Benjamín Zarandona Esono (born 2 March 1976), known simply as Benjamín, is a 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 le ...

who played as a

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 ...

. Born in Spain, he represented Equatorial Guinea at international level. He spent most of his professional career in Spain, notably with Betis where he remained nine years, 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 footbal ...

and appearing in 194 official games. Over 12 seasons, he amassed

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 ...

totals of 244 matches and 18 goals, also representing in the competition

Valladolid Valladolid () is a Municipalities of Spain, municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province o ...

and

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, ...

. Benjamín was a member of the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Valladolid

Born in

Castile and León Castile and León ( es, Castilla y León ; ast-leo, Castiella y Llión ; gl, Castela e León ) is an autonomous community in northwestern Spain. It was created in 1983, eight years after the end of the Francoist regime, by the merging of the ...

, Benjamín began his career with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

, playing initially for the reserves in

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 ...

. His first-team debut took place on 2 April 1995 in a 0–3 away loss against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

, and he made a further nine

appearances during that season. The highlight of Benjamín's career at Valladolid was helping the club qualify for the

1997–98 UEFA Cup The 1997–98 UEFA Cup was won by Internazionale in an all-Italian final against Lazio. It was their third title in eight years in the competition. It was the first instance of the UEFA Cup final being a one-game contest at a neutral stadium, ha ...

as seventh in the league, scoring home braces against

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

(2–1) and

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

(4–1).

Betis

In 1998, Benjamín joined

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 ...

, playing in 28 games in his first year and making four appearances in the team's UEFA Cup run, netting twice. Additionally, he spent the 2000–01 campaign helping 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 achieve promotion from

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 ...

, alongside neighbours

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 Euro ...

. After appearing in 26 league matches in 2004–05, as Betis

achieved Achieved (13 May 1979 – 1993) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He won four of his nine races in a track career which lasted from July 1981 to September 1982. As a two-year-old he was undefeated in three starts including the P ...

qualification honours to 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 competit ...

and lifted the

, Benjamín went on loan to

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., known simply as Cádiz, is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in the La Liga, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20 ...

for the 2005–06 season, and his role at the former would gradually lose importance onwards: he was unregistered for over a year, and a mutual termination of his contract was agreed in the summer of 2007.

Later years

Benjamín joined second-level side

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

for 2007–08, but lasted only a few months, being released. In September 2008, he signed with

CF Palencia Club de Fútbol Palencia was a Spanish football team based in Palencia, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1975 and dissolved in 2012, it held home games at ''Estadio La Nueva Balastera'', with an 8,100-seat capacity. H ...

from

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

, continuing to compete in amateur football until his retirement in June 2013.

International career

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, Benjamín helped the Spanish under-21s win the

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

. However, in 2004, he switched allegiances and, as his younger brother Iván who also played for Valladolid, opted to represent

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea ( es, Guinea Ecuatorial; french: Guinée équatoriale; pt, Guiné Equatorial), officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea ( es, link=no, República de Guinea Ecuatorial, french: link=no, République de Guinée équatoria ...

Personal life

Benjamín's father was

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

, and his mother was from

. Despite his Basque parentage, he was never approached by

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

nor did he play for

Euskadi The Basque Country (; eu, Euskadi ; es, País Vasco ), also called Basque Autonomous Community ( eu, Euskal Autonomia Erkidegoa, links=no, EAE; es, Comunidad Autónoma del País Vasco, links=no, CAPV), is an autonomous community of Spain. It ...

Honours

Betis *

: 2004–05 Spain U21 *

1998: Iván Pérez applies finishing touch
at UEFA

References

External links

*
Betisweb stats and bio

Stats and bio at Cadistas1910
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zarandona, Benjamin 1976 births Living people Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Spanish people of Basque descent Citizens of Equatorial Guinea through descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Equatoguinean people of Basque descent Footballers from Valladolid Spanish footballers Equatoguinean footballers Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Valladolid Promesas players Real Valladolid players Real Betis players Cádiz CF players Xerez CD footballers CF Palencia footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Equatorial Guinea international footballers