Javier Sánchez de Felipe (born 14 March 1997) 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for and captains

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 ...

club

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

Club career

Real Madrid

Born in the

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

outskirts of

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, 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 c ...

, Sánchez finished his development 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 ...

after joining the club's academy at the age of 8. He made his senior debut with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in the

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 ...

, his first match occurring on 10 October 2015 in a 1–0 home win against

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in , holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-se ...

when he was still a junior. Sánchez scored his first goal for Castilla and in the third division on 3 December 2016, in a 1–1 home draw to CDA Navalcarnero. In the summer of 2018, he was selected by first-team manager Julen Lopetegui for the United States pre-season tour. Sánchez's maiden competitive appearance with Real Madrid took place on 31 October 2018 which also marked new coach Santiago Solari's debut, and the former featured the entire 4–0 victory at

UD Melilla Unión Deportiva Melilla is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in the autonomous city of Melilla. Founded in 1976, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Álvarez Claro'', with an 8,000 capac ...

in that season'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 ...

. He first appeared in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

one week later, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute for

Sergio Ramos Sergio Ramos García (; born 30 March 1986) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captain (association football), captains Liga MX club C.F. Monterrey, Monterrey. Regarded as one of the gr ...

in the 5–0 group stage away rout of

FC Viktoria Plzeň Football Club Viktoria Plzeň () is a Czech professional Association football, football club based in Plzeň. It plays in the Czech First League, the top division of football in the country. As runner-up in the 1970–71 Czechoslovak Cup, the c ...

. His first

game was on the 11th, when he replaced fellow youth graduate Sergio Reguilón at the end of the first half of an eventual 4–2 defeat of

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 ...

at Balaídos. He scored his first goal still in that year, contributing to the 6–1 home win against Melilla in the Spanish Cup return leg.

Valladolid

On 27 July 2019, Sánchez was loaned out to fellow top-tier side

in a season-long deal. The move was made permanent on 16 June 2020, with the player signing a contract until 2024. After winning promotion from 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 ...

as runners-up, Sánchez scored his first goal in the top flight on 5 November 2022, opening the 2–1 home defeat of

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

. After the club was relegated again, he all but missed the 2023–24 campaign due to a knee injury.

Style of play

A quick, versatile, tall and strong defender who chooses the right moment to attack, Sánchez is an ambidextrous player with excellent positioning. A leader on the pitch, he is also technically gifted.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Javi 1997 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Real Valladolid players Spain men's youth international footballers