Unai Simón Mendibil (born 11 June 1997) is a Spanish

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

for

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 ...

club

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

and the Spain national team. Simón has spent his entire club career with Athletic, developing with their youth academy, farm team and reserves and making his senior debut in 2018, amassing 200 appearances by 2025. Simón made his senior international debut for Spain in 2020 and played at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international men's association footb ...

, the

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 ...

, and

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

, where he featured in all but one match as Spain won the latter tournament.

Early life

Simón's father, a member of the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard (; ) is one of the two national law enforcement agencies of Spain. As a national gendarmerie, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the authority of both the Ministry of the Interior and the Minis ...

from the

Province of Zamora Zamora () is a Provinces of Spain, province of western Spain, in the western part of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castile and León. It is bordered by the provinces of Province of Ourense, Ourense, Province of Le� ...

, was assigned to a security posting in the Basque Country where he met Unai's mother, a member of the

Ertzaintza The (, or ''People's Guard'') is the autonomous police force for the Basque Country, largely replacing the Spanish Policía Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil (Civil Guard). An Ertzaintza member is called an ''ertzaina'' (). ...

(the local police force); their son was born in

Vitoria-Gasteiz Vitoria-Gasteiz (; ; also historically spelled Vittoria in English) is the seat of government and the capital city of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country and of the provinces of Spain, province of Álava in northern Spain. I ...

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

, and raised in the nearby village of Murgia. He joined

's youth system in 2011 from CD Aurrerá de Vitoria, lodging with a family in the

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

area.

Club career

Simón made his debut as a senior with

CD Basconia Club Deportivo Basconia is a Spanish football club based in Basauri, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded on 14 March 1913, it currently plays in , holding home games at the ''Artunduaga Sports Centre'', in the town o ...

, Athletic's

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

, in the 2014–15 season, 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 8 June 2016, he was promoted to the reserves, recently relegated to

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 ...

. He immediately became a starter for the side, contributing with 29 appearances during the campaign. On 2 June 2017, he was called up to the main squad for the pre-season by new first team manager

José Ángel Ziganda José Ángel "Cuco" Ziganda Lakunza (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a centre-forward. He played 381 La Liga matches over the course of 12 ...

, but continued to appear exclusively for the B-team. On 13 July 2018, he signed a contract extension until 2023, and was loaned to

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 ...

side

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 ...

two weeks later. On 15 August 2018, after

Kepa Arrizabalaga Kepa Arrizabalaga Revuelta (born 3 October 1994), often referred to simply as Kepa, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Chelsea. After progressing through Athletic Bilbao's youth academy, Arrizabalaga be ...

's departure from the club and Iago Herrerín's injury, Simón was recalled by Athletic before he had played a match for Elche. He initially appeared to be behind the older

Álex Remiro Alejandro "Álex" Remiro Gargallo (born 24 March 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Sociedad and the Spain national team. Developed at Athletic Bilbao, he played as a senior with Basconi ...

in the queue for selection, but made his professional – and

– debut five days later, starting in a 2–1 home win against

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

. In just his third appearance in the top division, Simón played in a 1–1 draw with

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 ...

where he made several key saves and was named player of the match. However, when Herrerín regained full fitness in October 2018 he was made the starting goalkeeper, with Simón's only appearances over the subsequent four months coming in 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 ...

. For the 2019–20 season, Simón was given the No. 1 squad number and began the campaign as first choice, keeping a clean sheet in an opening day win over

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

. He continued his strong form throughout the season, missing two fixtures with illness and completing 33 matches in the league, conceding 29 goals to finish third in the

Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy () is a association football, football award, established by Spanish newspaper ''Marca (newspaper), Marca'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" rati ...

rankings. On the 37th, penultimate, matchday, he was sent off during the first half against Leganés for a 'last man' challenge outside the penalty area, with the resultant suspension ending his season a game early; with ten men, Athletic Bilbao lost 2–0 to end their slim hopes of qualifying for 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 ...

. In August 2020, he signed a new contract with the club running to the summer of 2025, with no buyout clause. In January 2021, he saved a penalty from

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

's Jaime Mata. The following month he had a decisive role in the quarter-finals of the

, stopping two of the three penalties in the shootout at the

Estadio Benito Villamarín es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

against

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. During the 2021–22 season, he kept his place in the starting lineup and had several impressive performances, the most notable being against Levante and Getafe (both matches ending goalless). In the following season, with the arrival of

Ernesto Valverde Ernesto Valverde Tejedor (born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Over ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 ...

