 Palop playing forSevilla in 2008 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrés Palop Cervera[1] | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1973-10-22)22 October 1973 (age 52)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | L'Alcúdia, Spain | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | |||||||||||||
| Position | Goalkeeper | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| Valencia | ||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1993–1997 | Valencia B | 68 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1993–1994 | →Oliva (loan) | |||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | →Gimnástico (loan) | |||||||||||||
| 1997–2005 | Valencia | 43 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 1997–1999 | →Villarreal (loan) | 74 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2005–2013 | Sevilla | 217 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2013–2014 | Bayer Leverkusen | 0 | (0) | |||||||||||
| Total | 402 | (0) | ||||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2016 | Alcoyano | |||||||||||||
| 2018–2019 | Ibiza | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Andrés Palop Cervera (Valencian pronunciation:[anˈdɾespaˈlob]; born 22 October 1973) is a Spanish former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.
After having languished on the bench of hometown clubValencia for most of his stay,[2] he became a premiere player withSevilla well into his 30s, helping it consolidate in both the domestic andEuropean fronts. Over 15 seasons, he appeared in 295 matches inLa Liga, where he also representedVillarreal in1998–99.
Palop was selected bySpain forEuro 2008, but never earned an internationalcap. After retiring, he worked briefly as amanager.
Born inL'Alcúdia,Valencian Community,[3] Palop was a youth product of local giantsValencia CF, and his first professional seasons were spent at neighboursVillarreal CF, in a two-year loan spell. He was the undisputed starter in both the side'sLa Ligapromotion in 1998 – a first ever[4]– andrelegation the following season, being subsequently recalled by theChe.
In his six-year stint with the main squad, however, Palop was mostly backup to veteranSantiago Cañizares, his most games consisting of 15 in hisfirst year. As the club was crowned league champions in2002 and2004, he could only appear a total of seven times (all in the former campaign), and eventually grew unsettled;[2] he was also part of the squad thatwon the2003–04 UEFA Cup inGothenburg.[5]
Palop joinedSevilla FC in summer 2005, quickly becoming one of theAndalusians' cornerstones as they added five titles in only one year. On 15 March 2007, he made headlines when he scored aninjury time-equalising goal in theUEFA Cup round-of-16 tie againstFC Shakhtar Donetsk, forcingextra time as a result – his team, which had drawn 2–2 at home in the first leg, went on to win 3–2, and eventuallythe competition for the second consecutive time;[6][7] inthe final against fellow SpaniardsRCD Espanyol he stopped three of fourpenalty kicks inthe shootout, being namedPlayer of the match.[8]
In the following campaigns, veteran Palop continued to be first choice, never appearing in fewer than 31 league matches. In2009–10 he helped to a fourth place in the league, with the subsequentqualification for theUEFA Champions League, andvictory in theCopa del Rey.[9]
In early June 2013, Palop signed a one-year contract withBayer 04 Leverkusen, moving abroad for the first time at the age of nearly 40.[10] He was used exclusively as back-up by the GermanBundesliga club, and in April 2014 announced his retirement.[11]
Palop was first called up forSpain in August 2007, for afriendly withGreece, after a last-minute injury toIker Casillas.[12] However, he did not leavethe bench.[13]
Uncapped, Palop lost a narrow competition withPepe Reina ofLiverpool for second choice atUEFA Euro 2008, but beatFC Barcelona'sVíctor Valdés for the third spot on the squad.[14][15] During the ceremony following Spain's victory in the tournament, he woreLuis Arconada's originalEuro 1984 final shirt; he received the gold medal fromMichel Platini (who had won the 1984 continental competition, scoring the final opener from an Arconada blunder), later president ofUEFA.[16][17]
On 18 February 2015, Palop was named manager atCD Alcoyano for the remainder ofthe season inSegunda División B.[18][19] In June, after achieving the sufficient qualifications, he took the post on a permanent basis,[20] announcing his exit in May 2016.[21]
Palop was appointed as the new head coach ofUD Ibiza on 27 September 2018, with that club also competing in the third level.[22] He was dismissed the following 25 February after winning ten of his 21 games, leaving the team eight points from a playoff place.[23]
In April 2020, Palop was hospitalised for 12 days during thecoronavirus pandemic.[24] Two years later, he was UEFA's ambassador for theEuropa League Final at theRamón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium inSeville.[25]
Palop was mainly known for his shot-stopping abilities, and also earned a reputation as a penalty-saving specialist throughout his career.[26]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Valencia | 1997–98 | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 1999–00 | La Liga | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6[b] | 0 | — | 21 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | La Liga | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | La Liga | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | ||
| 2002–03 | La Liga | 9 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3[b] | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | La Liga | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6[c] | 0 | — | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | La Liga | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | — | 14 | 0 | ||
| Total | 43 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 21 | 0 | — | 75 | 0 | |||
| Villarreal (loan) | 1997–98 | Segunda División | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 2[d] | 0 | 41 | 0 | |
| 1998–99 | La Liga | 35 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 2[e] | 0 | 42 | 0 | ||
| Total | 74 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 83 | 0 | |||
| Sevilla | 2005–06 | La Liga | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7[c] | 0 | — | 43 | 0 | |
| 2006–07 | La Liga | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 12[c] | 1 | 1[f] | 0 | 51 | 1 | |
| 2007–08 | La Liga | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9[b] | 0 | 3[f][g] | 0 | 43 | 0 | |
| 2008–09 | La Liga | 35 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6[c] | 0 | — | 47 | 0 | ||
| 2009–10 | La Liga | 33 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | — | 44 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | La Liga | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8[b][c] | 0 | 2[g] | 0 | 32 | 0 | |
| 2011–12 | La Liga | 13 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | — | 16 | 0 | ||
| 2012–13 | La Liga | 16 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 19 | 0 | |||
| Total | 217 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 49 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 295 | 1 | ||
| Bayer Leverkusen | 2013–14 | Bundesliga | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |
| Career total | 334 | 0 | 39 | 0 | 70 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 453 | 1 | ||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Alcoyano |  | 18 February 2015 | 20 May 2016 | 52 | 24 | 14 | 14 | 63 | 48 | +15 | 046.15 | [30] |
| Ibiza | | 27 September 2018 | 25 February 2019 | 21 | 10 | 6 | 5 | 24 | 18 | +6 | 047.62 | [31] |
| Total | 73 | 34 | 20 | 19 | 87 | 66 | +21 | 046.58 | — | |||
Valencia
Sevilla
Spain
 | ||
