David Villabona
David Villabona Echalecu (born 5 December 1969) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mostly as a central midfielder.
| 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 | ||
.svg.png.webp){kind=icon} | 1992 Barcelona | Team Competition |
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]
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.
- Muriendas, Mauro (4 January 1999). "El esperado retorno de Billabona" [Billabona's unexpected return]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- Agiriano, Jon (20 January 2008). "La nueva vida de Billabona" [The new life of Billabona]. El Diario Montañés (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 May 2023.
- 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.
- Morenilla, Juan (25 February 2007). "Supervivientes de oro" [Golden survivors]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 May 2018.
External links
- David Villabona at BDFutbol
- David Villabona at Athletic Bilbao
- David Villabona – FIFA competition record (archived)