Joaquín Sánchez

Joaquín in August 2010

Joaquín Sánchez Rodríguez ( born July 21, 1981 in El Puerto de Santa María, Cádiz province ), short Joaquín, is a Spanish footballer who is under contract with the Italian club Fiorentina since 1 July 2013. He is primarily known for his speed on the ball and his strength at dribbling.

Career

Association

Joaquín grew up with his parents and eight siblings, two of whom were also football players. His uncle secured him a trial at the youth team of Real Betis. After a successful trial Joaquín came from his hometown club Gafa de San Luis to Real Betis.

Even in his youth at Betis Sevilla played Joaquín at right midfield. His league debut in the first team of Betis, which was playing in the second division, he celebrated on 3 September 2000 compared SD Compostela. After the re-emergence of the association Joaquín was on 26 August 2001 at La Rosaleda against FC Málaga his debut in the Primera División. Overall, he played five seasons for Betis. His greatest achievement was winning the Copa del Rey in 2005. Moreover, he took with Betis once participated in the UEFA Champions League twice and the UEFA Cup.

In August 2006, Joaquín was transferred for a transfer fee of around 25 million euros from Real Betis for Valencia CF and thus increased four years before end of contract from his current contract with Betis from. In Valencia he belonged mostly to the permanent staff and denied in each of his four seasons at least 28 league games.

For the 2011/12 season Joaquín joined to FC Málaga.

For the 2013/14 season moved to the Italian first division Joaquín Fiorentina.

National

On 13 February 2002, Joaquín debut in a friendly against Portugal in the Spanish national team. Joaquín participated with Spain at both the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, as well as at the EURO 2004 in Portugal and the 2006 World Cup in Germany. For Euro 2008, he was not taken into account by coach Luis Aragones.