Jesuli

Jesuli

Personal information
Full name	Jesús Antonio Mora Nieto
Date of birth	(1978-01-24) 24 January 1978
Place of birth	Seville, Spain
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
	Sevilla
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1998	Sevilla B
1997–2000	Sevilla	64	(3)
2000–2004	Celta	118	(24)
2004–2008	Sevilla	23	(1)
2007	→ Real Sociedad (loan)	11	(0)
2008	→ Tenerife (loan)	7	(0)
International career
1996	Spain U18	4	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jesús Antonio Mora Nieto (born 24 January 1978 in Seville, Andalusia), aka Jesuli, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a winger.

Football career

After making his professional debuts with hometown Sevilla FC, playing one game in the closing stages of 1996–97, a 3–1 home win over RCD Espanyol, with the Andalusia side ultimately relegated from La Liga, skilled Jesuli alternated between the A and B-sides before being definitely promoted for the 1998–99 season, which ended in a return to the top level.

Signing in the 2000 summer transfer window, Jesuli would serve his most successful stint at Celta de Vigo, scoring seven league goals in his third year as the Galicia outfit qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time ever. That earned him a return move to his first club, which coincided which Celta's 2004 relegation.

In his second spell at the Andalusia side, Jesuli would appear sporadically – restricted to cup matches in 2006–07 and not registered at all (alongside teammate Fernando Sales) in the following campaign, while also hampered by several injuries.

In January 2008, Jesuli was loaned to Segunda División side CD Tenerife for the rest of 2007–08, where he would also feature sparingly. Having returned to Sevilla at the end of the season he was left to train with the reserves, as he was not part of coach Manuel Jiménez's plans.

Controversy

According to newspaper El Mundo, Jesuli was recorded by Iñaki Badiola, president of Real Sociedad, in a conversation where he confirmed that the players of Tenerife received around €6.000 each to lose the last match of the 2007–08 season, against Málaga CF. As a result (1–2 away loss) the latter achieved promotion, while the Basque side remained in the second division.

Jesuli was injured at that time so he did not play the aforementioned match. During the conversation, Badiola and Jesuli also speculate that the possible money dealer was Lorenzo Sanz (former president of Real Madrid), whose son, Fernando Sanz, occupied the chairman position with Málaga.

The captains of Tenerife denied such accusations, while stating that Jesuli's was probably joking or under pressure to make such declarations. Lorenzo Sanz declared that the accusation was ridiculous, while a spokesperson for the Royal Spanish Football Federation initially affirmed that they already knew the case but it was investigated and rejected at that time. The federation, however, later denied that there were any current formal complaints about possible bribery, as the spokesperson's declarations were actually about a different match.

Surprisingly, a few hours later, Jesuli also denied that Tenerife's players received money to arrange the match in a press release, whereas Badiola insisted in the media that he received consent from the player to record the conversation, and that the player was ready to go further with the issue.

A few days later, El Mundo published the second part of the recorded conversation, where Jesuli is supposed to show that he knew Badiola was recording the conversation.

Honours

Celta

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2000

Sevilla

• UEFA Cup: 2005–06
• Spanish Cup: 2006–07

External links

• Stats at Liga de Fútbol Profesional Template:Es icon
• BDFutbol profile