Sergio Alejandro Díaz (born 9 February 1985) is a Spanish retired

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 ...

Club career

Díaz was born in Turón, Asturias. After starting out at local

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 ...

, making his senior debut aged 17 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 ...

in a relegation-ending season, he finished his football development at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

, having joined in 2003. Over two seasons in the second division – of the five in total he spent with the team– Díaz made a further seven league appearances with the reserves. He was also called up to the first team for a

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 ...

match against

FC Dynamo Kyiv The Football Club 'Dynamo Kyiv', also known as Dynamo Kyiv, or simply Dynamo, ( ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet ...

in December 2006 ( the group stage's last), but remained an unused substitute; he earned another call that month, in

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 ...

against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

, although he ultimately was cut from the final squad of 18. For the 2008–09 campaign, Díaz signed with

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

, who was coached by his former Castilla manager

Juan Carlos Mandiá Juan Carlos Mandiá Lorenzo (born 17 January 1967) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a defender, currently assistant manager of Saudi Pro League club Al Qadsiah. Playing career Mandiá was born in Alfoz, Province of Lugo. Over a ...

. He appeared very rarely for the fourth-placed team in division two, following a severe injury contracted in preseason. Díaz moved to

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 ...

2010–11 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 ...

, agreeing to a three-year deal with the second tier side. On 29 July 2011, however, he terminated his contract with the

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

, and returned to old club Hércules the same day.Sergio Díaz deja el Nàstic y regresa al Hércules (Sergio Díaz leaves Nàstic and returns to Hércules)

Sport Sport is a physical activity or game, often Competition, competitive and organization, organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The numbe ...

, 29 July 2011 (in Spanish)

Honours

Spain U17 * Meridian Cup:

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diaz, Sergio 1985 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Mieres, Asturias Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Oviedo Vetusta players Real Oviedo players Real Madrid Castilla footballers Real Madrid CF players Hércules CF players Gimnàstic de Tarragona footballers Real Avilés Industrial CF footballers Spain men's youth international footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen