Javier Bellido Plaza (born 9 March 1966) is a Spanish former

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 played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He played 353 matches in

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 ...

over 11 seasons (24 goals) in representation of four teams, also appearing for Compostela in

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 career

Bellido was 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 ...

. A product of

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 ...

's famous

Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizka ...

youth academy, he spent the majority of his career at

SD Compostela Sociedad Deportiva Compostela is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, in the autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia. They play home matches at ''Estadio Multiusos de San Lázaro'', and ...

, where he earned the nickname 'The wall of

San Lázaro San Lázaro is a town in the Concepción department of Paraguay. Located 660 km from Asunción and 190 km from departmental capital Concepción, its population was 9060 in 2002. Located at the confluence of rivers Paraguay and Apa. The ...

'. Previously, he played five seasons in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

with Bilbao Athletic (two years),

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

and Elche CF (two), and started his ten-year spell with the Galicians in the same league. In the 1997–98 campaign, in spite of ''Compos relegation from

after four years, Bellido scored seven league goals, second-best in the squad. He retired in June 2001 at the age of 35, after the team'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. ...

to the third tier. Subsequently, Bellido worked as youth system coordinator at his main club. He left his post on 18 June 2017.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bellido, Javier 1966 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Bilbao Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Tercera División players SD Amorebieta footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers SD Eibar footballers Elche CF players SD Compostela footballers