Gonzalo Castro Randón (born 11 June 1987) is a German former 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 played as a

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 ...

. He is also a former Germany international.

Club career

Bayer Leverkusen

Born in Wuppertal to Spanish parents, he began his career with Post SV Wuppertal. Other clubs during his youth were Viktoria Rott and SV Bayer Wuppertal. In 1999, he moved to

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

. At 17, he played his first game for the Leverkusen senior team in the Bundesliga and in the Champions League. In his first year, he played the last 13 matches of the season. He played 21 times in the 2005–06 season as a substitute. From 2006, Castro moved from midfield to the back four of Leverkusen and played with solid performances in the starting eleven. For four years in a row he largely held his place. Only in the 2010–11 season, he saw his place on the right side of defence contested by Daniel Schwaab. Since the 2012–13 season, Castro has again played in midfield. Castro trained as a sports and fitness administrator at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Borussia Dortmund

On 24 May 2015, it was announced that Castro would join

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

after a transfer release clause of 11 million was met, signing a four-year deal. On 28 October, Castro scored a brace in a 7–1 win against

Paderborn Paderborn (; Westphalian: ''Patterbuorn'', also ''Paterboärn'') is a city in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, capital of the Paderborn district. The name of the city derives from the river Pader and ''Born'', an old German term for t ...

in the second round of the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

. On 29 November, Castro scored his first league goal for Dortmund in a 4–1 win over

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

. On 20 April 2016, he was one of three goalscorers as Borussia won 3–0 away at

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

in the semi-final of the same competition to reach the 2016 DFB-Pokal Final. In March 2017, the club extended his contract until 30 June 2020.

VfB Stuttgart

On 29 June 2018, Castro signed a three-year-contract with

, enabling him to join the club on 1 July 2018.

Arminia Bielefeld

On 21 December 2021, Castro signed for

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

on a contract until the end of the season with an option to extend the deal for a further year. In September 2022, after his contract with Arminia was not renewed, Castro announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

In his youth, Castro was invited by the Spanish Football Federation to several courses. He played a single match for a Spanish junior selection and chose at the age of 18 to play for the German Football Association. Castro has played for the German national U-21 team at the

2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

. After three test caps at the beginning of 2006, Castro gained a place in the German squad for the finals of the U-21 European Championship 2006 in Portugal. There he delivered solid performances. His biggest footballing success was winning the U-21 Championship 2009 in Sweden under coach

Horst Hrubesch Horst Hrubesch (; born 17 April 1951) is a German professional football manager and former player who last managed Hamburger SV. As a player, Hrubesch won three West German championships with his club side, Hamburger SV, as well as the European C ...

. In a 4–0 victory in the final against England, Castro scored the first goal in the 23rd minute. In the European Championship qualifier against the Czech Republic on 24 March 2007, Castro was called up to the senior squad for the first time and four days later, he made his debut against Denmark. Following this, Castro would never again feature in the national squad.

Career statistics

Club

* 1.Includes

DFB-Ligapokal The DFL-Ligapokal (, officially Premiere Ligapokal , previously DFB-Ligapokal ) or the ''German League Cup'' was a German football competition that took place before the start of the Bundesliga season, featuring the top five teams of the previous ...

, DFL-Supercup and Bundesliga relegation play-offs

Honours

;Bayer Leverkusen *

runner-up: 2008–09 *

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 ...

runner-up: 2010–11 ;Borussia Dortmund *

: 2016–17 ;Germany 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 comp ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Individual *

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 ...

Squad of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

Gonzalo Castro
at kicker.de
Leverkusen who's who
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Castro, Gonzalo 1987 births Living people Footballers from North Rhine-Westphalia Sportspeople from Wuppertal German people of Spanish descent German footballers Germany international footballers Germany under-21 international footballers Spanish footballers Spain youth international footballers Association football defenders Bayer 04 Leverkusen II players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Borussia Dortmund players VfB Stuttgart players Arminia Bielefeld players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players 2. Bundesliga players