Raúl Bravo

Raúl Bravo Sanfélix (born 14 April 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer. Mainly a left back, he could also play in the centre.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Bravo and the second or maternal family name is Sanfélix.

Raúl Bravo
Bravo in action for Olympiacos in 2010
Personal information
Full name Raúl Bravo Sanfélix[1]
Date of birth (1981-04-14) 14 April 1981[1]
Place of birth Gandia, Spain[1]
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1987–1996 Palma CF
1996 Gandía
1997–2000 Real Madrid
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1997 Gandía 21 (4)
2000–2001 Real Madrid C 7 (0)
2001–2002 Real Madrid B 40 (2)
2001–2007 Real Madrid 77 (4)
2003 → Leeds United (loan) 5 (0)
2007–2011 Olympiacos 63 (0)
2009 → Numancia (loan) 6 (0)
2011–2012 Rayo Vallecano 6 (0)
2012–2013 Beerschot 12 (0)
2013–2014 Córdoba 31 (1)
2014–2015 Veria 23 (1)
2015–2017 Aris 25 (1)
2016 → Veria (loan) 6 (0)
Total 322 (13)
National team
1998 Spain U16 10 (1)
1998 Spain U17 3 (2)
2002 Spain U21 3 (0)
2002–2004 Spain 14 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Having played in almost all the youth ranks at Real Madrid, he went on to have a six-year spell in the first team, where he almost always served as a backup; however, it was during that period that he reached the Spain national side, representing them at Euro 2004.[2]

Bravo also spent several years in Greece, most notably with Olympiacos where he won six major titles including three national championships.

Club career

Real Madrid

Bravo was born in Gandia, Valencian Community. After playing in his early years with two local clubs, he joined Real Madrid's youth system at 16. He was subsequently part of the Junior A side, and played for them two more seasons before arriving at the C team in Tercera División, moving to Real Madrid Castilla in Segunda División B for 2001–02.[3]

International call-ups of some players in the first team gave Bravo the chance for a La Liga debut against Athletic Bilbao at the Santiago Bernabéu, on 6 October 2001, and he played 70 minutes in a 2–0 win.[4] He ended up training with them – under Vicente del Bosque's management – very often, which eventually led to his permanent stay from the 2002–03 campaign onwards.

In January 2003, Bravo started an unsuccessful six-month loan spell at Leeds United.[5] During Euro 2004, in which he appeared for Spain, Mick McCarthy, whilst commentating for the BBC, remarked that he looked a different player to the one in his Elland Road stint; Roberto Carlos' presence, however, restricted his playing time in the Real main squad.[3]

Olympiacos

With a chance to retain UEFA Champions League status, Bravo signed a four-year contract with Olympiacos F.C. in mid-July 2007, with the transfer fee estimated in the region of €2.3 million while the player received an annual salary of €1.3 million.[6] After having appeared rarely due to injuries, he had a short return to Spain in the 2009 January transfer window, moving on loan to top level strugglers CD Numancia[7][8] and having almost no impact in a relegation-ending campaign.[9]

Bravo showed a much higher commitment than in the previous year with Olympiacos and, thanks to his performances in pre-season, earned the starting left-back position over Didier Domi and Leonardo. He was released in May 2011 at the age of 30, after having contributed 18 matches to the conquest of the Super League Greece.

Later years

On 31 August 2011, Bravo returned to his country and Madrid, signing for Rayo Vallecano which had just promoted to the top division.[10] In the following off-season, after having been rarely played in his first and only season, he joined Beerschot A.C. in Belgium for one year.[11]

Aged 33, Bravo returned to the Greek top flight, moving to Veria FC.[12] His contract expired on 30 June 2015 and, two months later, he agreed to a one-year deal with Aris Thessaloniki F.C. also in the country.[13]

International career

Bravo was capped for Spain on the under-16 level in 1997–98, when the national team won the Algarve Tournament. With the under-17s he played in the Nymburk International Tournament, scoring two goals in three matches.

Bravo's full debut was on 21 August 2002 against Hungary, in a friendly.[14][2] Subsequently, he was a participant at UEFA Euro 2004,[15] playing every minute in Spain's group stage exit campaign, against Portugal, Russia and eventual champions Greece (always as a stopper);[16][17] he was not recalled since, receiving a total of 14 caps.

