Unai Bilbao Arteta (born 4 February 1994) 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

centre-back 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 ...

for

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 ...

club Atlético San Luis. He played for Bilbao Athletic at the professional level in his homeland.

Club career

Born in Bilbao, Biscay,

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

, Bilbao made his debut as a senior with Barakaldo CF in 2011, 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 ...

. In June of that year he 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 ...

, returning to the youth setup, but also appearing with

the farm team ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

in Tercera División. On 26 May 2014, Bilbao was promoted to the reserves in the third level. He contributed with 29 appearances and two goals during the season, as the B-side 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. Bilbao made his professional debut on 24 August 2015, starting and being sent off in a 0–1 home loss against

Girona FC Girona Futbol Club, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. Founded on 23 July 1930, it plays in La Liga, to which they gained promotion in the 2022 Segunda División play-offs. Girona holds its home matches at ...

. In May 2018, Athletic Bilbao confirmed that Bilbao would leave the club when his contract expired in July; despite having been captain of the reserves and accumulated the most playing minutes among the squad in the preceding season, he was too old to continue with that team and there was no place in the senior squad, with contemporaries

Yeray Álvarez Yeray Álvarez López (; born 24 January 1995), known simply as Yeray, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Athletic Bilbao. Club career Born in Barakaldo, Biscay, Basque Country, Yeray joined Athletic B ...

and

Unai Núñez Unai Núñez Gestoso (; ; born 30 January 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Celta, on loan from Athletic Bilbao, and the Spain national team. Club career Born in Sestao, Biscay, Basque Country and raise ...

already promoted ahead of him.

Atlético San Luis

In June 2018, Bilbao agreed to join Atlético San Luis of Mexico's second tier

Ascenso MX Ascenso MX was the second tier of professional football in Mexico of the Mexican football league system. The champion of the competition was promoted to Liga MX (top-flight tier). The bottom team was relegated to Liga Premier (the third tier). ...

. In December of the same year, he helped the team to claim the 2018–19 Apertura title, beating Dorados de Sinaloa (coached by Diego Maradona) in the ''Liguilla'' final.

Necaxa

On 1 July 2020, Unai Bilbao sign for

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

in a season-long loan deal. He made his debut On July 24, against Tigres UANL in the first season game.

Honours

Atlético San Luis *

: Apertura 2018–19

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bilbao, Unai 1994 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Bilbao Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Barakaldo CF footballers CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Atlético San Luis footballers Ascenso MX players Spain men's youth international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Athletic Bilbao footballers