, he maintained his role as an undisputed starter in the league and performed at a good level. On 10 November 2023, in "one of his best moments as a professional", he saved a penalty from

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

striker

Iago Aspas Iago Aspas Juncal (; born 1 August 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Celta, which he captains. He has spent most of his career with Celta, appearing in 524 official games across 16 seasons and ...

to keep the score level in a game his team went on to win. On 16 March 2024, he stopped another penalty from Luis Rioja of Alavés, starting a move which culminated in a goal for Athletic forty seconds later as they again went on to win; in addition, Simón consolidated his position as leader in the Zamora Trophy with his 15th clean sheet in the league. At the end of the season, he extended his contract to 2029. In October 2024, Simón was ranked in second place for the

Yashin Trophy The Yashin Trophy () is an association football award presented annually by ''France Football'' to the best performing Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. The award is named after former Soviet Union goalkeeper Lev Yashin, and the wi ...

. He was unavailable for the first four months of the 2024–25 season due to rehabilitation after surgery on his wrist, which was carried out immediately after the Euros tournament ended. He made his 200th appearance for Athletic Bilbao in January 2025.

International career

Simón was selected for

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 ...

at under-19 and under-21 levels. He was a member of the squad that won the

2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (64th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the men's under-19 ...

, albeit as the backup goalkeeper to Antonio Sivera during the tournament. In the same year he was in the Basque Country under-18 team that won the . On 1 September 2017, Simón debuted with the under-21 team against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He was selected for the

2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2019) was the 22nd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (25th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth association ...

, playing the first game of the group stage as Spain once more finished as champions (Sivera was again first-choice). Simón received his first call-up to the senior side on 20 August 2020, for the

2020–21 UEFA Nations League The 2020–21 UEFA Nations League was the second season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from Septembe ...

matches against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. Despite having made an error which led to a goal at club level a few days earlier, he was selected for his full debut on 11 November 2020, playing the entirety of a friendly against

the Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. On 24 May 2021, Simón was included in

Luis Enrique Luis Enrique Martínez García (; born 8 May 1970), known as Luis Enrique, is a Spanish football manager and former player. He is the manager of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. A versatile player with good technique, he was capable of playin ...

's 24-man squad for

. Having displaced

David de Gea David de Gea Quintana (; born 7 November 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina. Considered one of the best keepers of his generation, he is known for his reflexes and shot-stopping capabilitie ...

as first-choice, he started all of the team's matches, and caused an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

in the 5–3 last-16 win over

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

when he was unable to control a long backwards pass by Pedri. Luis Enrique praised his mentality for having recovered from that mistake. He then managed to save two penalties as Spain won the shootout against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the quarter-finals after a 1–1 draw, for which he was also awarded the Star of the Match. The semi-final against

ended with the same score, and Simón saved the first attempt in the shootout by

Manuel Locatelli Manuel Locatelli (born 8 January 1998) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Serie A club Juventus, whom he also captains, and the Italy national team. After coming through the club's youth system, Loc ...

, but the Italians prevailed. Simón was also called up for the Spanish Olympic team for the delayed 2020 tournament in Japan. With Simón as the starting goalkeeper they reached the final, but lost to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. He was the starter at the

in which Spain progressed from their group with a win, a draw and a defeat, then lost 3–0 on penalties to

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

after a goalless draw – Simón saved from Badr Benoun, but three team-mates all failed with their efforts. They had better fortune in the

2023 UEFA Nations League final The 2023 UEFA Nations League final was a football match that determined the winners of the final tournament of the 2022–23 UEFA Nations League. It was the third final of the international football competition involving the men's national tea ...

six months later, where another 0–0, against

, was followed by a 5–4 win in the shootout to claim the title, Simón blocking attempts from Lovro Majer and Bruno Petković.force); On 7 June 2024, Simón was named in Spain's squad for

. He started and played all matches except the final group stage match. He played the full 90 minutes of the final as Spain beat England to become European champions for the fourth time.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 2023–24 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Spain U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Spain U23 * Summer Olympic silver medal:

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

: 2022–23; runner-up: 2020–21, 2024–25 Individual *

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

La Liga Revelation Team of the Year: 2019–20 *

La Liga Team of the Season The La Liga Awards, previously known as the LFP awards, are presented annually by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) to the best players and coach in La Liga, the first division of association football in Spain. Established in the 2008–09 La ...

: 2023–24 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Men's UEFA Team: 2024

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Unai 1997 births Living people Footballers from Vitoria-Gasteiz Spanish men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Spain Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Elche CF players UEFA Euro 2020 players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players UEFA Nations League–winning players CD Aurrerá de Vitoria footballers Olympic medalists in football Olympic silver medalists for Spain Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics UEFA European Championship–winning players 21st-century Spanish sportsmen