Javier "Javi" Lara Grande (born 4 December 1985) 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

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación – Group 1, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo ...

Club career

Born in

Montoro Montoro is a city and municipality in the Córdoba Province of southern Spain, in the north-central part of the autonomous community of Andalusia. Overview It is located about east-northeast of the capital of the province, Córdoba. In 2008, t ...

, Córdoba, Lara graduated from local

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

's youth setup, and made his senior debut with the reserves in the 2003–04 season, in the

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

. After

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 ...

loan stints with

CD Villanueva Club Deportivo Villanueva was a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Villanueva de Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 and dissolved in June 2009, it held home matches at ''Estadio San Mig ...

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF ...

and

Écija Balompié Écija Balompié, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Écija, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1939, it plays in División de Honor Andaluza, the fifth tier of Spanish football. History In 2007–08 season, the club b ...

, he moved to another

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

UD Almería B Unión Deportiva Almería "B" is a Spanish football team based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 2001, it is the reserve team of UD Almería and currently plays in Tercera Federación – Group 9, holding home game ...

, in August 2007. In the summer of 2008, Lara joined

RSD Alcalá Real Sociedad Deportiva Alcalá is a Spanish football team based in Alcalá de Henares in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 1929 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 7, holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal del Val'', with a capac ...

also of the fourth division. On 20 July 2009, he signed a two-year contract with

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

in the

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 ...

. He played his first match as a professional on 3 September 2009, starting and featuring the full 90 minutes in a 3–2 away loss against

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 spe ...

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 footbal ...

. He made his league debut three days later, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 4–1 defeat at

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

. On 29 January 2010, after being sparingly used by the

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 ...

ns, Lara was loaned to

CD Alcoyano Club Deportivo Alcoyano, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcoy, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1928 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games in ''Estadio El Collao'', with a 4,850-seat ...

until June. He then moved to

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

in January 2011 after six months of inactivity, following which he competed in division three with

Lucena CF Lucena Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Lucena, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1968, it was dissolved in 2015. History ''Lucena Club de Fútbol'' was founded in 1968. It was originally ...

and Alcoyano. On 17 July 2013, Lara signed a one-year deal with

SD Ponferradina Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Ponferrada, in the El Bierzo region, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 7 June 1922, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at the ...

. On 24 June of the following year, he moved to

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 ...

, recently promoted 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 ...

. He made his debut in the Spanish top flight on 24 August 2014, starting and scoring the game's only goal (also the club's first ever in the competition) through a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offence ...

in a win against

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

at the

Ipurua Municipal Stadium Ipurua Futbol Zelaia (also written Ipurúa), is an all-seater football stadium in Eibar, Spain, serving as the home ground of SD Eibar. Opened in 1947, the stadium has a capacity of 8,164 seats. Ipurua has been the principal football ground in E ...

. Lara moved abroad at the age of nearly 30, joining ATK in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

on 17 July 2015. He scored his first goal for the team on 13 October in their first home game of the season, a 2–1 victory over

Kerala Blasters FC Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established ...

with

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

in attendance at the

Salt Lake Stadium The Vivekananda Yuba Bharati Krirangan (VYBK; ), commonly known as the Salt Lake Stadium, is an all-seater multi-purpose stadium located in Bidhannagar, with current capacity of 85,000 spectators. Named after Swami Vivekananda, the stadium fo ...

. In November 2015, after being ruled out of the season due to an injury, Lara was consequently released and replaced by his compatriot Jorge Alonso. On 2 February of the following year, he returned to his home country after agreeing to a short-term deal at

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

. On 12 August 2016, Lara returned to India and Atlético Kolkata. On 10 January 2017, he signed for Córdoba until 30 June. Lara returned to Spain in August 2019, with the 33-year-old joining

UD Ibiza Unión Deportiva Ibiza is a Spanish professional football club based in the town of Ibiza, in the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. Founded in 2015, it plays in Segunda División, holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal de Can Mis ...

for two seasons 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 ...

. He was a regular starter in the side's first-ever promotion to the second division in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, before leaving on 18 May 2022. On 4 July 2022, Lara signed for

of the

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 tw ...

Club statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lara, Javi 1985 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Córdoba (Spain) Spanish footballers Footballers from Andalusia Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Córdoba CF B players CD Villanueva players Real Unión footballers Écija Balompié players UD Almería B players RSD Alcalá players Elche CF players CD Alcoyano footballers Valencia CF Mestalla footballers Lucena CF players SD Ponferradina players SD Eibar footballers CD Tenerife players Córdoba CF players UD Ibiza players AD Alcorcón footballers Indian Super League players ATK (football club) players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India