Diego Castro Giménez (; born 2 July 1982) is a Spanish 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 plays as a

left winger 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 ...

. 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 226 games and 43 goals over eight seasons, mainly representing

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

(four years) and

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

(three). In 2015 he transferred to

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

, going on to spend six years with them in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

Club career

Málaga and Sporting

Castro was born in

Pontevedra Pontevedra (, ) is a Spanish city in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula. It is the capital of both the ''Comarca'' (County) and Province of Pontevedra, and of the Rías Baixas in Galicia. It is also the capital of its own municipality whi ...

, Galicia. After starting out professionally with local

Pontevedra CF Pontevedra Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Pontevedra, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. Founded on 16 October 1941 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF, Primera ...

( third division) he moved to

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

, but spent almost three seasons mainly registered with 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' reserves; in December 2005, he appeared in two consecutive home losses for the main squad, against

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El Sa ...

(2–1) and

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 ...

(2–0). After both Málaga teams dropped down a level in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Castro moved to

in division two, being an essential first-team element from the start (20 league goals in his first three seasons combined – with the

Asturians Asturians ( ast, asturianos) are a Celtic-Romance ethnic group native to the autonomous community of Asturias, in the North-West of the Iberian Peninsula. Culture and society Heritage Asturians are directly descended from the Astures, who wer ...

achieving

promotion in his third – six of them in 2008–09, as the club narrowly avoided relegation). In the following campaign, Castro was arguably Sporting's most important player as he topped their scoring charts at ten, four of those coming through

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. Sporting again managed to stay in the top division. Castro again led Sporting de Gijón in goals scored in 2010–11, netting one goal less. On 13 March 2011, after

Nacho Novo Ignacio Javier Gómez Novo (; born 26 March 1979) is a Spanish former association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward. Novo is currently an assistant coach for USL League One side Lexington SC, as well as ...

won a penalty kick in the last-minute of an away fixture against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

, he converted it in Panenka-style for a final 1–1 draw – the visiting team was then reduced to only nine players.

Getafe

Shortly after the season ended, Castro confirmed his departure from Sporting as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, signing shortly after for

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

. On 3 June 2015, after four years as first choice, he left the latter after his contract expired.

Perth Glory

On 6 August 2015, aged 33, Castro moved abroad for the first time in his career, joining

club

Perth Glory FC Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 199 ...

as their foreign marquee player. He scored his first goal for his new team on 25 October, contributing to a 3–1 home win against

Adelaide United FC Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to f ...

. He enjoyed a successful debut season, earning selection for the

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

and winning the Alex Tobin award as well as the

Johnny Warren Medal The Johnny Warren Medal is awarded to the best player of the Australian national soccer club competition. It was first awarded in the National Soccer League in 1990, and upon the NSL's demise in November 2004, was carried forward into the new na ...

. On 7 June 2016, Castro extended his stay with Perth Glory, agreeing to a deal believed to be worth approximately $500,000. Before the start of the 2018–19 season, he was named

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

. Castro agreed to a two-year extension on 23 April 2019. On 14 October 2021, it was confirmed that the 39-year-old would be leaving due to restrictions on visa players and the incoming signing of

Daniel Sturridge Daniel Andre Sturridge (; born 1 September 1989) is an English professional footballer who last played as a striker. As well as representing England, he has played in the Premier League for Manchester City, Chelsea, Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool ...

. A statement from

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Tony Pignata on the club's official website spoke fondly of the former player, saying:

"Diego has been one of the best players Australian football has ever seen, and undoubtedly Glory’s greatest overseas recruit of all time. "His place in the pantheon of Glory greats is well and truly assured and on behalf of our Members and fans, I would like to sincerely thank him for the massive contribution he has made over the past six years. "We have been fortunate to have had the pleasure of watching a player of his quality and he will always remain a cherished and much-loved member of the Glory family. "We would like to take this opportunity to wish Diego and his family all the very best for the future."

Personal life

Castro's father,

Fernando Castro Santos Fernando Castro Santos (born 20 February 1952) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defender, and a retired manager. During his career, he worked in several clubs in his country as well as in Portugal. Football career Born in Poio, ...

, also had a career intimately connected with football. He coached several teams in the first and second divisions from 1992 (notably

SD Compostela Sociedad Deportiva Compostela is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. They play home matches at ''Estadio Multiusos de San Lázaro'', and ...

), also working in Portugal. Besides his native language, Castro is also able to speak English, describing it as that he had fully learned the language while in Australia as part of the challenge of playing abroad.

Career statistics

Honours

Perth Glory *

: Premiers 2018–19 Individual * PFA Team of the Season: 2015–16 * PFA A-League Player of the Month: February 2016, March 2016 *

: 2015–16

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Diego 1982 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Pontevedra Association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Pontevedra CF footballers Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Sporting de Gijón players Getafe CF footballers A-League Men players Perth Glory FC players Marquee players (A-League Men) Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in Australia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia