Esteban Andrés Suárez (born 27 June 1975), known simply as Esteban, is a Spanish retired 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He started and finished his extensive senior career, which spanned more than two decades, at

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

. He appeared in 280 matches in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

over 13 seasons, also representing in the competition

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) 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. Seville ...

, Celta and

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

Club career

Early years

Born in

Avilés Avilés (Asturian and ;) is a town in Asturias, Spain. Avilés is, along with Oviedo and Gijón, one of the main cities in the Principality of Asturias. The town occupies the flattest land in the municipality, partially in a land that belonged ...

Asturias Asturias (; ; ) officially the Principality of Asturias, is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwest Spain. It is coextensive with the provinces of Spain, province of Asturias and contains some of the territory t ...

, Esteban began his career with hometown's

SD Navarro CF Sociedad Deportiva Navarro Club de Fútbol is a football team based in Valliniello, Avilés in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1980, the team plays in . The club's home ground is '' Tabiella'', which has a capacity of 2,000 spect ...

in 1993, but soon moved to local giants

after a stint at

Real Avilés Industrial CF Real Avilés Industrial Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team based in Avilés, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1903 it plays in , holding home matches at Estadio Román Suárez Puerta, with an approximate capacity of 5, ...

. In five seasons with the first team, four of those spent in

, he only missed a total of 12 league games, and moved to

in summer 2002 as the ''Colchoneros'' had just returned to the top flight after a two-year absence, finishing the campaign as starter after beginning as understudy to Germán Burgos. Esteban joined fellow top-division club

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

in August 2003. After two solid seasons with the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns (two sixth league places, as first choice) he signed for

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, 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), the club was fou ...

, backing up José Manuel Pinto in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

side until the latter moved to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

in January 2008.

Almería

In the 2008 off-season, Esteban joined

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

in the top tier, where he was second choice to Diego Alves in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or colloquially frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational in ...

. However, profiting from injury to the starter in late March 2009, he was put between the posts and remained there until the end of the season even when the Brazilian recovered. In the 2009–10 campaign, Esteban's league output consisted of 30 minutes – the last round notwithstanding– after Alves was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 0–3 home defeat against

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

. At the season's end, however, the 35-year-old renewed his contract for another year. Esteban continued as Alves' backup in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. He was the starter, however, in Almería's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

run, which saw the club reach the competition's semi-finals for the first time ever. In the final stretch of the campaign, as they were already relegated and Alves announced his departure to Valencia, he appeared in four matches and conceded 11 goals, including eight in a 8–1 loss at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Subsequently, at 36, Esteban became Almería's first choice. He played all 42 league games during the second-division season, conceding 43 goals as the team finished seventh. Esteban did not miss one single match in the 2013–14 campaign, as the ''Rojiblancos'' were again in the Spanish top flight and managed to stay afloat.

Return to Oviedo

On 13 May 2014, Esteban announced he was returning to Oviedo twelve years after leaving. An undisputed starter in his first two seasons, he was overtaken by new signing

Juan Carlos Juan Carlos I (; Juan Carlos Alfonso Víctor María de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, born 5 January 1938) is a member of the Spanish royal family who reigned as King of Spain from 22 November 1975 until his abdication on 19 June 2014. In Sp ...

in 2016–17. On 29 June 2017, despite Esteban's willingness to play a further season, he retired and was immediately included in the club's backroom staff.

Honours

Oviedo *

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

: 2014–15¡Campeones! (Champions!)
Real Oviedo, 11 June 2015 (in Spanish) Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esteban 1975 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Avilés Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Avilés Industrial CF footballers Real Oviedo Vetusta players Real Oviedo players Atlético Madrid footballers Sevilla FC players RC Celta de Vigo players UD Almería players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Real Oviedo non-playing staff