Sabin Merino Zuloaga (; ; born 4 January 1992) 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 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 ...

for

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home games at '' Estadi ...

, on loan from

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 ...

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

Urduliz , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = BasqueSpanish , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 ...

, Basque Country, Merino graduated from

Danok Bat CF Danok Bat Club de Fica is a Spanish football team based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1972, the club is mainly known for their successful youth setup, which helps players to develop and join other senior clu ...

's youth academy after spells at

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 ...

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 ...

and American team Javanon FC. In the summer of 2011 he returned to the ''Lions'', and made his debut as a senior with the farm team in

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 ...

. On 21 June 2013, Merino was promoted to the reserves in the

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 ...

. On 29 June 2015, after scoring a career-best 18 goals during the season as they returned to

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 ...

after a 19-year absence, he was promoted to the main squad 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 ...

. Merino made his official debut with the first team on 6 August 2015, coming on as a second-half substitute for Javier Eraso in a 0–0 away draw against

Inter Baku PIK Shamakhi FK ( az, Şamaxı Futbol Klubu, ) is an Azerbaijani professional football club based in Shamakhi, that currently competes in the Azerbaijan Premier League. The club has won the Premier League title twice. History Early years (1997– ...

in the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of the

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 ...

. After the departure of

Guillermo Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People *Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanish football manager and former player *Guillermo Ar� ...

he was finally granted a place in the roster, being assigned #25. Merino started in the 4–0 home rout of

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 ...

in the

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 ...

on 14 August 2015 as a

, providing the

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

for

Aritz Aduriz Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia (; ; born 11 February 1981) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career with Athletic Bilbao, scoring 172 goals across all competitions for the team over three spells ...

's second goal. He scored his first professional goal on 20 August, the first in a 3–2 Europa League playoff round loss at

MŠK Žilina MŠK Žilina () is a Slovak football club based in the town of Žilina, that is playing in the Slovak Superliga. Since the league inception in 1993, the club has won 7 titles and comes second in All-time table that makes them one of the most s ...

. Merino scored his first goal in the Spanish top flight on 23 September 2015, in a 1–2 home defeat against

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 ...

Leganés

On 31 August 2018, Merino was loaned to

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. It was founded on 23 June 1928. It holds home games at ...

in the same league for one year. The following May, after Athletic released him, he automatically joined the

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

club on a permanent one-year deal.

Deportivo

Merino signed for

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 ...

on 14 January 2020, after agreeing to a two-and-a-half-year contract. He scored four times in his first four matches with the club, surpassing previous holder

Bebeto José Roberto Gama de Oliveira (born 16 February 1964), known as Bebeto (), is a Brazilian former professional football player who played as a forward. He entered politics in the 2010 Brazilian General Elections and was elected to the Legi ...

who held the distinction since 1992; this feat earned him January's

Segunda División Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second profes ...

award.

Return to Leganés

On 17 August 2020, after ''Dépor''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. ...

, Merino returned to Leganés. On 31 January 2022, he left 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 ...

Zaragoza

On 31 January 2022, Merino joined fellow second-tier side

on a three-and-a-half-year deal. In July, he was loaned to

Atlético San Luis Club Atlético de San Luis, commonly known as Atlético San Luis, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Luis Potosí, replacing San Luis Potosí's Liga MX team San Luis FC after its relocation. San Luis was promoted to Liga MX i ...

of the

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

. On 25 July 2023, Merino was loaned to

for the entire 2023–24 season.

International career

Merino was never

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at any level. He did feature for the unofficial Basque Country regional team.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Individual *

: January 2020

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merino, Sabin 1992 births Living people People from Mungialdea Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Biscay Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Danok Bat CF players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers CD Leganés players Deportivo de La Coruña players Real Zaragoza players Racing de Ferrol footballers Liga MX players Atlético San Luis footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico