Borja Eduardo Criado Malagarriga (born 16 April 1982) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Criado was born in Barcelona, Catalonia. After signing in 2001 with Valencia CF from CE Europa in his native city, he spent the vast majority of his three-year spell with the former's reserves, appearing three times in La Liga for the first team precisely in the season where they failed to win the national championship during his stay; Rafael Benítez was in charge on his league debut on 1 December 2002, a 0–0 away draw against Deportivo Alavés (three minutes played). In 2004, Criado joined another reserve team and also 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 ...

, RCD Espanyol B, suffering relegation in his first season. Subsequently, he moved 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 ...

with Ciudad de Murcia, appearing rarely (15 matches out of 42, no goals) in a near promotion to the top flight. Criado was one of the players that remained with the club after it was relocated to

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

and renamed Granada 74 CF. In early January 2008, although initially acquitted by the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation ( es, Real Federación Española de Fútbol; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. It is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. It was founded on 14 October 1909 ...

's Competition Committee and Appeal Committee, he received a two-year ban for having tested positive for

Finasteride Finasteride, sold under the brand names Proscar and Propecia among others, is a medication used to treat hair loss and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) in men. It can also be used to treat excessive hair growth in women and as a part of horm ...

in the previous year, whilst a Ciudad Murcia player. Since 2001, the player had been fighting against

baldness Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarrin ...

with a product which contained the substance, interrupted the treatment for two years upon improving on his condition, then resumed it in 2005, the year when Finasteride was banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency due to the fact it could be used to mask other drugs, as

steroids A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...

. Upon appeal, Criado's sentence was reduced to nine months then three, but he eventually chose to retire after losing all motivation, aged just 26. Subsequently, he worked as a notary.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Criado, Borja 1982 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Barcelona Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CE Europa footballers Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Valencia CF players RCD Espanyol B footballers Ciudad de Murcia footballers Granada 74 CF footballers Kings League players Doping cases in association football Spanish sportspeople in doping cases