David Villabona
Personal information
Full name David Villabona Echalecu
Date of birth (1969-12-05) 5 December 1969 (age 54)
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
Gold medal – first place 1992 Barcelona Team Competition

David Villabona Echalecu (born 5 December 1969) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mostly as a central midfielder.

He represented both Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao in his professional career, amassing La Liga totals of 221 matches and 13 goals over 15 seasons.

Villabona was a member of the Spain 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 made seven La Liga appearances in his first three seasons, being an undisputed starter 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, 1992–93, 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 totalled 12 games from 1997 to 2001 (none in the latter season as they finished second-bottom), and retired at the age of 31.[3][4][5]

Honours

Spain U23

References

  1. ^ "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.
  2. ^ "Athletic Club-Real Sociedad: jugadores en los dos bandos" [Athletic Club-Real Sociedad: players on both sides]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 9 May 2014. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  3. ^ Muriendas, Mauro (4 January 1999). "El esperado retorno de Billabona" [Billabona's unexpected return]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  4. ^ Agiriano, Jon (20 January 2008). "La nueva vida de Billabona" [The new life of Billabona]. El Diario Montañés (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  5. ^ Guerrero, José Luis; Fenoll, Salvador (25 December 2022). "Billabona, el oro de Barcelona 92 que no mira el grupo de WhatsApp que tiene con Guardiola" [Billabona, the gold in Barcelona 92 who does not check the WhatsApp group he has with Guardiola] (in Spanish). Relevo. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  6. ^ Morenilla, Juan (25 February 2007). "Supervivientes de oro" [Golden survivors]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2018.

External links

Spain football squad – 1992 Summer Olympics – Gold medalists
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