Andrés Tomás Prieto Albert (born 17 October 1993) 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

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 Ponferradina. Prieto made occasional appearances 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 ...

for

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

and 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 ...

for

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

, and played regularly at

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 ...

level over three seasons with Espanyol B, before spending a season in English football as backup goalkeeper at

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 ...

club

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Football career

Early career

Born in

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

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 ...

, Prieto joined

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

's youth setup in 2008, aged 15. He was named to the C team's pre-season program in the 2012 summer, but was later demoted back to the youth squad. Despite appearing mainly with the ''Juvenil A'' squad, Prieto made his professional debut on 13 April 2013, replacing the injured

Tomás Mejías Tomás Mejías Osorio (born 30 January 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for AD Ceuta FC. Club career Real Madrid Mejías was born in Madrid. In 2001, aged 12, he joined local Real Madrid's youth academy from ...

in a 3–1 away success against Recreativo de Huelva in the

championship. In May 2013, he was promoted to the C team playing in the

, but acted mainly as a backup to

Alfonso Herrero Alfonso Herrero Peinador (born 21 April 1994) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Málaga CF. Club career Born in Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Herrero joined Real Madrid's youth setup in 2003, aged nine. He made his senior debu ...

during the campaign. On 7 August 2014, Prieto moved to another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, RCD Espanyol B, also playing in the third tier. He was a regular starter during his three-year spell at the club.

Málaga

On 4 July 2017, Prieto signed a two-year deal with

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, ...

. He made his

debut on 21 October 2017, starting in a 0–2 away 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 ...

. Prieto acted mainly as backup to

Roberto The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

during his first season, which ended in relegation. On 29 January 2019, after being demoted to third choice behind new signings

Munir {{redirect, Monir, the village in Iran, Monir, Iran Muneer (also spelled Moneer, Monir, Mounir, or Muneyr, ar, منير, meaning ''illuminating'', ''lightsome'', ''bright'', ''luminous'') is a masculine Arabic given name, it may refer to: Given na ...

and

Paweł Kieszek Paweł Kieszek (; born 16 April 1984) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for União Leiria. After starting out at Polonia Warsaw he went on to spend most of his professional career in Portugal, signing in 2007 with Bra ...

, he 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.

Leganés

Prieto agreed a short-term deal with

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 ...

on 29 January 2019, hours after rescinding with Málaga. However, he failed to appear for the Pepineros, being called up for just two matches and acting as a third option behind Iván Cuéllar and

Andriy Lunin Andriy Oleksiyovych Lunin ( ua, Андрій Олексійович Лунін; born 11 February 1999) is a Ukrainian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Ukraine national team. Club career Lun ...

Return to Espanyol

On 19 July 2019, Prieto agreed to a two-year deal back at Espanyol, and was assigned to the main squad in the top tier. Initially a backup to Diego López, he dropped to third choice after the arrival of Oier Olazábal, and terminated his contract with the club on 28 August 2020.

Birmingham City

The same day, Prieto signed for English Championship club

on a three-year contract with the option of a fourth. He made his debut in the opening fixture of the season, a 1–0 defeat at home to fourth-tier Cambridge United in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

; the goal came when Prieto was outjumped at a set-piece. He was a regular on the bench behind first-choice

Neil Etheridge Neil Leonard Dula Etheridge (born 7 February 1990) is a Filipino-English professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Birmingham City. Born in England, he captains the Philippines national team. He joined the Fulham Academy af ...

for most of the season, but his only other first-team appearance was in the 3–0

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

defeat away to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. His contract was terminated by mutual consent on 15 July 2021.

Dinamo Tbilisi

Prieto signed a two-year contract with

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating FC Carl Zeiss Jena of East Germany 2–1 i ...

, reigning champions of the Georgian

Erovnuli Liga The Erovnuli Liga ( ka, ეროვნული ლიგა - lit. National League) is the top division of professional football in Georgia. Since 1990, it has been organized by the Professional Football League of Georgia and Georgian Football F ...

, on 13 August 2021.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Prieto, Andres 1993 births Living people Footballers from Alicante Spanish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid C footballers RCD Espanyol B footballers Málaga CF players CD Leganés players RCD Espanyol footballers Birmingham City F.C. players FC Dinamo Tbilisi players AD Alcorcón footballers Segunda División B players La Liga players Segunda División players Erovnuli Liga players Primera Federación players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Georgia (country) Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Georgia (country)