Juan Esnáider Ruiz (born 31 January 1992) is a Spanish

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He played as high as

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 ...

in his own country (with

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

), totalling 148 games and 20 goals 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 ...

for Zaragoza B,

Huesca Huesca (; ) is a city in north-eastern Spain, within the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon between 1096 and 1118. It is also the capital of the Spanish Huesca (province), ...

Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...

, Mérida, Tudelano and

Navalcarnero Navalcarnero is a municipality in the Community of Madrid, Spain, located about from Madrid. Sights include the church of Inmaculada Concepción. History By the end of 1499 the city of Segovia founded the location of Navalcarnero, to put an en ...

. He also had brief spells in the top divisions of Switzerland and Finland.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Esnáider graduated from

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

's youth system, and made his senior debut with the C team in 2011, in

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. On 9 January 2012, he signed with

Rayo Majadahonda Club de Fútbol Rayo Majadahonda () is a Spanish professional football club in Majadahonda, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1976 it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Cerro del Espino'', with a capacity of 3,800 seats. ...

of the same level. Esnáider joined amateurs Las Rozas in the summer of 2012 and, in July of the following year, he moved to

's reserves. He appeared in his first game as a professional on 9 March 2014, coming on as a late substitute for Luis García in a 1–1 home draw against

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

in the

. He scored his only goal in the competition seven days later, but in a 4–2 loss at Ponferradina. On 1 September 2014, Esnáider terminated his contract with the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese club and signed for neighbouring

hours later. On 3 August 2015, after achieving promotion to the second tier, he moved to

. After a career-best 12 goals in his one season, in June 2016 Esnáider moved abroad for the first time to

Lausanne-Sport Football Club Lausanne-Sport is a Swiss football club based in Lausanne in the canton of Vaud. Founded in 1896, Lausanne Sport compete in the top-tier Swiss Super League after being promoted in the 2022–23 Swiss Challenge League Season. The ...

of the

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

. He made his debut on 16 September in the last 32 of the

national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. For most of th ...

, scoring in a 3–1 away defeat to

Köniz Köniz (, ) is a statistical town (though residents still regard it as a village) and a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district right on the southern border to Bern in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The municipality of K� ...

. His sole other appearance was his top-flight debut on 2 October late into a 4–1 home win over

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. Esnáider subsequently returned to Spain's third tier from July 2017, with Mérida, Tudelano and

. On 17 January 2021, he scored twice in a 3–1 home victory against

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

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

in the

round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the

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 ...

. In August 2021, Esnáider headed back to a foreign top flight, joining

Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (abbreviated as KTP) is a Finnish association football, football club based in Kotka, and currently competing in Finland's top-tier, the Veikkausliiga. The club was founded in 1927 and its colours are green and whi ...

of the Finnish

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

for the remainder of the season with the option of one more. He scored once to conclude a 2–0 home win over Honka on 16 October.

Personal life

Esnáider's father, also named

Juan ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of '' John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philip ...

, was also a footballer and a forward. He too represented Zaragoza, and was a full international for

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. His younger brother Fernando died aged 17 in 2012, from a

terminal illness Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, rather than fatal injur ...

. Another sibling, Facundo, was born in

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

and also became a footballer. The family surname, originally spelled ''Schneider'', came from

Volga German The Volga Germans (, ; ) are ethnic Germans who settled and historically lived along the Volga River in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and close to Ukraine nearer to the south. Recruited as immigrants to Russia in th ...

ancestors.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esnaider, Juan 1992 births Living people People of Volga German descent Spanish people of Argentine descent Spanish people of German descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Madrid Men's association football forwards Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Villarreal CF C players CF Rayo Majadahonda players Las Rozas CF players Deportivo Aragón players Real Zaragoza players SD Huesca footballers CD Toledo players Mérida AD players CD Tudelano footballers CDA Navalcarnero players Swiss Super League players FC Lausanne-Sport players Veikkausliiga players Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Finland