Ezequiel Calvente Criado (born 12 January 1991), known simply as Ezequiel, 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 ...

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 ...

for

CD Huétor Tájar Club Deportivo Agroisa Huétor Tájar is a Spanish football team based in Huétor-Tájar, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1940, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 9, holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Mig ...

Club career

Ezequiel was born in Melilla. After playing in every youth rank at

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 ...

, he made his first-team debut as a second-half substitute in a 4–1 home win against

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

in the Segunda División. Three days later, he started in a 2–1 home victory over

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and blac ...

in the second round of the

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 ...

, and signed a professional contract the following day until July 2014. On 29 January 2012, Ezequiel was loaned to

CE Sabadell FC Centre d'Esports Sabadell Futbol Club, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team based in Sabadell, a city in the province of Barcelona in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1903, it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holdin ...

of the second division until June. In late July, after an unsuccessful trial with Borussia Mönchengladbach, he moved, still on loan, to another club in Germany and the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

, which had the option of signing him permanently at the end of the campaign. After only two substitute appearances, and five for the reserves, he spent the next season on loan at division two side

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

. In January 2015, after months 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 ...

, Ezequiel signed for F.C. Penafiel. After roughly 300 minutes of action and

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. ...

from the Primeira Liga, he switched countries again in August when he joined Hungary's

Békéscsaba 1912 Előre Békéscsaba 1912 Előre is a Hungarian football club from Békéscsaba. The club was founded in 1912 as ''Előre Munkás Testedző Egyesület''. The colours of the club are lilac and white. The club achieved its greatest success in 1988 when ...

. On 5 July 2016, he was loaned to

Szombathelyi Haladás Szombathelyi Haladás (), is a Hungarian football club based in Szombathely. ''Haladás'' is the Hungarian word for ''progress''. The club, which was founded in 1919, plays its home games at Rohonci úti Stadion which has a capacity of 9,500 ( ...

also in the

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

after his team's

descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree ** Ancestry ** Lineal descendant **Heritag ...

International career

On 24 July 2010, whilst representing Spain's under-19 at the 2010 UEFA European Championship, Ezequiel scored from a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the group stage. It was described by British newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' as being "on an altogether higher plane of spot-kick audacity", as the player kicked it with what looked to be his standing leg, fooling the

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

into going the other way; the national side eventually finished in second position in France.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Calvente, Ezequiel 1991 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Melilla Men's association football wingers Spain men's youth international footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players Primeira Liga players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players Kings League players Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players CE Sabadell FC footballers SC Freiburg players SC Freiburg II players Recreativo de Huelva players F.C. Penafiel players Békéscsaba 1912 Előre footballers Szombathelyi Haladás footballers Debreceni VSC players AD Ceuta FC players CD Eldense footballers Real Jaén footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary