David Villabona
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Villabona Echalecu | ||
| Date of birth | 5 December 1969 | ||
| Place of birth | Irun, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Real Sociedad | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–1989 | Real Sociedad B | 30 | (3) |
| 1987–1990 | Real Sociedad | 42 | (1) |
| 1990–1993 | Athletic Bilbao | 59 | (1) |
| 1993–2001 | Racing Santander | 120 | (11) |
| Total | 251 | (16) | |
| International career | |||
| 1987 | Spain U17 | 1 | (0) |
| 1986–1988 | Spain U18 | 10 | (1) |
| 1988–1989 | Spain U19 | 3 | (0) |
| 1989–1990 | Spain U20 | 5 | (1) |
| 1990–1991 | Spain U21 | 5 | (0) |
| 1991–1992 | Spain U23 | 5 | (1) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Representing  Spain
| ||
| Men's Football | ||
 |
1992 Barcelona | Team Competition |
David Villabona Echalecu (born 5 December 1969) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mostly as a central midfielder.
During his professional career he played for both Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, amassing La Liga totals of 221 matches and 13 goals over 15 seasons.
Villabona was a member of the Spanish side that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.[1]
Club career
Villabona was born in Irun, Gipuzkoa. In a career blighted by injuries, he started playing professionally with Real Sociedad, but only amassed seven La Liga appearances in his first three seasons, being an undisputed starter however in 1989–90 as he helped the Basques to a final fifth place.
Subsequently, Villabona joined neighbours Athletic Bilbao,[2] being regularly used at the beginning but very little in his final campaign, facing stiff competition from Josu Urrutia and youngster Julen Guerrero. His most steady period was lived at Racing de Santander, being a very important midfield element for the Cantabrians; due to recurrent injuries, however, he only appeared 12 times from 1997 to 2001 combined (none in the latter season as they finished second from the bottom), and retired at the age of 31.
Honours
Spain U23
References
- ^ "La Roja de 1992, nuestra medalla de oro Olímpica" [1992's La Roja, our Olympic gold medal] (in Spanish). Antena 3. 3 July 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
- ^ "Athletic Club-Real Sociedad: jugadores en los dos bandos" [Athletic Club-Real Sociedad: players on both sides]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 9 May 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
- ^ "Supervivientes de oro" [Golden survivors]. El País (in Spanish). 25 February 2007. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
External links
- David Villabona at BDFutbol
- David Villabona at Athletic Bilbao
- David Villabona – FIFA competition record (archived)
- 1969 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Irun
- Spanish footballers
- Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community)
- Association football midfielders
- La Liga players
- Segunda División B players
- Real Sociedad B footballers
- Real Sociedad footballers
- Athletic Bilbao footballers
- Racing de Santander players
- Spain youth international footballers
- Spain under-21 international footballers
- Spain under-23 international footballers
- Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Olympic footballers of Spain
- Olympic gold medalists for Spain
- Olympic medalists in football
- Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics
- Basque Country international footballers