Ibai Gómez Pérez (born 11 November 1989) is a Spanish 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 mainly 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 achieved

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 28 goals over 11 seasons, with

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

(two spells) and Alavés. He won the 2020–21 Supercopa de España with the first club.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Gómez began his career with

Santutxu FC Santutxu Fútbol Club is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1918, it plays in Tercera División RFEF, Tercera D ...

in the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

regional leagues, winning the Golden Ball for the category in February 2009. After five years with the club he left, but stayed in the region after agreeing on a move to

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 ...

Sestao River Club Sestao River Club is a Spanish football team based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1996 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,905 ...

Athletic Bilbao

On 4 June 2010, after Sestao's relegation, Gómez moved straight into

, joining

for two years with an option for a further one or two. He spent most of his first season with the reserves in the third tier. On 17 October 2010, Gómez made his top-flight debut, coming on as a substitute for

Gaizka Toquero Gaizka Toquero Pinedo (born 9 August 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a right winger. He spent most of his career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 207 competitive matches during seven La Liga seasons a ...

in the 67th minute of a home match against

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 ...

(2–1 win); after only three minutes, however, he himself had to be replaced, being stretchered off after suffering a knee injury. Gómez contributed two goals as Athletic reached

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League – totalling seven appearances in the competition – scoring against

FC Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhi ...

(2–2 home draw, 6–4 on aggregate) and

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

(3–1 home victory, 4–3 aggregate win). He was definitely promoted to the first team for 2012–13, being given the number 11 jersey. On 17 November 2012, he scored his first league goal of the campaign, in a 5–1 defeat at

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 ...

. In 2013–14, Gómez scored eight goals from only 18 appearances, helping the ''Lions'' finish fourth and qualify for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. He also dealt with some injury problems during that season, and missed the vast majority of 2015–16 due to a

tendinitis Tendinopathy, a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder (rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow (tennis elbo ...

ailment to his right knee.

Alavés

On 31 July 2016, Gómez terminated his contract with Athletic and signed a three-year deal with fellow league team

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

just hours later. On 10 September he scored his first goal for the newly-promoted club, closing a 2–1 historic win against

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 ...

at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

. He also started in

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 footbal ...

against the same opponent, which ended in a 3–1 loss. Gómez scored his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

as a professional on 4 December 2017, helping the visitors to a 3–2 away defeat of

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

after they trailed 2–0 with 20 minutes left.

Return to Athletic

On 10 January 2019, Gómez rejoined Athletic Bilbao on a contract until June 2022. He made his second debut for the club three days later, coming off the bench in a 2–0 home

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

victory over

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

. Gómez second spell at the San Mamés Stadium was again greatly undermined by physical problems.

Later career

Goméz moved abroad for the first time in his career in March 2022, with the 32-year-old signing with

Foolad F.C. Foolad Khuzestan Football Club ( fa, باشگاه فوتبال فولاد خوزستان, ''Bāshgāh-e Futbāl-e Fulād-e Khuzestān'') is an Iranian football club, based in Ahwaz, Khuzestan that plays in Persian Gulf Pro League. Foolad F.C. ...

in the

Persian Gulf Pro League The Persian Gulf Pro League ( fa, لیگ برتر خلیج فارس, ''Lig-e Bartar-e Xalij-e Fârs''), formerly known as the Iran Pro League ( fa, links=no, لیگ برتر ایران, ''Lig-e bartar-e Irân''), is the highest division of profe ...

. With his new team, he made four appearances in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

. On 27 July 2022, Gómez returned to his homeland on a one-year contract at

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, formerly known as Primera División RFEF, is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administered by the Royal Spanish Football Federation. It is below the top t ...

side

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, with the option of a one-year extension.

Style of play

Gómez was known for his crossing ability and powerful shot. Additionally, he was a

set piece In film production, a set piece is a scene or sequence of scenes whose execution requires complex logistical planning and considerable expenditure of money. The term is often also used more broadly to describe a sequence in which the film-maker's ...

specialist with above-average

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2020–21 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 ...

runner-up: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2019–20 *

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 ...

runner-up: 2011–12 Alavés *Copa del Rey runner-up: 2016–17

References

External links

* *
Biography at La pizarra de Luis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Ibai 1989 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Bilbao Association football wingers Association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División B players Primera Federación players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Santutxu FC players Sestao River footballers Bilbao Athletic footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Deportivo Alavés players Deportivo de La Coruña players Foolad FC players Basque Country international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Iran Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Iran