Rubén Palazuelos García (born 11 April 1983) is a Spanish

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 for

Gimnástica de Torrelavega Real Sociedad Gimnástica de Torrelavega is a Spanish football team based in Torrelavega, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded on 28 September 1907 it is the oldest football club in the region, and currently plays in Tercera Divisi ...

as a defensive midfielder. After only playing lower league football in his country, he spent most of his career in Scotland, mainly with Hearts for which he appeared in 125 official matches. He also competed professionally in Greece, Bulgaria, Finland, England and Cyprus.

Club career

Born in

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

, Palazuelos began his career with hometown club

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system ...

, but never made it past the reserves. Released in 2004, he spent his first professional seasons in

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 ...

with

UD Lanzarote Unión Deportiva Lanzarote is a Spanish football team based in Arrecife, Lanzarote, in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded in 1970 it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 12, holding home games at the ''Ciudad Deportiva de La ...

and

CF Palencia Club de Fútbol Palencia was a Spanish football team based in Palencia, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1975 and dissolved in 2012, it held home games at ''Estadio La Nueva Balastera'', with an 8,100-seat capacity. H ...

, before moving to

in 2006 (also in that level). However, Palazuelos did not represent the Cantabrian neighbours in one single official game, and joined Greek side

Aris Thessaloniki F.C. Aris FC ( el, ΠΑΕ Άρης), commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki FC, AFC or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1914 as ''Aris Thessaloniki Football Club'', th ...

on loan for the 2006–07 campaign. In the following summer, on 31 July, he signed for Heart of Midlothian after a protracted process, as the player reportedly paid for his release from his Gimnástica contract. Palazuelos made his debut for his new team in the 1–1 draw with

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

at Pittodrie on 12 August 2007, and scored his first goal on 29 December of that year against

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

, but in a 1–2 away loss. He added another two in 2008–09, against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

in a 2–1 home win and at

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

in which he netted the final 2–2 equaliser. Palazuelos signed for

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n club PFC Botev Plovdiv in July 2012, leaving in the following

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

. On 5 April 2013, he switched teams and countries again, joining

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

FC Honka FC Honka is a Finnish football club based in Espoo. It was founded in 1957 as Tapion Honka, and changed its name to FC Honka in 1975. The club currently play in the Finnish premier division (''Veikkausliiga''), having been promoted for the fir ...

; he made an immediate impact with the latter, being selected to the Team of the Month in the Veikkausliiga for the months of July and August. On 18 February 2014, after being linked with a move back to Scotland with

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

, Palazuelos signed with

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

side

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

until the end of the season. He was hampered by injury during his spell, his team suffered relegation and he was released in May. On 30 January 2015, following a brief spell in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, Palazuelos joined Ross County. He was one of 14 players released by the club at the end of the season.

References

External links

* * * *
London Hearts profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palazuelos, Ruben 1983 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Santander, Spain Association football midfielders Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Cantabria players CF Palencia footballers Gimnástica de Torrelavega footballers Deportivo Alavés players CD Guijuelo footballers Real Avilés CF footballers Super League Greece players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Ross County F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Botev Plovdiv players Veikkausliiga players FC Honka players English Football League players Yeovil Town F.C. players Cypriot First Division players Ermis Aradippou FC players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Finland Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Finland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus