José Moratón Taeño

José Moratón Taeño (born 14 July 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central defender. He is currently assistant manager of Segunda División club Racing de Santander.

He represented mainly Racing de Santander in a 14-year senior career, appearing in 155 La Liga matches over nine seasons for the club and scoring three goals.

Playing career Racing Santander Moratón was born in Santander, Cantabria. Since first appearing for his hometown club Racing de Santander on 13 December 1998, in a 0–0 La Liga home draw against Tenerife, he all but stayed connected to it during his career. During 2001–02's Segunda División, at the Campos de Sport de El Sardinero, he scored a decisive goal against Atlético Madrid as his team returned to the top flight after just one year out.

Already established as one of the squad's captains, Moratón suffered a severe injury which made him miss most of 2006–07. He played 18 games the following season, as the side achieved a first-ever qualification for the UEFA Europa League.

In the following two top-division campaigns, Moratón was used exclusively as a backup, but still totalled 23 matches as Racing managed to retain their league status. He also helped them to reach the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, notably netting in a 3–2 win at Alcorcón (whom had previously ousted Real Madrid), also the final aggregate score – precisely in the last-four stage, he scored in his own net against Atlético Madrid in an insufficient 3–2 home victory and 6–3 overall loss.

Moratón was released by the club in June 2010, ending a relationship spanning nearly two decades.

Salamanca Moratón played in 2010–11 with Salamanca in the second tier, starting all the matches he appeared in and scoring a career-best five goals. In early June 2011, however, following his team's relegation, the 32-year-old chose to retire from professional football.

Coaching career Moratón began his managerial career with Racing Santander, firstly being in charge of their youth team and later of the senior reserve one. From 2018 to 2021, he served as head coach at Bezana and Escobedo, both clubs from his region of birth and competing in the Tercera División.

On 24 May 2022, Moratón was appointed assistant manager at fellow Cantabrians Laredo. He returned to Racing subsequently, initially working as youth system coordinator alongside his former teammate Gonzalo Colsa and being promoted to assistant coach in the first team under José Alberto in summer 2025.

Managerial statistics