Antonio Cotán

Antonio Jesús Cotán Pérez is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Bulgarian club Vihren Sandanski.

Club career

Born in Olivares, Province of Seville, Cotán came through the youth ranks at local club Sevilla FC, spending his first season as a senior with the reserves in the Segunda División B. On 9 January 2013 he first appeared with the first team, against RCD Mallorca in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey, but did not leave the bench in the 1–2 home loss.
On 8 August 2013, one month shy of his 18th birthday, Cotán made his first official appearance with the Andalusians, playing the entire second half of a 6–1 away win over FK Mladost Podgorica in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. On 11 May of the following year, as the main squad had already secured the fifth place and manager Unai Emery was resting his starters for the Europa League final, he made his La Liga debut, featuring the full 90 minutes in the 1–0 defeat at Getafe CF.
Cotán subsequently featured almost exclusively for the B side the following years, helping them in their promotion to Segunda División in 2016. He scored his first professional goal on 21 August of that year, opening a 3–3 home draw against Girona FC.

On 8 August 2017, Cotán signed a two-year contract with fellow second-division club Real Valladolid, with Sevilla holding a buyback clause. He featured rarely during the campaign due to injury, in a promotion in the playoffs.
Cotán left the Estadio José Zorrilla as a free agent on 30 January 2019, having failed to appear in any league matches in the season.

On 31 January 2019, Cotán agreed to a six-month deal at Gimnàstic de Tarragona of the second tier. He was used sparingly in his short spell, in an eventual relegation.

On 25 July 2019, Cotán moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined Roda JC Kerkrade of the Dutch Eerste Divisie. On 2 September of the following year, he returned to his home nation after signing for CD Numancia, recently relegated to division three.

Cotán remained in the Spanish lower leagues until his retirement, representing UD Melilla and CD Tudelano.