Sergio Rico González (born 1 September 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Ligue 1 club

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. He began his career at

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, where he twice won the Europa League while appearing in 170 competitive matches. He signed with Paris Saint-Germain in 2019, initially on loan and permanently in 2020. Rico made his senior international debut for

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 ...

in 2016, and was chosen for the year's European Championship.

Club career

Sevilla

Rico was born in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost 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 "historical nationality". The t ...

. He played youth football with

, spending several of his first seasons as a senior with the reserves, in Segunda División B. On 1 July 2013, he signed a new two-year deal with the club. On 14 September 2014, profiting from the injuries of both Beto and Mariano Barbosa, Rico 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' ...

– debut, starting in a 2–0 home win against

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

. He first appeared in 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. ...

four days later, playing the full 90 minutes in a home victory over

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

for the same scoreline. In December 2014, Rico was definitely promoted to the main squad, overtaking Barbosa in the pecking order. He extended his contract with the ''Rojiblancos'' on the 16th, signing until 2017 and being awarded a place with the first team. He finished the campaign with 37 appearances in all competitions, including 11 in the Europa League which concluded with a 3–2 defeat of Dnipro in the final. In 2015–16, Rico played in Sevilla's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

group stage elimination but was replaced by fellow youth graduate David Soria as the team went on to win a third consecutive Europa League title. He was still first choice during 2017–18, but was also involved in altercations with manager Vincenzo Montella and a group of supporters. On 9 August 2018, Rico was loaned to Fulham for one season. He made his

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

debut on 27 October, in a 0–3 home loss against Bournemouth. He edged out homegrown player Marcus Bettinelli as the starter for the

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: North Londo ...

club, who were relegated to the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

at the end of the campaign.

Paris Saint-Germain

On 1 September 2019, Rico joined

on a

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 ...

-long loan deal which included an optional buyout clause. His maiden appearance in Ligue 1 took place two months later in the 2–1 victory at

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

, when Keylor Navas withdrew injured before kick-off. On 29 June 2020, after the campaign had been halted due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Rico signed a two-month contract extension at the Parc des Princes. On 12 August, he came on as a substitute for the injured Navas late into an eventual 2–1 win over

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and kept his place the following round against

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig, and colloquially referred to as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company Red Bul ...

(3–0 victory). Rico signed a permanent four-year contract on 5 September 2020, the transfer fee being of €6 million. After the arrival of

Gianluigi Donnarumma Gianluigi Donnarumma (born 25 February 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in world footbal ...

in July 2021, he was demoted to the role of third-choice. On 21 January 2022, Rico returned to Spain to join Mallorca on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut on 2 February, in a 1–0 loss at

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Li ...

in the quarter-finals of the

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 footb ...

. He quickly became the starter, overtaking veteran Manolo Reina; however, after conceding six goals against relegation rivals Granada on 7 May, he returned to the bench.

International career

On 26 May 2015, Rico and Sevilla teammate

Aleix Vidal Aleix Vidal Parreu (born 21 August 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for RCD Espanyol. Mainly a right winger and a player of great speed, he can also operate as a right-back. Having spent his early career at a string of l ...

were the two players called up to the Spanish national team for the first time, ahead of a friendly with Costa Rica and a

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

qualifying match against

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, but he did not play in either fixture. He was the third-choice goalkeeper for the final tournament behind Iker Casillas and

David de Gea David de Gea Quintana (born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Manchester United. During the mid-2010s, he was widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Born in Madrid ...

, and made his debut on 1 June, replacing the former for the final 14 minutes of a 6–1 friendly win over

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

Personal life

In December 2016, Rico was given the Sport award at the Young Andalusia Prizes, receiving his honour from regional president Susana Díaz, a fan of city rivals

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. During a match between PSG and Montpellier on 22 January 2021, Rico's home in Neuilly-sur-Seine was burgled. His father died in March, and teammate Navas dedicated his

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) A p ...

save against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

in the Champions League round of 16 to him. Rico suffered a head injury in a horse-related accident in his native Spain on 28 May 2023. He was hospitalised at the Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocío in Seville, with his condition being described as "serious". He received numerous messages of support, notably from Paris Saint-Germain fans, players, directors and his former club Sevilla's players, who wore a shirt in his support prior to the Europa League final. During PSG's final league match of the season on 3 June, fans unveiled a tifo in his honour, while players sported the player's name on the back of their shirts in the first half; at the 16th minute, in reference to Rico's number 16 jersey, he was applauded while captain Marquinhos lifted the winners' trophy while wearing his teammate's name.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Sevilla *

: 2014–15, 2015–16 Paris Saint-Germain * Ligue 1: 2019–20, 2021–22 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

: 2019–20, 2020–21 * Coupe de la Ligue: 2019–20 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

runner-up: 2019–20

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rico, Sergio 1993 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Seville Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División B players Sevilla Atlético players Sevilla FC players RCD Mallorca players Premier League players Fulham F.C. players Ligue 1 players Paris Saint-Germain F.C. players UEFA Europa League winning players Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2016 players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in France Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France