28 September: Javi Poves, the Sporting player who quit football at 24

On 28 September Javi Poves was born, a centre-back who made his top-flight debut for Sporting Gijón on the last day of the 2010-11 season and, two months later, walked away from professional football at twenty-four because he did not want to be part of it. Also born that day was Andrés Guardado, one of the few footballers to have played at five World Cups.

Javi Poves

«the one who walked away» 🔴⚪ SPORTING GIJÓN

🎂 turns 40

📷 There is no freely licensed photo of Javi Poves, so there is no photo here. We prefer that to using an agency picture without permission.

In shortJavier Poves (Madrid, 1986) was a Sporting Gijón defender: two seasons in the reserve side and one in the first-team squad, with a single La Liga appearance, on 21 May 2011 in Alicante. In the summer of 2011 he terminated his contract and retired at twenty-four, saying professional football was «just money and corruption». Years later he came back to football, through a different door: as president and coach of small clubs in Madrid.

Born28 September 1986

Positiondefender

Clubs

Sporting Gijón B 2008-2010
Sporting Gijón 2010-2011 · 1 La Liga appearance

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

From Atlético's academy to Mareo

He came through the youth ranks of Atlético Madrid and Rayo Vallecano, and worked his way through Madrid's lower leagues: Rayo B, Las Rozas and Navalcarnero.

In 2008 Sporting Gijón signed him and sent him to the reserve side, then in the third tier. He was a regular at centre-back at Mareo for two seasons, more than sixty games, and in 2010 he was promoted to Manolo Preciado's first-team squad in La Liga.

One half at the Rico Pérez

His chance came on the last day of the 2010-11 league season. On 21 May 2011, at the José Rico Pérez against Hércules, Preciado brought him on in the second half in place of David Barral. It was his La Liga debut and, though nobody knew it then, also his farewell.

During that season he had already raised eyebrows in the dressing room: he turned down the car the club provided for its players and asked not to be paid by bank transfer, because he did not want his money going through a bank.

«I don't want to be part of this»

On 19 July 2011 he terminated his contract with Sporting, and in early August he explained why in an interview that went round Spain. He said professional football was «just money and corruption», that it was capitalism and that he did not want to be part of a system that, in his view, was built on the suffering of others. He said he was going to study history and travel.

He was twenty-four, under contract with a La Liga club and had a career ahead of him. In a world where almost every kid dreams of getting exactly where he had got, he stepped off. Whether or not you agree with his reasons, few decisions like it have been seen in Spanish football.

Coming back, through another door

He travelled half the world, and football came looking for him again. He played a few more games in the lower leagues, for UD San Sebastián de los Reyes and Móstoles, and in 2019 became president of the latter and renamed it Flat Earth FC, publicly declaring his belief in a flat Earth. He left the post at the end of 2020.

In 2022 he joined the board of Colonia Moscardó, a historic club from Madrid's Usera district, and in October 2023 took over on the bench as well. In June 2024 he got them promoted to Segunda Federación. The kid who left football because he could not stomach it ended up as president and coach at the same time.

🔍 “Poves never played in La Liga”

What people say

That he retired without making his debut, just another academy player who did not make it.

What the record shows

That he did make his debut: he played the second half of Hércules-Sporting on 21 May 2011, the last matchday of that season, replacing David Barral. It was his only La Liga game. What makes him exceptional is not that he did not make it, but that he made it and chose to leave, with a contract in force in Sporting's first-team squad.

Also born on 28 September

Andrés Guardado, the Little Prince

🎂 turns 40

A midfielder from Guadalajara who spent almost all his European career in Spain: Deportivo, Valencia and, above all, Betis, where he was captain and lifted the 2022 Copa del Rey in Seville against Valencia. In between he won two league titles with PSV.

With Mexico he played at five World Cups, from Germany 2006 to Qatar 2022, a mark held by only a handful of footballers in history. He is one of the most capped players in his country's history.

Born28 September 1986

CountryMexico

Positionmidfielder, left winger

Clubs

Club Atlas de Guadalajara 2005-2007 · 6 goals
Real Club Deportivo de A Coruña 2007-2012 · 23 goals
Valencia Club de Fútbol 2012-2015 · 1 goals
Bayer 04 Leverkusen 2014
PSV Eindhoven 2014-2015 · 1 goals
PSV Eindhoven 2015-2017 · 3 goals

National teamselección de fútbol de México

Honours

Copa del Rey 2022 (Betis)Dutch league 2015 and 2016Gold Cup 2011, 2015 and 2019

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

Another 45 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.

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Every day of the year has its story. Highlighted days are already out: click to see who was born or what happened on that date. The faded ones go live on their day, at midnight (Spain time). 12 published.

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