Sergio Santamaría González (born 16 July 1980) is a Spanish former 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 played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Santamaría was born in

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

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 ...

. At age 12, after scoring 52 goals for local La Cala del Moral, he moved to neighbours

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

to continue his grooming, and joined country giants CF Real Madrid after four years. In 1998–99, the

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

's director of football, Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, promoted Santamaría to the club's B-team, which also included Luis García,

Carles Puyol Carles Puyol Saforcada (, ; born 13 April 1978) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played his entire career for Barcelona. He mainly played as a central defender, but he could also play in either full-back position, mostly as a ri ...

and

Xavi Xavier Hernández Creus (born 25 January 1980), known as Xavi is a Spanish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. Widely con ...

. In the following seasons, he switched back and forth between the B and the

C-sides ''C-Sides'' is an indie pop EP by Chris Garneau. It was released on November 26, 2007, on the Absolutely Kosher Absolutely may refer to: * ''Absolutely'' (Boxer album), the second rock music album recorded by the band Boxer * ''Absolutely'' (Ma ...

, as both squads operated in

4–3–3 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

, and the player scored 11 goals; on 19 May 2000, he made his first-team – 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, playing 45 minutes against

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

in the last matchday. After the following campaign, in which he played exclusively for the reserves, Santamaría begun a series of loans until his June 2005 final release, all 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 ...

. In between, he also appeared four times for ''Barça'' in the season in which he was not loaned. In the summer of 2005, Santamaría moved to Albacete Balompié also in the second level. Subsequently, he dropped down to division three, with UE Sant Andreu and

CD Logroñés Club Deportivo Logroñés, S.A.D. was a Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1940, it last played in ''Regional Preferente de La Rioja''. Due to financial problems, since 2009 the club has ...

; he had a solid individual

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

with the latter club, but it was nonetheless relegated due to economic issues. Santamaría resumed his career in the fourth tier, respectively with

UD Alzira Unión Deportiva Alzira is a Spanish football team based in Alzira, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1946 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Estadio Luis Suñer Picó'', with a capacity of ...

Antequera CF Antequera Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Antequera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1992, it currently plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio El Maulí'', with a capacity of 6,000 s ...

and

Alhaurín de la Torre CF Alhaurín de la Torre Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Alhaurín de la Torre, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1969, it currently plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 9, holding home matches at '' Est ...

(the latter two in his native region). He retired in June 2011 at the age of 31, due to injury.

International career

As he was part of Barcelona B's setup, Santamaría was called to represent

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 the

1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship The FIFA U-17 World Championship 1997, the seventh edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Cairo, Ismailia, Alexandria, and Port Said in Egypt between 4 September and 21 September 1997. Players born after 1 January 1980 could particip ...

in Egypt. He was the recipient of the tournament's ''Golden Ball'' over the likes of

Ronaldinho Ronaldo de Assis Moreira (born 21 March 1980), commonly known as Ronaldinho Gaúcho () or simply Ronaldinho, is a Brazilian retired professional footballer who played mostly as an attacking midfielder, but was also deployed as a winger. Wide ...

Gabriel Milito Gabriel Alejandro Milito (born 7 September 1980) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a central defender, currently the manager of Argentinos Juniors. He spent most of his professional career in Spain, representing Zaragoza and Barcel ...

and

Sebastian Deisler Sebastian Toni Deisler (; born 5 January 1980) is a German former professional footballer who played as a right midfielder and attacking midfielder. A Borussia Mönchengladbach youth product, he played one season with the club during which it ...

, in an eventual third-place finish.Campeonato Mundial Sub-17 de la FIFA Egipto 1997 (Under-17 FIFA World Cup Egypt 1997)
at FIFA (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Santamaria, Sergio 1980 births Living people Footballers from Málaga Spanish footballers Men's association football midfielders Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players FC Barcelona C players FC Barcelona Atlètic players FC Barcelona players Real Oviedo players Elche CF players Deportivo Alavés players Albacete Balompié players UE Sant Andreu footballers CD Logroñés footballers UD Alzira footballers Antequera CF footballers