Alfonso Pedraza Sag (; born 9 April 1996) is a Spanish 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 left-back or left winger for La Liga club Villarreal and the Spain national team. Formed at Villarreal, he went on to play as a senior for that club as well as

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

, Leeds United, Alavés and Betis. He won the

2020–21 Europa League The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

with Villarreal. Pedraza won the 2019 European Under-21 Championship with Spain. He made his full debut in 2023.

Club career

Born in

San Sebastián de los Ballesteros San Sebastián de los Ballesteros is a city located in the province of Córdoba, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE INE, Ine or ine may refer to: Institutions * Institut für Nukleare Entsorgung, a German nuclear research center * Instit ...

, Córdoba, Andalusia, Pedraza joined Villarreal CF's youth setup in 2011 at the age of 15, after starting out at Séneca CF. In January 2015, he was promoted to the former's C team in the Tercera División. Pedraza made his

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 ...

debut on 11 January 2015, appearing as a second-half substitute for the reserves in a 2–2 away draw against

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 ...

. He scored his first goal on 1 March, the game's only in a home victory over

CD Atlético Baleares Club Deportivo Atlético Baleares, S.A.D. ( ca, Club Esportiu Atlètic Balears) is a Spanish football team based in Palma, Majorca, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded on 1920, it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

. On 5 April 2015, after being already a regular with the B's and being called up to the main squad by manager

Marcelino García Toral Marcelino García Toral (; born 14 August 1965), known simply as Marcelino in his playing days, is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as an attacking midfielder. During a ten-year senior career, he amassed La Liga totals o ...

, Pedraza made his professional – and La Liga – debut, replacing Jonathan dos Santos in the 72nd minute of a 0–0 draw at Valencia CF. On 28 July 2016, he was loaned to

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 ...

side

CD Lugo Club Deportivo Lugo is a Spanish football team based in Lugo, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded on 8 July 1953, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Anxo Carro''. History The new board of directors was o ...

for one year, scoring his first professional goal on 21 August by netting the first in a 2–2 away draw with Gimnàstic de Tarragona. He ended the season with six successful strikes and eight assists, helping to a final ninth position. On 31 January 2017, Pedraza joined Leeds United on loan until the end of the campaign, with Villarreal paying Lugo £300,000 in order to cancel his contract with them – the deal with the English side included an option to buy for £8.5 million in May, provided they won promotion from the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

. After featuring from the bench in his debut, a 2–1 loss at Huddersfield Town, he scored his first goal on 3 March in a 3–1 away win over Birmingham City; as the team could only rank seventh, he returned to the

Estadio de la Cerámica Estadio de la Cerámica, formerly and informally called El Madrigal (), is a football stadium in Villarreal, Spain, used since 1923. It is currently the home venue of Villarreal CF of La Liga, the highest football league in Spain. The stadium has ...

. On 5 July 2017, still owned by Villarreal, Pedraza signed with Deportivo Alavés for one year with a

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 ...

. He scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 21 January 2018, putting the hosts ahead 2–0 in an eventual 2–2 home draw against

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

. Upon returning from loan, Pedraza was regularly deployed as a left-back by manager

Javier Calleja Javier Calleja Revilla (born 12 May 1978) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mainly as a left midfielder, currently manager of Levante UD. He amassed La Liga totals of 192 matches and nine goals over one decade, mainly with Villarreal ( ...

, and was definitely included in Villarreal's first team. On 4 November 2018, he scored his first goal for the club to earn a 1–1 home draw against

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

in local derby. The following 14 February, he scored the only goal after three minutes in a win at Sporting CP in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League. On 16 July 2019, Pedraza moved to Real Betis on a one-year loan, with an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season. From December to March, he suffered from muscular and Achilles tendon injuries. His only goal for the Seville-based side came on 8 July 2020 in a 3–0 home win over CA Osasuna that ensured another season in the top flight; on 24 September he extended his contract until 2025, after having his role in the team guaranteed by new manager Unai Emery.

International career

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, Pedraza was part of the Spain under-19 squad that won the UEFA European Championship. He earned his first cap for the under-21s on 24 March 2016 of the following year, coming on for Dani Ceballos early in the second half of an eventual 0–3 home loss against Croatia in the 2017 European Championship qualifiers. In the 2019 edition of the latter tournament, he appeared in the 2–1 group-stage win over Belgium for the eventual champions. Pedraza made his

full Full may refer to: * People with the surname Full, including: ** Mr. Full (given name unknown), acting Governor of German Cameroon, 1913 to 1914 * A property in the mathematical field of topology; see Full set * A property of functors in the mathe ...

debut on 15 October 2023, playing ten minutes as a left winger in the 1–0 victory in Norway for the UEFA Euro 2024

qualifying phase Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional expe ...

after replacing

Ferran Torres Ferran Torres García (born 29 February 2000) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Barcelona and the Spain national team. Torres began his career at Valencia, where he made his senior debut in 2017. H ...

Style of play

Pedraza played mainly as a left winger, but could also operate on the opposite flank cutting inside or as 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 ...

. His style of play was compared to

Gareth Bale Gareth Frank Bale (born 16 July 1989) is a Welsh professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC and the Wales national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wingers of his generation ...

due to his speed running with the ball, as well as his strength and ability to take on defenders. Spanish football expert

Guillem Balagué Guillem Balagué (born 2 November 1968) is a Spanish football journalist, author, and pundit. He was a regular pundit on Sky Sports' show ''Revista de la Liga'' and has also written for some of Britain's newspapers as well as several Spanish new ...

described Pedraza upon signing for Leeds: "It’s one of the most exciting transfers of the winter... He’s a 20-year-old, he mirrors himself on

Denis Cheryshev Denis Dmitriyevich Cheryshev (russian: link=no, Денис Дмитриевич Черышев, p=dʲɪˈnʲis ˈdmʲitrʲɪjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈtɕerɨʂɨf; born 26 December 1990) is a Russian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for c ...

– a winger who goes forward and works really hard. And he’s a goalscorer".

Career statistics

Honours

Villarreal * UEFA Europa League:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Spain U19 * UEFA European Under-19 Championship:

Spain U21 * UEFA European Under-21 Championship:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season:

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pedraza, Alfonso 1996 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Córdoba (Spain) Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Villarreal CF C players Villarreal CF B players Villarreal CF players CD Lugo players Deportivo Alavés players Real Betis players English Football League players Leeds United F.C. players UEFA Europa League winning players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England