Unai Albizua Urquijo (born 18 January 1989) 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 for

UE Cornellà Unión Esportiva Cornellà, S. A. D. ( ca, Unió Esportiva Cornellà) is a Spanish football team based in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1951 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding ...

as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Born in

Laudio/Llodio Laudio/Llodio is a town and municipality located in the province of Álava, in the Basque Country, northern Spain. Laudio is the name in Basque language and Llodio in Spanish; both are used indistinctly. Geography and Demography Llodio is an ...

Álava Álava ( in Spanish) or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Álava, former medieval Catholic bishopric and now Latin titular see. Its ca ...

, Basque Country, Albizua joined

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 ...

's youth system in 2003. He played three full seasons with the reserves 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 ...

, captaining them to the 2013 playoffs after a third-place finish in his last. Albizua was promoted to the first team prior to the beginning of the 2013–14 campaign. On 3 November 2013 he made his

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, coming on as a 67th-minute substitute in a 2–0 away loss against

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 ...

after replacing the injured

Aymeric Laporte Aymeric Jean Louis Gérard Alphonse Laporte (born 27 May 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Manchester City and the Spain national team. He previously played for Basconia and Athletic Bilbao. When he joined ...

. On 15 July 2014, Albizua was loaned 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 ...

club

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 ...

. Roughly one year later, he moved to fellow league side

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 ...

after cutting ties with Athletic. On 28 July 2016, Albizua signed for

UCAM Murcia CF Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Fútbol, commonly known as UCAM Murcia or simply UCAM, is a Spanish football club based in Murcia. Founded in 1999 it plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio de La Condomina'', with ...

still in the second division. The following 11 July, he joined

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

from the same league. On 17 August 2021, after one year in the

Swiss Challenge League The Challenge League is the second-highest tier of the Swiss football league system and lower of two professional leagues in the country. Ten teams play in the Challenge League; the winners of the league are promoted to the Super League, while the ...

with

FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy, sometimes referred to as SLO, is a Swiss football team based in Ouchy, Lausanne. They currently play in the Swiss Challenge League after achieving promotion in 2019. History The club is the result of a merger between '' ...

, the 32-year-old Albizua returned to Spain and signed with

of the newly-formed

Primera División RFEF Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albizua, Unai 1989 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Men's association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers CD Tenerife players CD Leganés players UCAM Murcia CF players Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players UD Ibiza players UE Cornellà players Swiss Challenge League players FC Stade Lausanne Ouchy players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Sportspeople from Álava