Einar Galilea Azaceta (born 22 May 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 ...

who plays for Croatian club

NK Istra 1961 Nogometni klub Istra 1961 ( en, Istra 1961 Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Istra 1961, or simply Istra 1961 or Istra, is a Croatian professional football club from Pula, currently playing in the Croatian First League. It is a common ...

as either 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 ...

or a

midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Formed at Alavés, he spent most of his career in the

Croatian Football League The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva ...

, making over 100 appearances mainly for Istra 1961 and also for Rudeš.

Football career

Alavés

Born in

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

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 ...

, Galilea finished his formation with his hometown club

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

, and made his senior debut with the reserves in the 2012–13 campaign. On 19 May 2013, as the

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

side were already in the

play-offs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, he made his first team debut, coming on as a substitute in a 3–1 win at

CD Izarra Club Deportivo Izarra is a Spanish football team based in Estella-Lizarra, in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1924 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home matches at '' Estadio Merkatondoa'', with a capacity ...

. On 4 January 2014 Galilea made his debut as a professional, again from the bench in a 2–0 success at

CD Numancia Club Deportivo Numancia de Soria, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club in Soria, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 April 1945, it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Nuevo Estadio Los ...

in the

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 ...

championship. On 20 August he was definitely promoted to the main squad, and renewed his link until 2017 on 2 September. After the club's

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

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 ...

, it was announced on 18 August 2016 that Galilea would return to the B-side, but still being involved with the first team. He scored his first senior goal ten days later, netting the second in a 4–0

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

home routing of

Santutxu FC Santutxu Fútbol Club is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1918, it plays in Tercera División RFEF, Tercera D ...

. On 16 January 2017, despite being injured, Galilea renewed his contract for two more seasons. Roughly one year later, he was loaned to

NK Rudeš Nogometni Klub Rudeš ( en, Football Club Rudeš), commonly referred to as NK Rudeš or simply Rudeš, is a Croatian football club founded in 1957 in Zagreb's neighbourhood of Rudeš. The club competes in Croatia's second division. History B ...

until June. Galilea renewed his contract until 2021 on 9 June 2018, and was loaned to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

side

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard Football Club Sochaux-Montbéliard (; commonly referred to as FCSM or simply Sochaux) is a French association football club based in the city of Montbéliard. The club was founded in 1928 and currently plays in Ligue 2, the second tier of Frenc ...

eleven days later.

Istra 1961

In January 2019, Galilea left Sochaux and went on loan again to

. On 30 August 2020, the deal was extended for a further season. Galilea scored his first goal for the team from

Pula Pula (; also known as Pola, it, Pola , hu, Pòla, Venetian language, Venetian; ''Pola''; Istriot language, Istriot: ''Puola'', Slovene language, Slovene: ''Pulj'') is the largest city in Istria County, Croatia, and the List of cities and town ...

on 21 April 2021, in a 2–1 home loss to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

. On 19 May, he played in the 2021 Croatian Football Cup Final, lost 6–3 to

GNK Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. At the end of June 2021, Galilea's contract at Alavés expired, and he joined Istra 1961 permanently.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Alavés *

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Galilea, Einar 1994 births Living people Footballers from Vitoria-Gasteiz Spanish footballers Association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Deportivo Alavés B players Deportivo Alavés players Croatian Football League players NK Rudeš players NK Istra 1961 players Ligue 2 players FC Sochaux-Montbéliard players Spanish expatriate footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Croatia Expatriate footballers in France