making his professional debuts with hometown's Hércules CF, he joined Recreativo de Huelva (second division) for the 2003–04 season, signing with La Liga side Racing de Santander in January 2005 but returning to Huelva on loan exactly one year later; during both his spells in Andalusia, he had an interesting battle for first-choice status with José Antonio Luque.
In the following years, Toño was the undisputed first-choice: in the 2007–08 campaign, as Racing achieved a first-ever qualification to the UEFA Cup, he finished second to Iker Casillas in the Ricardo Zamora Trophy race, an award which he had already won in his debut season with Recre.
Toño begun 2009–10 as starter. However, on 28 February 2010, he suffered a leg injury as the Cantabrians lost 0–2 at home against UD Almería, and would miss more than two months of action, although he would be reinstated for the final two games as Racing narrowly avoided relegation, including the decisive 2–0 home win against Sporting de Gijón.
After leaving Santander in the 2012 summer, Toño continued competing in the top division by representing Granada CF and Elche CF. On 22 August 2014, he terminated his contract with the latter and moved to fellow league club Rayo Vallecano on 1 September.