Armando Ribeiro de Aguiar Malda (born 16 January 1971), known simply as Armando, is a Spanish retired

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 ...

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 ...

. He spent most of his 20-year senior career with

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

(nine seasons overall, appearing in all three major levels of Spanish football), finishing it with Athletic Bilbao where he played three of his four

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' ...

campaigns, for a total of 44 matches.

Football career

Armando was born in

Sopelana Sopela, formerly known as Sopelana, is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. The town is roughly 820 hectares in size, located in the comarca Mungialdea on the ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

. After representing several clubs in the lower leagues, with an unassuming three-year

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

spell at

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded on 1 July 1920 as Sport Friends Club, it ...

, he spent nine years of his career at Cádiz CF, being the second level's Zamora in 2004–05 and first-choice throughout most of the following season's

, as the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

ns were immediately relegated back. In January 2008, Cádiz loaned Armando to Athletic Bilbao, which had lost first-choice

Gorka Iraizoz Gorka Iraizoz Moreno (born 6 March 1981) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent most of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 392 official games. In La Liga he also represented Espanyol and Gir ...

for six months due to a knee injury. In an away match against

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 ...

on 15 March, he was hit by a bottle thrown by an opposing fan, with his team leading 2–1 and 20 minutes left; he needed six stitches to a wound just inches below the eye, and Athletic were later awarded the win by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. At the end of the campaign, the loan move was made permanent by the Basques and, with Iraizoz recovered, Armando beat competition from

Iñaki Lafuente Iñaki Lafuente Sancha (born 24 January 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 146 La Liga games over ten seasons, mainly with Athletic Bilbao. He also represented Espanyol and Sporting de ...

and served as backup. His only two appearances in 2008–09 were on 28 February 2009 in a 2–1 home loss to

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 E ...

, as manager

Joaquín Caparrós Joaquín de Jesús Caparrós Camino (born 15 October 1955) is a Spanish football manager. After winning the Segunda División with Sevilla in 2001, Caparrós was a regular on the La Liga sidelines for the best part of two decades. He coached ...

rested the entire starting squad for the

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

semi-final second leg, coincidentally also against Sevilla, and against

also at San Mamés in a 1–0 success, for the same reason (the upcoming

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

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. Found ...

). Armando retired at the end of 2009–10, having appeared in three matches (two in the cup and the last round of the league). His final appearance – on 15 May 2010 against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

– set a record as the club's oldest player in the league, aged 39 years, 119 days. He was immediately appointed to Athletic's coaching staff for the following season.

Personal life

In October 2016, Armando was acting as goalkeeping coach for CD Basconia (Athletic Bilbao's youth

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

) in a match against

CD Vitoria Club Deportivo Vitoria is a football team based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1945, its senior side is currently the farm team of SD Eibar and plays in Tercera Federación – Group 4, with its gr ...

in which one of the opposition goalscorers was his son Alain. The young

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

repeated the feat in the return fixture, in March 2017. His younger son, Iban, also spent time in Athletic's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

at ''

Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizkai ...

'' and also played for Danok Bat CF.

References

External links

*
Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Armando Ribeiro 1971 births Living people People from Mungialdea Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CD Logroñés footballers Sporting de Gijón B players Deportivo Alavés players Barakaldo CF footballers Cádiz CF players Athletic Bilbao footballers Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff Basque Country men's international footballers Bermeo FT footballers Sportspeople from Biscay