Ignacio 'Nacho' Cases Mora (born 22 December 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder.
![]() Cases warming up for Sporting Gijón in 2014 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ignacio Cases Mora | ||
Date of birth | (1987-12-22) 22 December 1987 (age 34) | ||
Place of birth | Gijón, Spain | ||
Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Youth career | |||
1993–1994 | Codema | ||
1994–2005 | Sporting Gijón | ||
2004–2005 | → Revillagigedo (loan) | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
2005–2011 | Sporting Gijón B | 71 | (5) |
2011–2017 | Sporting Gijón | 177 | (10) |
2017–2021 | AEK Larnaca | 56 | (3) |
2020 | → Volos (loan) | 6 | (0) |
2021 | Sūduva | 25 | (0) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 4 January 2022 |
He spent most of his career with Sporting de Gijón, appearing in 183 competitive games over the course of four La Liga seasons (seven in total).
Born in Gijón, Asturias, Cases was a product of Sporting de Gijón's prolific youth academy, Mareo. He made it to the B team during the 2005–06 season, with them playing in the fourth division. Although he proved instrumental in helping to achieve promotion two years later, he struggled for a place in the starting line-ups in the following years.[1]
A skilled midfielder, it was not until the 2010–11 campaign, at the age of 23 years – and acting as captain with the reserves – that Cases was finally given his chance to make his first-team debut, starting in a 1–1 away draw against Racing de Santander on 9 January 2011.[2] On 2 April, he assisted Miguel de las Cuevas in the 79th minute of a 1–0 win over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, thus ending José Mourinho's nine-year unbeaten home league record.[3] He finished his first season as a professional with 18 La Liga appearances, in an escape from relegation.
On 22 June 2017, 29-year-old Cases announced he was leaving Sporting Gijón and bring to an end a 23-year association with the same club.[4] Shortly after, he joined a host of compatriots at Cyprus' AEK Larnaca FC.[5]
Club | Season | League | Cup | Other | Total | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
Sporting Gijón B | 2008–09[6] | Segunda División B | 33 | 1 | — | 2[lower-alpha 1] | 0 | 35 | 1 | |
2009–10[6] | 20 | 1 | — | — | 20 | 1 | ||||
2010–11[6] | 18 | 3 | — | — | 18 | 3 | ||||
Total | 71 | 5 | — | 2 | 0 | 73 | 5 | |||
Sporting Gijón | 2010–11[6] | La Liga | 18 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 18 | 1 | |
2011–12[6] | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 22 | 0 | |||
2012–13[6] | Segunda División | 33 | 2 | 1 | 1 | — | 34 | 3 | ||
2013–14[6] | 27 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1[lower-alpha 2] | 0 | 28 | 2 | ||
2014–15[6] | 33 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 33 | 2 | |||
2015–16[6] | La Liga | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 1 | ||
2015–16[6] | 24 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | 25 | 1 | |||
2016–17[6] | 21 | 1 | 2 | 0 | — | 23 | 1 | |||
Total | 201 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 208 | 11 | ||
AEK Larnaca | 2017–18[7] | Cypriot First Division | 25 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 31 | 1 |
2018–19[7] | 17 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 27 | 1 | ||
2019–20[7] | 14 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6[lower-alpha 3] | 0 | 20 | 2 | ||
Total | 56 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 14 | 0 | 78 | 4 | ||
Career total | 304 | 18 | 13 | 2 | 17 | 0 | 234 | 20 |
AEK Larnaca