Iñigo Díaz de Cerio Conejero (born 15 May 1984) is a Spanish retired

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 striker.

Club career

De Cerio was born in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, Basque Country. Having finished his football grooming with

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

, he was the top scorer (across all four groups) in the third division with the B-team in the 2005–06 season, and also made his

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 ...

debut on 12 February 2006 in a 0–1 away loss against

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 ...

. In 2007–08, he scored 16 second level goals as the main squad finished fourth, falling short of a return to the top flight. On 8 November 2008, Díaz de Cerio suffered a serious injury after a collision with SD Eibar player Zigor, fracturing the

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

and the

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

of his right leg. After a successful surgery, the club medical's staff nonetheless stated that the recovery would be "very slow", and the player was expected to miss the vast majority of the campaign. In late June 2009, Díaz de Cerio switched to neighbours

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

on a four-year deal after his Real contract had just expired. He returned to action almost one year after his injury (5 November 2009), playing 30 minutes in a 1–1 draw at C.D. Nacional in the group stage of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. On 13 August 2010, Córdoba CF confirmed Díaz de Cerio's loan for one year. In the following

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

, however, he was recalled by Athletic Bilbao. From

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, Díaz de Cerio competed in the second tier and scored a combined 22 goals for

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 , holding home games at '' Nuevo Estadio Los Pajaritos''. Besides football it ...

and CD Mirandés. In June 2014, however, aged only 30, he announced his retirement from football.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz De Cerio, Inigo 1984 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Antiguoko players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Córdoba CF players CD Numancia players CD Mirandés footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen