Alberto García Cabrera (born 9 February 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

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 ...

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, García made his senior debut with

CF Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish football team based in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at ''Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with ...

in 2004. He went on to represent UE Sant Andreu,

Villarreal CF B Villarreal Club de Fútbol "B" is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1999, it is the reserve team of Villarreal CF and plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Ciudad Deporti ...

Águilas CF Águilas Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team in Águilas, in the autonomous community of Murcia. Founded in 1925 and dissolved in 2010, it played its last season ( 2009–10) in Segunda División B – Group 2, holding home games a ...

and

UE Figueres Unió Esportiva Figueres is a Spanish football team based in Figueres, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1919 and refounded in 2007 it plays in the Primera Catalana league, holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal de Vilateni ...

(the last two 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 ...

), before joining Real Murcia in the summer of 2007. Initially assigned to the reserves in

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 ...

, García made his first-team – and

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 ...

– debut on 17 May 2008, starting in a 5–3 home loss against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

as his team was already relegated. It was his only appearance of the season. García was promoted to the main squad in June 2008, but was mainly used as a backup to Juan Elía. On 1 September 2009, he moved to fellow

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 ...

club

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 ...

, being more regularly used. On 18 June 2013, García terminated his contract with the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns and signed for four years with

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

hours later. On 15 July 2016, he moved to second-tier

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

, agreeing to a two-year deal as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. On 13 July 2017, after losing his first-choice status to

Vicente Guaita Vicente Guaita Panadero (; born 10 January 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Crystal Palace. He appeared in 176 La Liga matches over eight seasons with Valencia and Getafe, as well as a season on loa ...

, García was loaned to Rayo Vallecano for one year, with an obligatory

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in a contract that imposes an obligation on another organisation wishing to acquire the services of the employee under contract to pay the (usually substantial) fee of the clause to the organisati ...

in case of promotion. The following 1 July, he signed a permanent three-year contract with the club. García announced his retirement at the age of 36, after nearly two years struggling with injuries.

Honours

Rayo Vallecano *

: 2017–18

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Alberto 1985 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barcelona Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players UE Cornellà players CF Rayo Majadahonda players UE Sant Andreu footballers Villarreal CF B players Águilas CF players UE Figueres footballers Real Murcia Imperial players Real Murcia CF players Córdoba CF players Sporting de Gijón players Getafe CF footballers Rayo Vallecano players