Controversy

On 28 May 2019, Bravo was arrested on charges of belonging to a criminal organisation, involved in corruption and money laundering. The investigation regarded match fixing during the 2016–17 and 2017–18 campaigns.[18] The following January he was accused by Serbian tabloid newspaper Telegraf of hiring a contract killer to murder his former Olympiacos teammate Darko Kovačević,[19][20] which he vehemently denied, commenting: "It's a crazy story, it's nonsense."[21][22]

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Real Madrid 2001–02[23] La Liga 60404[lower-alpha 1]0140
2002–03[23] La Liga 21602[lower-alpha 1]0101
2003–04[23] La Liga 32111[lower-alpha 2]010[lower-alpha 1]0531
2004–05[23] La Liga 140403[lower-alpha 1]0210
2005–06[23] La Liga 152403[lower-alpha 1]0222
2006–07[23] La Liga 80401[lower-alpha 1]0130
Total 7743302301334
Leeds United (loan) 2002–03[24] Premier League 5010—60
Olympiacos 2007–08[25] Superleague Greece 703[lower-alpha 1]0100
2008–09[25] Superleague Greece 60—60
2009–10[25] Superleague Greece 32012[lower-alpha 1]0440
2010–11[25] Superleague Greece 180202[lower-alpha 1]0220
Total 63020170820
Numancia (loan) 2008–09[23] La Liga 6000—60
Rayo Vallecano 2011–12[23] La Liga 6010—70
Beerschot 2012–13[25] Belgian Pro League 12000—120
Córdoba 2013–14[23] Segunda División 290002[lower-alpha 3]1311
Veria 2014–15[25] Superleague Greece 23120—251
Career total 22113904213022
  1. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  2. Appearances in Supercopa de España
  3. Appearances in Promotion Play-offs

International

[26]

Spain
YearAppsGoals
200250
200330
200460
Total140

Honours

Real Madrid

Olympiacos

References
  1. "RAÚL BRAVO Sanfelix". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  2. "Bravo for Madrid youngster". UEFA. 28 August 2002. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  3. Roseiro, Bruno (28 May 2019). "A pobreza em Gandía, a Champions em Madrid, a descida em Salónica: a ascensão e queda de Raúl, o (antigo) Bravo" [Poverty in Gandía, the Champions in Madrid, relegation in Thessaloniki: the rise and fall of Raúl, the (former) Brave (pun on his surname)]. Observador (in Portuguese). Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  4. Cuenca, Nika (7 October 2001). "Sólo Raúl ya fue bastante" [With only Raúl it was more than enough]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  5. "Leeds sign Real defender". BBC Sport. 31 January 2003. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  6. "Olympiacos snare Raúl Bravo". UEFA. 12 July 2007. Retrieved 22 July 2010.
  7. "Numancia swoops for trio". The Sports Network. 31 January 2009. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  8. "El Numancia se refuerza con Raúl Bravo, Marian Kelemen y Lago Junior" [Numancia strengthen with Raúl Bravo, Marian Kelemen and Lago Junior]. Marca (in Spanish). 31 January 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2012.
  9. "Breve enciclopedia numantina" [Brief numantina encyclopedia]. Desde Soria (in Spanish). 29 May 2013. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  10. "Raúl Bravo: "Es la situación perfecta para mí"" [Raúl Bravo: "It's the perfect situation for me"]. Marca (in Spanish). 1 September 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
  11. Callens, Ward (28 August 2012). "Raul Bravo tekent bij Beerschot AC" [Raúl Bravo signs at Beerschot AC] (in Dutch). Beerschot AC. Archived from the original on 31 December 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012.
  12. "ΒΕΡΟΙΑ: Ενεργοποιήθηκε η "βομβα" με Ραούλ Μπράβο!" [Veria: a real "bomb" with Raúl Bravo!] (in Greek). Kerkida Sport. 27 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  13. "Άρης: Ανακοίνωσε τον Ραούλ Μπράβο!" [Aris: Raúl Bravo announced!]. Naftemporiki (in Greek). 11 September 2015. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  14. Besa, Ramón (22 August 2002). "Poca luz para tanto estreno" [Too little light for so many premieres]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 12 November 2015.
  15. Modia, Iván (20 May 2004). "Sáez selects Spain squad". UEFA. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  16. Spiro, Matthew (17 June 2004). "Greece profit as Charisteas stops Spain surge". UEFA. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  17. Farrelly, David (20 June 2004). "Portugal leave Spain in shade to light up Lisbon". UEFA. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
  18. "Spain's match fixing allegations: Who's who of those arrested?". Marca. 28 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
  19. "Raul Bravo accused of being behind gun attack on Kovacevic by Serbian media". Marca. 17 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  20. Verschueren, Gianni (18 January 2020). "Report: Raul Bravo accused of hiring hitman in attempt on Darko Kovacevic". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  21. "Raul Bravo: Saying I ordered Kovacevic's death is crazy, it's nonsense". Marca. 20 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  22. O'Brien, Sean (21 January 2020). "'NONSENSE!' Ex-Leeds defender Raul Bravo rubbishes claims he ordered murder of former team-mate Darko Kovacevic". Talksport. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  23. "Raúl Bravo: Raúl Bravo Sanfélix". BDFutbol. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  24. "Games played by Raúl Bravo in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  25. "Raúl Bravo". Soccerway. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  26. "Raúl Bravo". European Football. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
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