Mikel González de Martín Martínez (born 24 September 1985) is a Spanish former 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

central defender 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 ...

. He spent most of his 19-year senior career 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, ...

, playing 300 competitive games and scoring six goals.

Club career

Real Sociedad

A product of

's youth ranks, González was born in Arrasate-Mondragón,

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

, and he made his first-team debut on 17 September 2005 in a 5–2 away loss against

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

. He went on to collect only two more

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 ...

appearances during that season. With 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 ...

team in

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 ...

, González became an undisputed starter, appearing in 35 games in the 2009–10 campaign as Real returned to the top flight after a three-year absence and contributing one goal, in a 2–1 home victory over

Villarreal CF B Villarreal Club de Fútbol "B" is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1999, it is the reserve team of Villarreal CF and plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio de la Cerámica'', wit ...

. He added 32 matches – 30 starts – the following year as the club retained its league status, but somewhat lost his importance in the squad following the January 2011 signing of Norwegian

Vadim Demidov Vadim Sergeievich Demidov (; born 10 October 1986) is a Norwegian retired international footballer who played as a central defender. Early life Demidov was born in Riga, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union, and is of Russian ethni ...

and the emergence of youth product

Iñigo Martínez Iñigo Martínez Berridi (; ; born 17 May 1991) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. He spent most of his professional career with Real Sociedad, playing ...

. González returned to starting duties in the following seasons, alongside Martínez: he started in all his 34 league appearances in

2012–13 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 ...

in more than 3.000 minutes of action, scoring against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

(4–0, at home) and

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 ...

(5–2 away win) as the ''Txuriurdin'' finished fourth and returned to 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 ...

after one decade. González made his debut in the Champions League on 17 September 2013, playing the full 90 minutes in a 0–2 group phase home loss to

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

. He added a further four games in that stage of the competition, as his team ranked last. In April 2017, by now a backup member of the squad, González made his 300th appearance for Real Sociedad. It was his final match serving the club, with his contract not renewed on its expiry the following month.

Zaragoza

On 29 August 2017,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

González signed a two-year deal 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 ...

in the second division. He scored his only goal for 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 –

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 ...

notwithstanding– on 2 October, helping the visitors to draw 2–2 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 ...

. González terminated his contract on 8 July 2018.

AEK Larnaca

On 3 July 2018, the 32-year-old González moved abroad for the first time in his career and joined

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club

AEK Larnaca FC AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EPA Larnaca and Pezoporikos. The club also has a men' ...

on a one-year contract. He retired in May 2023.

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2009–10 AEK Larnaca *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2018

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Mikel 1985 births Living people People from Mondragón 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gipuzkoa Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Real Zaragoza players Cypriot First Division players AEK Larnaca FC players Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus