Joaquín Alonso González (born 9 June 1956), known simply as Joaquín, is a Spanish former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Club career Joaquín was born in Oviedo, Asturias. During his 16-year professional career, he played solely for Sporting de Gijón even though he was born in the city of neighbouring Real Oviedo. After 17 appearances and one goal in his debut season in La Liga he became an undisputed starter, going on to take part in a further 462 top-division games until June 1992 (644 overall), with a total of 65 goals. In the 1986–87 campaign, as the team finished fourth, Joaquín scored eight times in 40 matches (third-best in the squad). He continued to feature prominently until the end of his career, retiring at the age of 36 with the most games played in the Spanish top flight, a record which stood for less than one year, however. International career Joaquín earned 18 caps and scored once for Spain, and was selected to the 1982 FIFA World Cup squad. His debut came on 14 November 1979 in a 1–3 friendly defeat against Denmark, in Cádiz. In 1996, Joaquín began playing beach soccer for the Spanish national team. In January 2002 he was appointed their head coach, and stayed in the role for 17 years until he stepped down in November 2019. Joaquín also served on the technical staff of the women's national team in the same sport. International goals See also List of one-club men in association football List of La Liga players (400+ appearances) List of Sporting de Gijón players (100+ appearances) References External links 1956 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Oviedo Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Sporting de Gijón B players Sporting de Gijón players Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain amateur international footballers Spain international footballers 1982 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers of Spain Footballers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Spanish beach soccer players