Raúl Albentosa Redal (born 7 September 1988) 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Alzira, Valencia Alzira (; ) is a city and municipality of 49.000 inhabitants (62,094 floating population) in Valencia, eastern Spain. It is the capital of the '' comarca'' of Ribera Alta in the province of Valencia. The city is the heart of the second largest ...

, Albentosa played youth football with local

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 ...

, making his senior debut in 2007–08 season with the B team 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 ...

. On 15 June 2008 he played his first official game with the main squad, starting in a 1–0 away loss against

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo S. A. D. is a Spanish association football, football club based in the city of Jerez de la Frontera. It was founded in 1947 and plays in . History Due to the link between Jerez de la Frontera and the United Kingdom created b ...

. In August 2009, Albentosa was loaned to Caravaca CF. He returned to Elche in January of the following year, however, and appeared in a further two matches 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 ...

until the end of the campaign. In the following years, Albentosa did not settle with any team. He competed in the fourth tier with Real Murcia Imperial, representing CD San Roque de Lepe and Cádiz CF 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 ...

. On 21 July 2013, Albentosa signed with SD Eibar, recently promoted to the second division. He scored his first professional goal on 2 March of the following year, the last in a 3–0 home victory over

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting is a Spanish professional association football, football club from Gijón, Principality of Asturias. Founded on 1 July 1905, it plays in the ...

. Albentosa made 33 appearances in 2013–14, helping the ''Armeros'' achieve promotion to

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 ...

for the first time ever. He made his debut in the competition on 24 August 2014, starting in a 1–0 home defeat of

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, ...

. On 19 September, through a header, he scored his first goal in the top flight, his being the second of the 2–0 win at Elche. On 16 January 2015, Albentosa signed for Derby County on a -year deal, after the English club paid the

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

600,000 of his buyout clause. He made his competitive debut for his new team eight days later, playing the first half of a 2–0 home victory against Chesterfield in the

fourth round Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. Albentosa returned to Spain and its top division in the summer of 2015, agreeing to a one-year loan deal at

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

. On 9 July 2016, he signed a permanent four-year contract with

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

in the same league. On 31 August 2018, after suffering relegation, Albentosa was loaned to second-tier

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

for one year. He was recalled the following January, terminating his contract shortly after. Albentosa moved abroad again in late July 2019, with the 30-year-old joining

PFC CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First Professional Football League, First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ' ...

of the

First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

. He played his first competitive match on 2 August in a 1–0 away loss to

NK Osijek Nogometni klub Osijek (), commonly referred to as NK Osijek (), is a Croatian professional association football, football sports club, club from Osijek. Founded in 1947, it was the club from Slavonia with the most seasons in the Yugoslav First Le ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

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 ...

, and scored his first goal two months later in the 2–2 Eternal Derby draw against

PFC Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First Professional Football League (Bulgaria), First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was ...

. In April 2020, Albentosa left the

Stadion Balgarska Armia Stadion Balgarska Armia (, ) is a stadium of the Bulgarian association football, football club CSKA Sofia. It is situated in the Borisova gradina in the centre of Sofia. Until 2024 the stadium had four sectors and a total of 22,995 (18,495) seats ...

by mutual consent. He moved to Romania with

FC Dinamo București FC Dinamo București, commonly known as Dinamo București () or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest that competes in the Liga I. Founded in 1948 as the team of the Ministry of Inter ...

one year later, scoring his only

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

goal on 2 May against FC Viitorul Constanța and leaving at the end of the season. On 12 January 2022, Albentosa signed with

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

club

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six ...

. His link expired in June 2024, and he was not offered a new deal.

Honours

Eibar *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Albentosa, Raul 1988 births Living people People from Alzira, Valencia 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Valencia Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Divisiones Regionales de Fútbol players Elche CF Ilicitano footballers Elche CF players Caravaca CF players Real Murcia Imperial players CD San Roque de Lepe footballers Cádiz CF players SD Eibar footballers Málaga CF players Deportivo de La Coruña players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers English Football League players Derby County F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players PFC CSKA Sofia players Liga I players FC Dinamo București players Danish Superliga players Vejle Boldklub players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Denmark