Sergio Benito Crujera (born 23 March 1999) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Spanish

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 Fuenlabrada.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Benito began his career with Rayo Vallecano in 2005, aged six. In 2011, he joined

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 ...

's La Fábrica, but returned to Rayo in 2014. Benito made his senior debut with the reserves on 27 August 2017, playing the last 16 minutes of a 1–2

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 ...

away loss against

CF Trival Valderas Club de Fútbol Trival Valderas Alcorcón is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the Community of Madrid. Founded in 2004, it currently plays in '' Tercera División RFEF – Group 7'', holding home matches at '' Estadio La Canaleja'', ...

. He scored his first senior goal six days later, netting his team's second in a 2–0 home win against

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 ...

. On 18 August 2018, Benito was loaned 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 ...

side Barakaldo CF for the season. On 9 August of the following year, he moved to fellow league team Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa also in a temporary deal. Whilst at Cultural, Benito scored an extra time winner in a 2–1

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 ...

success over

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

, but also saw his decisive

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in the play-off final being saved by CE Sabadell FC's goalkeeper Ian Mackay, which led to a 6–7 loss in the shoot-out. He returned to Rayo in July 2020, but signed a three-year contract with

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

on 5 October, being assigned to

the B-team The B-Team was a professional wrestling tag team in WWE, composed of Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel. The team are former one-time WWE Raw Tag Team Champions. They also formerly performed as The Social Outcasts and The Miztourage from 2016 to 2018 be ...

also in division three. Benito made his first team debut on 15 December 2020, starting in a 5–0 away win against

CD Cantolagua Club Deportivo Cantolagua is a Spanish football team based in Sangüesa in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1927, it plays in , holding home matches in the ''Estadio Municipal Cantolagua'', with a capacity of 1,000 people. History ...

, for the season's

. His professional – and

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 ...

– debut occurred the following 19 January, as he came on as a late substitute for

Óscar Plano Óscar Plano Pedreño (born 11 February 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Real Valladolid as an attacking midfielder. Club career Real Madrid Born in Madrid, Plano joined Real Madrid's academy at the age of 11. He made hi ...

in a 2–2 home draw against Elche CF. On 25 August 2021, Benito moved to Primera División RFEF side

CD Badajoz Club Deportivo Badajoz is a Spanish football team based in Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1905 and refounded in 2012, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, and holds home games at ''Estadio Nu ...

on loan for the 2021–22 season. On 27 January 2023, Benito left Spain for the first time in his career to join Polish

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 ...

club

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. It ...

until June 2024, joining his compatriots Ángel Rodado, Miki Villar,

Tachi A is a type of traditionally made Japanese sword (''nihonto'') worn by the samurai class of feudal Japan. ''Tachi'' and ''katana'' generally differ in length, degree of curvature, and how they were worn when sheathed, the latter depending on t ...

, David Juncà, Luis Fernández and Álex Mula. He made 10 league appearances before terminating his contract on 15 June.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benito, Sergio 1999 births Living people Footballers from Madrid Spanish men's footballers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Primera Federación players Segunda División B players Tercera División players I liga players Rayo Vallecano B players Barakaldo CF footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Real Valladolid Promesas players Real Valladolid players CD Badajoz players Córdoba CF players Wisła Kraków players CF Fuenlabrada footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland