Saúl Basilio Coco-Bassey Oubiña (born 9 February 1999), better known as Saúl Coco, is a 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

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Born in Spain, he represents

Equatorial Guinea Equatorial Guinea, officially the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. It has an area of . Formerly the colony of Spanish Guinea, its post-independence name refers to its location both near the Equ ...

at international level.

Early life

Coco was born in

Lanzarote Lanzarote (, , ) is a Spanish island, the easternmost of the Canary Islands, off the north coast of Africa and from the Iberian Peninsula. Covering , Lanzarote is the fourth-largest of the islands in the archipelago. With 163,230 inhabi ...

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

, to Basilio Coco-Bassey Eyanga and a Spanish mother. His father is an Equatoguinean former footballer and current coach who played for Canarian club CDU Puerto del Carmen in the 1987–88 season, alongside his brother Luis (Coco's uncle). Coco is also of Nigerian descent through his paternal grandfather.

Club career

Coco joined

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

's youth setup in July 2016, after representing

CD Orientación Marítima Club Deportivo Orientación Marítima is a Spanish football team based in Arrecife, Lanzarote, in the autonomous community of the Canary Islands. Founded in 1954, it plays in , holding home games at '' Ciudad Deportiva de Lanzarote'', with a capa ...

(where he was trained by his father) and

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

. In August 2018, after finishing his formation, he was loaned to

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 ...

side

UA Horta Unió Atlètica d'Horta is a football team based in Barcelona. Founded in 1922, it plays in . Its stadium is ''Municipal d’Horta'' with a capacity of 2,500 seats. History The club was founded on April 18, 1922, after the merge of Club Esporti ...

for the season. Coco made his senior debut on 18 August 2018, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 home win against

UE Figueres Unió Esportiva Figueres is a Spanish football team based in Figueres, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1919 and refounded in 2007 it plays in the , holding home matches at ''Estadi Municipal de Vilatenim'', with a seating cap ...

. The following 18 July, he returned to his former club Las Palmas, being assigned to the C-team also in the fourth division. Promoted to the reserves in

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 ...

ahead of the 2020–21 campaign, Coco made his first team debut on 17 December 2020, replacing Álvaro Lemos in a 4–0 away win against

CD Varea Club Deportivo Varea is a Spanish football team based in Varea, La Rioja, Logroño in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1967 and refounded in 2009, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadio Municipal de Varea'', with a 2,000-s ...

, for the 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 ...

. On 15 June 2022, he renewed his contract until 2025, being definitely promoted to the main squad. On 15 April 2023, Coco scored his first goal at any level for Las Palmas on his 69th appearance, consolation in a 2–1 loss at

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

. The team ended the season with 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 ...

, where he scored for the first time on 8 October to open a 2–1 victory away to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

; his 30-yard

direct free kick A free kick is a method of restarting play in association football. It is awarded after an infringement of the Laws of the Game (association football), laws by the opposing team. Direct and indirect free kicks Free kicks may be either dire ...

won the La Liga Goal of the Month award. On 17 July 2024, Coco signed for

club

Torino FC Torino Football Club (), colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football league of Italy. Founded in 1906 as ''Foot-Ball Club Torin ...

on a four-year contract.

International career

Eligible to play internationally for

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

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 ...

, Coco was called up to the senior squad of the former in August 2017. He made his full international debut on 3 September, replacing Pablo Ganet in a 1–2 friendly loss to

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

; by doing so, he became the first person from Lanzarote to get called up internationally in 67 years. The match was subsequently eliminated from

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

records, as the referee and his assistants referees were from Equatorial Guinea. Coco became

cap-tied Cap-tied is an adjective, used primarily in association football, to describe a player who has represented a senior national football team in more than three games (including at least one competitive game) and as a result is unable to represent a ...

to Equatorial Guinea on 17 November 2018, when he appeared in an Africa Cup of Nations qualifier match against

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. He scored his first international goal on his sixth appearance on 7 October 2021, opening a 2–0 home win over

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

qualification. He played all of his team's games in their run to the quarter-finals of the

2021 Africa Cup of Nations The 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (also referred to as AFCON 2021 or CAN 2021), known as the TotalEnergies 2021 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 33rd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's ass ...

in Cameroon, scoring in the penalty shootout win over

Mali Mali, officially the Republic of Mali, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is the List of African countries by area, eighth-largest country in Africa, with an area of over . The country is bordered to the north by Algeria, to the east b ...

in the last 16.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Equatorial Guinea's goal tally first.''

Honours

Individual * La Liga Goal of the Month: October 2023 * Serie A Goal of the Month: September 2024

References

External links

* * * People of Galician descent {{DEFAULTSORT:Coco, Saúl 1999 births Living people People from Lanzarote Footballers from the Province of Las Palmas Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Spanish people of Nigerian descent Spanish people of Galician descent Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent People of Canarian descent Equatoguinean people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Spanish men's footballers Equatoguinean men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Serie A players RCD Espanyol B footballers UA Horta players UD Las Palmas C players UD Las Palmas Atlético players UD Las Palmas players Torino FC players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers International sportspeople born abroad 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players 2023 Africa Cup of Nations players 21st-century Equatoguinean sportsmen Spanish expatriate men's footballers Equatoguinean expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Spanish sportsmen