Pablo González Couñago (born 9 August 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker. After appearing in 35

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 ...

matches for Celta and

Málaga Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...

, scoring three goals, he spent the bulk of his career in England with Ipswich Town, where he managed 62 competitive goals in two spells. He also played in Vietnam, Hong Kong and Finland. Couñago represented

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the 1999 World Youth Championship, winning the tournament.

Club career

Celta

Born in Redondela, Province of Pontevedra, Galicia, and a product of local Celta de Vigo's youth academy, Couñago made his professional debut in 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 ...

, loaned to Numancia. He returned in January 1999 to his first club, failing to appear in

in his first spell. He scored on his competitive debut on 26 November 1996 when he was just 17, equalising a 1–1 home draw against neighbours

Racing de Ferrol Racing Club de Ferrol, commonly known as Racing de Ferrol, is a Spanish football team based in Ferrol, Province of A Coruña, in the autonomous community of Galicia. Founded in 1919, the club currently plays in , holding home games at '' E ...

in the second round 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 the 1999–2000 season, Couñago returned to the second tier yet on loan, now with

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

, after which he returned to Celta still with no impact. He made 18 official appearances for the latter, 12 from the bench and two being in the 2000–01 UEFA Cup where he totalled 63 minutes.

Ipswich Town

After impressing in a Spain under-21 4–0 win over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

's ground, Couñago was signed by Ipswich Town in May 2001, as manager George Burley had been in the stands watching his performance; the player, who was out of contract, agreed to a four-year deal. He failed to find the net in his debut campaign while totalling 19 games, being relegated from the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

. Couñago scored a career-best 21 times in all competitions in 2002–03. Highlights included braces in victories against Leicester City (6–1 at home),

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

(2–1, home),

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

(3–2, home), Gillingham (3–1 away) and Coventry City (4–2, away); he added a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in the 8–1 home thrashing of Avenir Beggen in the qualifying round of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

(his team had been relegated, but still qualified for

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

via the fair play award), being voted Players' Player of the Year. On 14 October 2003, Couñago netted twice in a 6–1 win over

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

at Portman Road. He repeated the feat on 26 December to help to defeat hosts West Ham United 2–1, scoring 12 times overall as the Blues reached the playoffs after a fifth-place finish. Couñago did not feature as regularly during the 2004–05 season due to the form of Darren Bent and Shefki Kuqi. He scored three goals in four league starts and 15 substitute appearances, with Ipswich again losing out in the play-off semi-finals to West Ham.

Málaga

Couñago joined

ahead of 2005–06, making his debut on 28 August as a late replacement in a 2–0 away loss against his former employers Celta. He scored three times in 27 matches, as the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns finished bottom of the table. Couñago produced more the following campaign, but the club failed to regain its top-flight status.

Return to Ipswich

After being released by Málaga, Couñago re-signed for Ipswich on a two-year deal on 13 July 2007, extendable to three in case of promotion. He scored a return debut goal in the 4–1 home win against Sheffield Wednesday, and added two the following month to help dispose of Coventry City with the same result and at the same venue. He totalled 12 from 45 matches in the first season in his second spell; an audacious backheel in a 3–1 defeat to Charlton Athletic on 8 December 2007 was voted goal of the season at Town's awards night. Couñago started his 192nd league game for the club on 21 February 2009, and scored his 50th league goal in a 3–1 victory at promotion rivals Queen Park Rangers. In the summer of 2009, he turned down the chance to join Swansea City following the arrival of Roy Keane as manager, and saw his playing time significantly decrease under the latter, who claimed the Spaniard was "dead lazy" during their time together. On 20 August 2010, Couñago joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side Crystal Palace on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan, reuniting with former Ipswich boss Burley. He scored his first goal on 6 November, in a 2–1 loss away to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. In June 2011, aged 31, Couñago was released by Ipswich Town. Over two spells, he recorded 243 appearances and scored 62 goals.

Later career

Subsequently, Couñago spent five months with Đồng Tâm Long An in Vietnam, helping the club promote to the V-League. On 2 October 2012, he joined

Hong Kong First Division League The Hong Kong First Division League () is the second-highest division in the Hong Kong football league system. Established in 1908, it is the List of oldest football competitions, third oldest in Asia, after Calcutta and Bombay. Moreover, it is ...

's Kitchee for an undisclosed fee; he made his debut for his new team five days later, coming on at the hour mark of a 4–1 victory over Yokohama Hong Kong where his compatriot Yago González scored twice. Couñago scored ten times from 27 competitive games in his only season, and his 30-yard shot against Sun Pegasus helped his team to win the Hong Kong FA Cup, while he also played a part in their quarter-final run in the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

. In May 2014, after one year with Choco in the

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 ...

, he signed for Honka 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 ...

. Couñago announced his retirement in June 2018 at age 38, following one-year stints in the Spanish fourth tier with Alondras and Choco.

International career

Couñago was joint-top scorer at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship with five goals, as the Spain under-20 team won the tournament in Nigeria. In the following two years, he appeared and scored regularly for the under-21 side. In December 2006, Couñago played for the Galicia unofficial team in a friendly against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

Personal life

Couñago's son, Iago, was born in April 2008.

Career statistics

Honours

Celta *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

runner-up: 2000–01 Đồng Tâm Long An * V.League 2:

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Kitchee * Hong Kong FA Cup: 2012–13 Spain U20 * FIFA U-20 World Cup:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Individual * FIFA U-20 World Cup Golden Shoe:

* Ipswich Town top scorer: 2002–03 (21 goals) *Ipswich Town Players' Player of the Year: 2002–03 *Ipswich Town Goal of the Season: 2007–08

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Counago, Pablo 1979 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Redondela Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players RC Celta Fortuna players RC Celta de Vigo players CD Numancia players Recreativo de Huelva players Málaga CF players Premier League players English Football League players Ipswich Town F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Hong Kong First Division League players Kitchee SC players Veikkausliiga players Ykkönen players FC Honka players PK-35 Vantaa (men) players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Vietnam Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Vietnam Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Finland