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FRANCISCO JÉMEZ MARTÍN 'PACO'
Date of Birth: 18 April, 1970
Nationality: Spain (international from 1998 until 2001)
Period at Deportivo: 1993 - 1998
Transfer: (1993, Rayo Vallecano)
Clubs: Rayo Vallecano (2004), Real Zaragoza (1998-2004), Deportivo (1993-1998), Rayo Vallecano (1992-1993), Murcia, Córdoba
Sold: Free Transfer (1998, to Real Zaragoza)
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 79 kg
Position: Defender (central)
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 Rayo Vallecano coach José Antonio Camacho knew he had a quality defender in his squad when the season 1992/1993 started for his club. ‘PACO’ had arrived at the Madrilean club after having played for Murcia and Córdoba in Southern-Spain. And he would not leave the Primera División until twelve years later.
Paco, characterized as a strong man-marking defender with fantastic pace, was twenty-two when he signed at Rayo Vallecano and would play all thirty-eighth matches during this campaign. In fact, he didn’t miss a minute of it and impressed Deportivo coach Arsenio Iglesias also, leading to a transfer during the summer of 1993 to the Galician club. The intention of Deportivo was to sign him now, but to incorporate him in 1994. But the player insisted on joining Deportivo that summer and in a rush left the trainings camp his club were experiencing in Switzerland. Deportivo had to handle though, as Real Madrid were after him too.
His first two seasons at Deportivo would be disappointing though because he encountered an already established Deportivo defence with players like Voro, Ribera, Djukic and Donato. Paco wasn’t really part of the team losing the Liga title in 1994 on the final day of the season, because he only played four Liga matches. One season later the score wasn’t much better as he only reached six, when Deportivo again finished second but won the Copa del Rey this time.
The arrival of Toshack at Deportivo changed all this because the Welsh coach placed his confidence in the then 25-year old defender. Paco missed just two of the first sixteen Liga match, one through suspension, and scored his first goal on 17 March, 1996 against Sevilla. But overall it proved to be a bad season for the club as they only finished ninth in the Liga, after having started it as favourites.
When things started to roll again, during the season 1996/1997 when Deportivo finished third, Paco saw his appearances being almost cut in half. He played in nineteen Liga matches out of forty-two during that campaign, and encountered tough competition from Djukic, Donato, Hélder and Naybet. During the 1997/1998 campaign things were turned around again as Deportivo only finished twelfth in the competition although Paco played twenty-nine Liga matches. Much of this had to do with the departure of Miroslav Djukic one year earlier.
 But the Canarian player, born at Las Palmas, had reached the end of his contract in 1998 and was free to go. Deportivo already had signed Ramis the year before and added Schürrer to the squad, while Paco went on a free transfer to Real Zaragoza. One can say that he finally got the recognition he deserved at the club from Aragón.
Paco started his new adventure at the age of twenty-eighth and would play six seasons at the club from Aragón. He never lost his place in the team during his first four seasons and reached playing 136 Liga matches for them in this period. The thing was that, once again, Paco was more or less at the wrong time at the wrong place. Zaragoza narrowly escaped relegation in 2001, but one year later had to pay the price.
In the meantime Paco got the best recognition he could have imagined by playing for Spain on 23 September, 1998, several weeks after he had left Deportivo. It was no coincidence that he was picked by Camacho, his coach during his season at Rayo Vallecano. Paco not only flourished at Zaragoza, because he would play nineteen international matches with Spain until April, 2001 and was included in the Spanish squad playing the Euro 2000 tournament.
Paco experienced the ‘hell’ of the Segunda División with Zaragoza during the season 2002/2003, but they quickly restored their status. The then 33-year old defender would soon play his final match for Zaragoza though, as he only reached one other Liga match during the 2003/2004 season before accepting a move to Rayo Vallecano. The circle was closed again and Paco will finalize his active career in June 2005.
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