Àngel Rangel

Àngel Rangel Zaragoza (born 28 October 1982) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Swansea City in the Premier League, as a right back.

After playing lower league football in his country he went on to spend most of his professional career with Swansea City, winning promotion to the Premier League in 2011.

Club career
Born in Sant Carles de la Ràpita, Tarragona, Catalonia, Rangel represented CD Tortosa, CF Reus Deportiu, Girona FC, UE Sant Andreu and Terrassa FC in his homeland, never in higher than Segunda División B. In summer 2007 he signed for Swansea City in the English League One on a one-year performance-related deal, for an undisclosed fee – countryman Roberto Martínez was the team's manager.

In his first season with Swansea, Rangel played a massive role as the Welsh club returned to the second tier after a 24-year absence, as league champions. On 27 November 2007 he scored his first goal as a Swan, netting eight minutes from time in a 1–0 home win against Hartlepool United; only two weeks later, again at the Liberty Stadium, he scored in a 3–0 success against Southend United.

At the end of the season, Rangel was one of five Swansea players to make the PFA League One Team of the Year, alongside Ferrie Bodde, Garry Monk, Andy Robinson and the league's top scorer Jason Scotland. On 5 September 2008, Rangel signed a new contract until June 2010.

Rangel continued to feature prominently for Swansea in the following years and, in mid-February 2010, extended his contract until June 2011.; The 2010-11 season was a successful one for Rangel and Swansea as Swansea were promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history following a 4–2 victory over Reading in the Championship Play-off Final at Wembley Stadium.

Following Swansea's promotion to the Premier League, Rangel signed a new three-year contract with Swansea.

In November 2011, Rangel was voted best defender in the Premier League. He contributed with 25 appearances as Swansea retained its top flight status.

Rangel scored his first Premier League goal on 25 August 2012, in a 3–0 home win against West Ham United. On 8 March 2013 he signed a new contract with the Swans, keeping him at the club until 2016.

International career
Rangel was believed to qualify to represent Wales on residency grounds, but was ruled ineligible in July 2012 as he had not had five years of continuous education in the country.

Honours

 * Swansea City
 * Football League One: 2007–08
 * Football League Championship play-offs: 2010–11
 * Football League Cup: 2012–13

Personal life
On 18 January 2013, Rangel drove round Swansea with his wife Nikki to distribute food to the homeless. He told CNN: "We went for something to eat in a local sandwich chain and overheard the manager saying they had to throw out food as they were about to close for the night. My wife, Nikki, who is a very caring and charitable person, asked if we could have them for the homeless rather than see them thrown in the bin. They agreed and we drove around Swansea for over an hour, but couldn't find any homeless people as it was so cold out on the streets with all the snow. We decided to tweet a plea and we were guided to a local charity shelter who looked after the homeless." He was so pleased with the reaction to his gesture he confirmed that he would be helping out again.

On 5 April 2013, Rangel announced plans to hold charity auctions with his wife and teammates Chico, Ben Davies, Jonathan De Guzman, Pablo Hernández, Michu and Itay Shechter, to raise money for the Severn Hospice in Telford, Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Swansea and The Christian Lewis Trust Kids Cancer Charity – among the top prizes on offer at one of the auctions were Rangel’s personal box for the game against Manchester City, and a visit to a Formula One garage during qualifying of the German Grand Prix. He was inspired to do this by Nikki, who has had three family members diagnosed with cancer.