Antonio Amaya Carazo (; born 31 May 1983) is a Spanish former

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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He spent most of his professional career with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

, making 254 appearances across three spells in all of the top three divisions.

Club career

Early years and Rayo

Born in the capital of

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Amaya began his career at local San Cristóbal de los Ángeles. He joined another team in the community,

, in 2002, also serving a six-month

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

spell at lowly

UD San Sebastián de los Reyes Unión Deportiva San Sebastián de los Reyes, also known as Sanse is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in San Sebastián de los Reyes, in the autonomous community of Community of Madrid, Madrid. Founded in 1971 it pla ...

in the

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 ...

. Eventually, Amaya returned to Rayo, becoming an important defensive unit for a side that returned 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 ...

at the end of the 2007–08 season and comfortably retained their league status the following campaign, with the player appearing in less than half of the games (18 out of 42).

Wigan Athletic

Amaya signed for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on a three-year contract on 14 August 2009, being joined by Rayo teammate

Mohamed Diamé Mohamed Diamé (born 14 June 1987), also known as Momo Diamé, is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Though born in France, Diamé represented Senegal at international level and made 31 appearances before retiring from nationa ...

a week later. He made his debut in a 4–1 defeat at

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

in that campaign's

Football League 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 ...

on the 26th, scoring his team's goal with a header in

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

. After failing to make a single league appearance in 2009–10, Amaya returned to former club Rayo in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan. He was regularly used, as they returned to

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 ...

after an eight-year absence.

Betis

On 18 July 2011, Wigan announced the departure of Amaya, who signed a three-year contract with

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. He scored his first goal for the team on 1 December 2013, in a 2–2 home draw against former side Rayo.

Return to Rayo

In early June 2014, following Betis' top-flight relegation, Amaya once again returned to Rayo Vallecano. He finished the first season in his second spell with 19 games and one goal, helping them to easily avoid relegation. On 20 December 2015, Amaya was on target at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

, but his team had to play with nine players for more than 60 minutes and were eventually crushed 10–2 by hosts

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 ...

. The veteran contributed 17 matches and one goal in the 2017–18 campaign, helping to promotion to the top tier as champions.

UCAM Murcia

On 31 July 2018, Amaya signed with third division club

UCAM Murcia CF Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Fútbol, commonly known as UCAM Murcia or simply UCAM, is a Spanish football club based in Murcia. Founded in 1999 it plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio de La Condomina'', with ...

Personal life

Amaya's older brother, Iván, was also a footballer and a central defender. Both represented local Rayo. Their family were

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

Honours

Rayo Vallecano *

: 2017–18 *

: 2007–08

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amaya, Antonio 1983 births Living people Spanish Romani people Footballers from Madrid Romani footballers Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Vallecano B players Rayo Vallecano players UD San Sebastián de los Reyes players Real Betis players UCAM Murcia CF players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England