Fabián Ruiz Peña (; born 3 April 1996), also known simply as Fabián, 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

central 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 ...

for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club Paris Saint-Germain and the Spain national team.

Club career

Real Betis

Early years

Born in

Los Palacios y Villafranca Los Palacios y Villafranca is a city located in the province of Seville, Spain. According to the 2006 census (INE), the city has a population of 35,225 inhabitants. Twin towns - sister cities * Los Palacios, Cuba * Saint-Colomban, Loire-Atlantiq ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

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 ...

, Fabián 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 ...

' youth setup in 2004, aged eight, after starting it out at EF La Unión de Los Palacios. He was promoted to the reserves in July 2014, and made his senior debut on 21 September, coming on as a second half substitute in a 4–1 home loss against Marbella 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 ...

championship. Fabián played his first match as a professional on 16 December, replacing

Xavi Torres Xavier "Xavi" Torres Buigues (born 21 November 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder. Formed at Barcelona, he went on to amass La Liga totals of 156 games and six goals over eight seasons, with that club ...

in the 51st minute of a 1–0

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 ...

away win against

Lugo Lugo (, ; la, Lucus Augusti) is a city in northwestern Spain in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. It is the capital of the Lugo (province), province of Lugo. The municipality had a population ...

. He appeared in six matches during the season, as his side achieved promotion to

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 ...

as champions. Fabián made his debut in the main category of Spanish football on 23 August 2015, coming on as a substitute for

Alfred N'Diaye Alfred John Momar N'Diaye (born 6 March 1990) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Spanish club Málaga CF. Born in France, he represents the Senegal national team. He can also play as a centre back. Club career ...

in a 1–1 home draw against Villarreal.

Loan to Elche

On 23 December of the following year he renewed his contract until 2019, and was immediately loaned to

Elche Elche ( ca-valencia, Elx) is a city and municipality of Spain, belonging to the province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. According to 2014 data, Elche has a population of 228,647 inhabitants,Gimnàstic de Tarragona. Fabián contributed with 18 appearances for the side, suffering team relegation.

Breakthrough

Upon returning, Fabián became a regular starter under new manager

Quique Setién Enrique "Quique" Setién Solar (; born 27 September 1958) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a central midfielder. He is the current manager of La Liga club Villarreal. As a player, he was nicknamed ''El Maestro'', an ...

, scoring his first goal in the top tier on 25 September 2017 in a 4–0 home routing of Levante. The following 31 January, he renewed his contract until 2023, setting his buyout clause at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

30 million. On 30 April 2018, Fabián scored the winning goal for Betis as they secured

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualification for the 2018–19 season following a 2–1 home win over

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

Napoli

On 5 July 2018, Fabián joined Napoli on a five-year contract until 2023 with Napoli reportedly paying Fabián's €30 million buyout clause. He made his debut on 16 September in a Champions League group game away to

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of a goalless draw. Ten days later he played his first

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

match and first at the Stadio San Paolo, a 3–0 win over

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

Paris Saint-Germain

On 30 August 2022, Fabián signed for

club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on a five-year contract. He made his debut as a substitute in a 1–0 victory over

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress *Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria *Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France **Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Brest, ...

at the

Parc des Princes Parc des Princes () is an all-seater stadium, all-seater Association football, football stadium in Paris, France, in the south-west of the French capital, inside the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, near the Stade Jean-Bouin ...

on 10 September 2022. On 1 February 2023, Fabián scored his first PSG goal in a 3–1 win over

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

International career

After representing

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at under-19 and under-21 levels, Fabián was called up to the full side by manager

Luis Enrique Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playing in several different positions, but usually played as ...

on 15 March 2019, for two

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europe ...

matches against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. He made his debut on 7 June 2019 in a Euro 2020 qualifier against Faroe Islands, as a 74th-minute substitute for

Isco Francisco Román Alarcón Suárez (; born 21 April 1992), commonly known as Isco (), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. He last played for La Liga club Sevilla. He began his career at Valencia, playing ...

. On 24 May 2021, Fabián was included in Luis Enrique's 24-man squad for

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

Style of play

A left-footed

, Fabián is known for his vision, passing, ball control and dribbling skills, as well as his tactical versatility, and can play in a number of formations, such as 4–4–2, 4–3–3, and 4–2–3–1. He can also play as a defensive midfielder or an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first.''

Honours

Real Betis *

: 2014–15 Napoli *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2019–20 Paris Saint-Germain *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Spain U21 *

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 ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Spain *

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

Individual *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship Golden Player 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 ...

: 2019 *UEFA European Under-21 Championship Team of the Tournament: 2019

References

External links

Fabián Ruiz
at the Paris Saint-Germain F.C. website * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Fabian 1996 births Living people People from Los Palacios y Villafranca Sportspeople from the Province of Seville Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Andalusia Men's association football wingers Betis Deportivo Balompié footballers Real Betis players Elche CF players SSC Napoli players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players Segunda División B players Segunda División players La Liga players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players UEFA Nations League-winning players Spanish expatriate footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France