Aitor Embela Gil (born 17 April 1996) is a 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 ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Tercera División RFEF club

UD Somozas Unión Deportiva Somozas is a football team based in As Somozas in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1984, the team plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 1. The club's home ground is '' Pardiñas'', which has a capacity of 1,50 ...

. Born in Spain, he represents the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Born in

Figueres Figueres (, ; , es, Figueras, ) is the capital of the ''comarca'' of Alt Empordà, in the province of Girona, Catalonia, Spain. The town is the birthplace of artist Salvador Dalí, and houses the Teatre-Museu Gala Salvador Dalí, a large museu ...

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 ...

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 ...

and raised in Altura and

Segorbe Segorbe is a municipality in the mountainous coastal province of Castelló, autonomous community of Valencia, Spain. The former Palace of the Dukes of Medinaceli now houses the city's mayor. Segorbe's bull-running week (''semana de Toros'') in Se ...

Province of Castellón Castellón (officially in ca-valencia, Castelló) is a province in the northern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Valencia to the south, Teruel to the west, Tarragona to the north, and by the Mediterranean Sea ...

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

, Embela joined

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

's youth setup in 2004, aged eight, after starting it out at locals CD Altura. In the 2012 summer he joined

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

, being assigned to the ''Juvenil'' squad. On 14 July 2015 Embela signed a two-year deal with

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before foldi ...

, in

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 ...

. He terminated his contract with Reus on 29 August of the following year, and two days later he signed a one-year deal with

Real Valladolid B Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol Promesas is the reserve team of Real Valladolid, a Spanish football club based in Valladolid, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1942, currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 1, ...

International career

On 3 January 2015 Embela was included in Esteban Becker's

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

23-men list for the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

. Four days later he made his international debut, starting in a 1–1 non-FIFA friendly draw against

Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...

. Embela served as a backup to Felipe Ovono during the tournament, as his side finished fourth. He made his full international debut on 26 March, starting in a 0–2 friendly loss against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Personal life

Embela's father, José Manuel, was also a footballer. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he appeared mainly in

before becoming a coach. His paternal grandfather, Gustavo Chomé Mbela Bueneque, was born in Dibolo,

Wele-Nzas Wele-Nzas Province is a province in the eastern portion of continental Equatorial Guinea. Its capital is Mongomo. It borders the Equatoguinean provinces of Centro Sur to the west and Kié-Ntem to the north, with Gabon's Woleu-Ntem Province to th ...

, making him eligible to both Equatorial Guinea and Spain.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* * * * * 1996 births Living people People from Figueres Sportspeople from the Province of Girona Citizens of Equatorial Guinea through descent Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Equatoguinean people of Catalan descent Spanish footballers Footballers from the Valencian Community Equatoguinean footballers Association football goalkeepers CF Reus Deportiu players Real Valladolid Promesas players Tercera División players Segunda División B players Equatorial Guinea international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players CE Sabadell FC B players FC Jumilla players UD Logroñés B players Lorca FC players {{EquatorialGuinea-footy-bio-stub