Victoriano Rivas Álvaro (; born 7 July 1980), known as Nano , is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a central defender. He is the assistant manager of Segunda División club Leganés.

He appeared in 138 La Liga matches over seven seasons while scoring ten goals, mainly in representation of Betis (three years) and Levante (two). He also represented in the competition Getafe and Valladolid.

Playing career Born in Ciudad Real, Castilla–La Mancha, Nano made his professional debut with Atlético Madrid's reserves, spending two full seasons with the Segunda División B side. In 2002–03 he was loaned to Getafe CF in the Segunda División, before moving to the club on a permanent deal in summer 2003; an undisputed starter with the Madrid outskirts team, he scored four goals in 37 games in the 2004–05 campaign, their first ever in La Liga.

Nano joined Real Betis in July 2005.Double signing for Betis; UEFA, 18 July 2005 He was set to have a promising season before being injured in the UEFA Champions League group-stage fixture against Chelsea at the Manuel Ruiz de Lopera on 1 November, in his only appearance in the competition, as he was sidelined for five months;Oliveira y Nano con lesiones importantes tras el choque ante el Chelsea (Oliveira and Nano with major injuries after clash against Chelsea) ; ABC, 2 November 2005 (in Spanish) he also featured once in the UEFA Cup and made 14 league appearances in his first year, playing a further 21 matches for a side that finished 16th in 2006–07.

Established as first-choice alongside veteran Juanito in the 2007–08 campaign, Nano scored in the first matchday against Recreativo de Huelva (1–1 away draw),El Betis corta el buen arranque del Recreativo (Betis thwart Recreativo's good start); La Voz de Galicia, 26 August 2007 (in Spanish) but suffered a severe knee injury against Deportivo de La Coruña on 16 September 2007, which made him miss six months.El Betis pierde a Nano durante seis meses (Betis lose Nano for six months); La Voz de Galicia, 17 September 2007 (in Spanish) Upon return from injury, he netted another important goal for the Andalusians, in a 1–1 draw at former club Getafe on 18 May 2008.Getafe-Betis (1–1): Final a ritmo de trámite (Getafe-Betis (1–1): Formality-like ending); Diario de Sevilla, 19 May 2008 (in Spanish)

On 1 September 2008, a one-year loan deal was agreed as Nano joined Real Valladolid in a season-long move. He appeared scarcely throughout his spell, as both stopper and left-back, and his return to Betis would be even more unassuming as it consisted of one league match (18 minutes), with the team failing to return to the top division.Resumen del año: La defensa, el talón de Aquiles del Betis (Year summary: The defence, Betis' Achilles heel); ABC, 26 December 2009 (in Spanish)

In August 2010, aged 30, Nano signed for Levante UD.El Levante UD ficha al central Victoriano Rivas “Nano” (Levante UD sign stopper Victoriano Rivas “Nano”) ; Levante UD, 17 August 2010 (in Spanish) First-choice during his first season, he scored in a 2–0 home win over Atlético Madrid on 4 December.More woe for Atletico; ESPN Soccernet, 4 December 2010

Nano started in all the games for the Valencian Community side in the first half of 2011–12, as they spent the vast majority of that period in Champions League qualification positions. In very late January 2012, however, he was sold to Guizhou Renhe F.C. of the Chinese Super League.Nano se marcha a la liga china (Nano goes to Chinese league); Merca Fútbol, 30 January 2012 (in Spanish)

Nano announced his retirement in February 2014.El ex atlético Nano anuncia su retirada tras concluir su etapa en China (Former atlético Nano announces retirement after concluding China spell); Mundo Deportivo, 26 February 2014 (in Spanish) On 6 July of the following year, he was appointed Vicente Moreno's assistant manager at Gimnàstic de Tarragona.Nano Rivas será el ayudante de Vicente Moreno en el Nàstic (Nano Rivas will be the assistant of Vicente Moreno at Nàstic); Diari de Tarragona, 6 July 2015 (in Spanish)

Coaching career On 25 May 2016, Nano was named Getafe CF B manager.Nano, el elegido en el banquillo del Getafe "B" (Nano, the chosen one for the bench of Getafe "B"); Marca, 25 May 2016 (in Spanish) He returned to Gimnàstic roughly one year later, being appointed at the main squad for the remainder of the season.Nano Rivas entrenarà l’equip fins a final de temporada (Nano Rivas will manage the team until the end of the season); Gimnàstic Tarragona, 20 May 2017 (in Catalan)

Having managed to narrowly avoid relegation, Nano left Nàstic in June 2017. The following 29 January, however, he replaced the fired Rodri at the helm of the same club,Nano Rivas, nuevo entrenador del Nàstic (Nano Rivas, new manager of Nàstic) ; Gimnàstic Tarragona, 29 January 2018 (in Spanish) but was himself dismissed on 13 May.Nano Rivas deixa de ser l'entrenador del Nàstic (Nano Rivas is no longer manager of Nàstic) ; Gimnàstic Tarragona, 13 May 2018 (in Catalan)

Nano was hired by K.S.V. Roeselare of the Belgian First Division B in November 2018, replacing his compatriot Jordi Condom. Only two months later he left to assist Quique Sánchez Flores at Shanghai Shenhua F.C. and was replaced by a third Spaniard, his former Betis teammate Juanito.

On 29 April 2024, after several years of inactivity, Nano was named manager of Primera Federación side San Fernando CD; he replaced the sacked Alfredo Santaelena.

Career statistics + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueCupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsGetafe (loan)2002–03Segunda División26200——262Getafe2003–04Segunda División34100——3412004–05La Liga37420——394Total71520——735Betis2005–06La Liga1300040101802006–07La Liga21030——2402007–08La Liga6210——722009–10Segunda División1000——10Total412404010512Valladolid (loan)2008–09La Liga12040——160Levante2010–11La Liga32210——3322011–12La Liga17220——192Total49430——524Guizhou Renhe2012Chinese Super League29050——3402013Chinese Super League2525160—363Total54210160—703Career total253152311001028716

Managerial statistics

+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNatFromToRecord Getafe B25 May 201620 May 2017Gimnàstic20 May 201722 June 2017Gimnàstic29 January 201813 May 2018Roeselare12 November 20188 January 2019San Fernando29 April 20244 June 2024Total —

Honours Guizhou Renhe Chinese FA Cup: 2013

References

External links