Arturo García Muñoz (born 17 March 1981), known as Arzu, 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 ...

who played as a

defensive 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 boundari ...

or a centre-back. He spent most of his professional career with Betis, appearing in 200

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' ...

games over the course of seven seasons (12 years with the club overall, 317 official matches) and winning one

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 ...

Club career

Betis

A product of

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 ...

n club

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 ...

's youth system, Arzu was born in

Dos Hermanas Dos Hermanas () is a Spanish city south of Seville in Andalusia, with a population of 131,317 as of 2015. History The city's name, which means "two sisters", dates from its founding in 1248 by King Ferdinand III of Castile and honours Elvir ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, and he played for its B-team during the 1999–2000 season, scoring twice in 19 league games. In the following campaign, he made his debuts with the main squad who was playing in the

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 ...

– 16 matches, two goals – helping achieve promotion but subsequently staying in the category, being loaned to neighbours Córdoba CF. In his first season in

, Arzu netted four times from 35 appearances, including one in the opener away to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...

on 1 September 2002 (4–2 win). He added a further 60 league games in the following two years combined, as in 2004–05 Betis finished fourth. During the 2005–06 campaign, Arzu appeared in eight European matches: four in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

(scoring against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

in a 2–1 group stage home loss) and in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. On 13 May 2006, he netted a crucial equalizer in a 1–1 draw at Atlético Madrid on the last matchday, with the ''Verdiblancos'' barely avoiding relegation. Still a defensive cornerstone in 2008–09, Arzu featured in 34 contests – mostly as a

centre back 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 ...

– but Betis was relegated for the first time in nine years. In August 2011, after only taking part in 17 games as the side returned to the top level, he was released from his contract.

Later years

In the penultimate day of the 2011 summer

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer wi ...

, Arzu signed with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2. ...

in the second level. On 7 May of the following year, he terminated his contract with the

Catalans Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citize ...

(who suffered relegation) by mutual consent. In August 2012, aged 31, Arzu moved abroad for the first time, joining

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augu ...

club BEC Tero Sasana FC.Arzu, presentado con el tailandés (Arzu, presented with Berc-Tero from Thailand)
Manquepierda, August 2012 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arzu 1981 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Dos Hermanas Association football defenders Association football midfielders Association football utility players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Córdoba CF players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Thai League 1 players Police Tero F.C. players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Thailand Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Spanish Romani people