Alberto de la Bella Madueño (born 2 December 1985) 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 ...

who played as a left-back. He spent the majority of his professional career with

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

, playing 218 competitive games for the club.

Club career

Born in Santa Coloma de Gramenet,

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 ...

, de la Bella started his career at local

UDA Gramenet Unión Deportiva Atlético Gramenet Milán is a Spanish football team based in Santa Coloma de Gramenet, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1945 it currently plays in ''Segona Catalana – Group 4'', holding home games at '' Muni ...

. Other than with this club, he only represented B teams in various parts of the country in four seasons, on loan and after being released (in 2008–09, he played with

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

's reserves in the

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 ...

, being relegated). In the summer of 2009, de la Bella signed with

in the same level, as a replacement for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

-bound Xabi Castillo. He was also first choice during the league campaign, but achieved

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 ...

promotion this time, as champions. De la Bella made his debut in the Spanish top flight on 29 August 2010, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home win against

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 ...

. In early May 2014, he renewed his contract with the ''Txuriurdin'' until 2018. De la Bella played second-fiddle to Yuri Berchiche in 2015–16, appearing in only 16 competitive games. On 5 July 2016, he was loaned to

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σ.Φ.Π. ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional football club based in Piraeus, Attica. Part of the major multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP ('' ...

for two years. The following 23 April, he scored his only two goals of the season to help his team defeat

PAS Giannina F.C. PAS Giannina Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ ΠΑΣ Γιάννινα 1966), or with its full name Panepirotikos Athlitikos Syllogos Giannina ( el, Πανηπειρωτικός Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Γιάννινα, ''Panepirotic Athleti ...

5–0 and clinch their seventh consecutive

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

title. On 27 July 2017, after being told he was not part of new manager Besnik Hasi's plans, de la Bella decided to return to Real Sociedad. On 27 August 2018, after nine years at the

Anoeta :'' Anoeta is also a neighborhood in San Sebastián/Donostia, Spain, home to a namesake football stadium and cycle track.'' Anoeta is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the north of ...

, he joined second-tier club

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

on a two-year deal with an option for a third. On 10 September 2020, de la Bella was loaned to fellow second-division side FC Cartagena for the season. Having played over 20 games and avoided relegation, he was rewarded with a permanent contract for the following year. De la Bella announced his retirement from professional football on 17 May 2022, at the age of 36.

International career

Uncapped by Spain at any level, de la Bella was first called up to the unofficial Catalonia team in December 2010, for the

Catalonia International Trophy The Catalonia International Trophy ( ca, Trofeu Catalunya Internacional, es, Trofeo Catalunya Internacional) is an association football friendly tournament organised in Spain by the Catalan Football Federation and which the Catalonia national te ...

against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. He started in the 4–0 win at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys on 28 December.

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2009–10 Olympiacos *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bella, Alberto De La 1985 births Living people People from Santa Coloma de Gramenet Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players UDA Gramenet footballers RCD Espanyol B footballers Villarreal CF B players Sevilla Atlético players Real Sociedad footballers UD Las Palmas players FC Cartagena footballers Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece