Eduard "Edu" Oriol Gràcia (born 5 November 1986) 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 for

Xerez Deportivo FC 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 ...

as a winger.

Club career

Born in Cambrils,

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...

, Oriol started playing with amateurs

CF Pobla de Mafumet Club de Fútbol Pobla de Mafumet is a Spanish football club based in La Pobla de Mafumet, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1953, it plays in Tercera Federación – Group 5, holding home games at ''Estadi Municipal'', which ...

, having a loan spell with

CF Reus Deportiu Club de Futbol Reus Deportiu, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Reus, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1909, it last competed in the Segunda Division (while its B team competed in the Tercera Division) before foldi ...

whilst on contract with the former. In the 2008–09 season, still in his native region, he competed 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 ...

with UE Sant Andreu. Oriol moved to

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. Founded ...

in the summer of 2009, helping the reserves

return Return may refer to: In business, economics, and finance * Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense. * Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment * Tax return, a blank document or t ...

to the

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 ...

by appearing in 29 games and scoring three goals. After once again featuring heavily for ''Barça B'' in the 2010–11 campaign, as the team finished in third position – being however ineligible for playoff promotion – he signed for

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 ...

club

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

for three years. Oriol made his debut in the top flight on 28 August 2011, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 0–6 home loss against

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 ...

. He joined

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

Khazar Lankaran FK Khazar Lankaran FK ( tly, Xəzər Lankon Futboli Klub, script=Latn, az, Xəzər Lənkəran Futbol Klubu) is an Azerbaijani football club based in Lankaran that last played in the Azerbaijan Premier League during the 2015–16 season. Since the ...

in late August 2013 on a two-year contract, following the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...

ese's

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

, and won his first piece of silverware on 23 October after helping his new team to victory over Neftchi Baku PFC, in that year's

Azerbaijan Supercup The Azerbaijan Supercup ( az, Azərbaycan Milli Futbol Superkuboku) was a football competition, held at the beginning of each domestic season and disputed between the winners of the Azerbaijan Premier League and the winners of the Azerbaijan Cup. ...

. On 13 January 2014 Oriol's contract with Khazar was cancelled by mutual consent, after he failed to settle in

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

. The following day, he penned a two-year deal with AEL Limassol in the Cypriot First Division. On 18 August 2014, Oriol agreed to a one-year contract with the option of a further year with

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

side

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, linking up with his twin brother

Joan Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine * Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multip ...

. His contract was terminated by mutual consent on 12 January 2015, and he moved to the Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

with

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivița workshops as ''Asoc ...

. Oriol subsequently returned to his homeland and its second tier, featuring rarely for

UE Llagostera C.F. Badalona Futur Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Badalona, Province of Barcelona, Barcelona, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. Founded in 1947, it currently plays ...

and CD Tenerife. In late November 2017 the 31-year-old signed with amateurs UD Ibiza, leaving at the end of the season.

Personal life

Oriol's

twin Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...

brother,

, was also a footballer. A defender, he shared teams with his sibling on several occasions.

Career statistics

Honours

Khazar *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oriol, Eduard 1986 births Living people People from Baix Camp Spanish twins Footballers from the Province of Tarragona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players CF Pobla de Mafumet footballers CF Reus Deportiu players UE Sant Andreu footballers FC Barcelona Atlètic players Real Zaragoza players CF Badalona Futur players CD Tenerife players UD Ibiza players Atlético Sanluqueño CF players Azerbaijan Premier League players Khazar Lankaran FK players Cypriot First Division players AEL Limassol players English Football League players Blackpool F.C. players Liga I players FC Rapid București players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Azerbaijan Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania