Víctor Ruiz Torre (; born 25 January 1989) 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

Espanyol

Born in

Esplugues de Llobregat Esplugues de Llobregat () is a municipality of the Barcelona metropolitan area. Formerly in the ''Barcelonès'', since 1990 it has been part of the Comarques of Catalonia, comarca of Baix Llobregat. During recent decades Esplugues has evolved fro ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, Ruiz arrived in

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 system in 2006 at the age of 17, from neighbouring

UE Cornellà Unió Esportiva Cornellà, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S. A. D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Cornellà de Llobregat, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1951 it plays in , holding home gam ...

. In the 2008–09 season he made his senior debut, helping the reserve side to win their

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 ...

group and subsequently promote in the playoffs. Ruiz made his debut with the first team on 6 December 2009, starting and being booked in a 4–0 home loss against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

. Coach

Mauricio Pochettino Mauricio Roberto Pochettino Trossero (born 2 March 1972), also known mononymously by his nickname Poch, is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the United States men's national team. Pochettin ...

fielded him in a further 21

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 ...

games that campaign, with the team finally finishing 11th; he added two goals, against

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 ...

(2–1 away defeat) and

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

(3–0, home).

Napoli and Valencia

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 ...

, Ruiz played all the minutes for Espanyol in the first 15 rounds. On 31 January 2011, he was sold to

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

for

€ 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 ...

6 million cash in a four-and-a-half-year contract, with the Italians also ceding the sporting rights to Jesús Dátolo who was playing with the Spaniards on loan. Ruiz returned to his country on 30 August 2011, after signing a five-year deal with

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

for €8 million. He made his official debut on 10 September, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 home victory over Atlético Madrid. On 12 December 2013, Ruiz was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 1–1 home draw against

FC Kuban Krasnodar FC Kuban () was a Russian professional football club based in Krasnodar, which now only plays on a regional level. The team began playing in the Russian Premier League in 2011, having for won the Russian First Division a year prior. By then, ...

in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

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 ...

, for a

professional foul ''Professional Foul'' is a television play written by Czech-born, British playwright Tom Stoppard. It was broadcast on 21 September 1977 in BBC 2's ''Play of the Week'' series. The play is set in Prague and follows the character of Profess ...

Djibril Cissé Djibril Cissé (born 12 August 1981) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward. Cissé started his career at his boyhood club Arles-Avignon in 1989, before playing for the youth teams at Nîmes and Auxerre. Cissé sp ...

Villarreal

On 1 July 2015, following a one-year loan there, Ruiz transferred 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 ...

also in the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid wit ...

for an initial €2.7 million, potentially rising to €3 million. He played his first competitive match for them in his second spell on 23 August, when he started and finished the 1–1 draw at

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 ...

. Ruiz scored his first league goal for Villarreal on 7 April 2017, in a 3–1 home defeat of

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 ...

where he also received his marching orders after a straight red card with 15 minutes left.

Beşiktaş and Betis

On 7 August 2019, Ruiz joined Beşiktaş J.K. on a three-year contract. He returned to the Spanish top flight one year later, however, with the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

signing a one-year deal with Betis. Ruiz agreed to an extension until 2023 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 ...

on 4 June 2021; at its conclusion, he left. In between, he won the 2021–22 edition 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 ...

for his first major honour, but contributed only three matches to this feat.

Return to Espanyol

On 20 September 2023, Ruiz returned to his first professional club Espanyol on a one-year deal.

International career

Shortly after making his debut with Espanyol, Ruiz was called to the Spain under-21 team by manager Luis Milla. On 8 February 2011, in the last minutes of a 2–1 friendly win over

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, he was sent off for punching Nicki Bille, who celebrated his goal in front of Ruiz's face.

Career statistics

Honours

Espanyol B *

: 2008–09 Betis *

: 2021–22 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 ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 Team of the Season: 2015–16

References

External links

*
CiberChe biography and stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruiz, Victor 1989 births Living people People from Esplugues de Llobregat 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players UE Cornellà players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Valencia CF players Villarreal CF players Real Betis players Serie A players SSC Napoli players Süper Lig players Beşiktaş J.K. footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Turkey