Francisco Aday Benítez Caraballo (born 16 December 1987), known as Aday, is a Spanish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. Mainly a winger, he could also play as a full-back. He achieved

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

figures of 157 games and five goals over six seasons, with

Girona Girona (officially and in Catalan language, Catalan , Spanish: ''Gerona'' ) is a city in northern Catalonia, Spain, at the confluence of the Ter River, Ter, Onyar, Galligants, and Güell rivers. The city had an official population of 103,369 in ...

(five years) and

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

(one). He appeared in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

with the first of those clubs.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Sentmenat Sentmenat is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Vallès Occidental in Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by i ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Aday finished his development at local

EC Granollers Esport Club Granollers is a football team based in Granollers in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1913, it plays in the Tercera División RFEF – Group 5. Its stadium is Municipal Carrer Girona with a capacity of 2,500. Season ...

, making his senior debut with neighbouring

CE Premià Club Esportiu Premià is a Spanish football team based in Premià de Mar, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1915, it plays in Segona Catalana, holding home matches at '' Estadio Municipal de Premià'', with a capacity of 1,500 ...

in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. He first arrived in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

in 2009 when he joined

UE Sant Andreu Unió Esportiva Sant Andreu () is a Spanish football team based in the city of Barcelona in the district of Sant Andreu, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 5, holding home mat ...

, contributing 25 games and two goals in his first season as the team failed to promote in the play-offs. Aday signed for

CE L'Hospitalet Centre d'Esports l'Hospitalet is a Spanish football team based in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1957 it currently plays in Tercera División RFEF - Group 5, holding home games at Estadi Municipal ...

in June 2011. In his

second year Second year (also known as S2 in Scotland) is the second year of schooling in secondary schools in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland, and is roughly equivalent to Year 9 in England and Wales and Year 10 (Third Form) in Northern Ireland. Mos ...

he scored a career-best seven goals, with the side also being eliminated in post-season play.

Tenerife

On 5 July 2013, Aday moved to

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

, recently promoted to

. On 1 September he made his debut as a professional, playing the last 22 minutes of a 2–0 away loss against

CD Mirandés Club Deportivo Mirandés is a Spanish football team based in Miranda de Ebro, Province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 3 May 1927, the club competes in the Segunda División, holding home matches at ''Esta ...

Girona

On 16 July 2014, Aday joined

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

in the same league after terminating his contract with the

Canarian Canary Islanders, or Canarians ( es, canarios), are a Romance people and ethnic group. They reside on the Canary Islands, an autonomous community of Spain near the coast of northwest Africa, and descend from a mixture of European settlers and abor ...

club. He scored his first goal in the second tier on 4 October, the second in a 3–0 home win over

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

after one minute on the pitch. Aday featured regularly for the ''Blanquivermells'' the following campaigns, making 35 appearances in 2016–17 as they achieved promotion to

for the first time ever. He made his debut in the competition on 19 August 2017, starting in the 2–2 home draw against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. Aday scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 23 October 2017, opening a 2–1 away defeat of

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

. The following 7 February, he extended his contract until 2021. In March 2023, already retired, Aday revealed that he was offered

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

50,000 to lose a match against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

six years earlier, as Girona had already secured top-division promotion.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aday Benitez 1987 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CE Premià players UE Sant Andreu footballers CE L'Hospitalet players CD Tenerife players Girona FC players People from Vallès Occidental