Santi Villa

Santiago 'Santi' Villa Castro (born 5 August 1982) is a Spanish footballer who plays as a winger.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Villa and the second or maternal family name is Castro.
Santi Villa
Personal information
Full name Santiago Villa Castro
Date of birth (1982-08-05) 5 August 1982
Place of birth Linares, Spain
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Winger
Youth career
1999–2001 Linense
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001 Linense 2 (0)
2001–2002 Atlético Madrid C 1 (0)
2002–2003 Logroñés
2002 → San Marcial (loan)
2003 → Corralejo (loan) 9 (0)
2003 Calahorra 10 (0)
2004 Quintanar Rey 17 (2)
2004–2005 Granada 26 (2)
2005–2006 Murcia B
2006–2007 Torrevieja 36 (9)
2007–2008 Ontinyent 37 (10)
2008–2009 Orihuela 36 (9)
2009 Pontevedra 11 (1)
2010 Atlético Ciudad 15 (0)
2010–2011 Badalona 40 (5)
2011–2012 Cacereño 33 (8)
2012–2017 Jaén 163 (31)
2017–2020 Mérida 97 (21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He spent most of his career in Segunda División B, playing 403 games and scoring over 71 goals for ten teams, mostly Jaén, with whom he also made 15 Segunda División appearances in 2013–14.

Club career

Born in Linares, Jaén, Andalusia, Villa spent his first 12 seasons as a senior alternating between Segunda División B and Tercera División. He represented in the process Real Balompédica Linense, Atlético Madrid C, CD Logroñés, ACD San Marcial, CD Corralejo, CD Calahorra, CD Quintanar del Rey, Granada CF, Real Murcia Imperial, FC Torrevieja, Ontinyent CF, Orihuela CF, Pontevedra CF,[1] CF Atlético Ciudad, CF Badalona,[2] CP Cacereño[3] and Real Jaén,[4] achieving promotion with the latter to Segunda División in the 2012–13 campaign, to which he contributed 41 games and five goals (playoffs included).[5]

On 18 August 2013, at already 31, Villa played his first game as a professional, starting in a 1–2 league home loss against SD Eibar.[6] He appeared in 15 matches as the team dropped back to the third tier, and continued playing and scoring regularly for them at that level. He had his best yield of 12 goals in 2016–17 – including a hat-trick on 27 November in a 4–2 home win over Atlético Sanluqueño CF[7]– though the club fell into the fourth division.[8]

Villa left Jaén in June 2017, signing for Mérida AD.[9] He was the most-used player as they too were relegated in his first season (via the playoffs), and was preparing to leave before committing himself to the team for the next campaign.[10] After the Extremadurans bounced immediately back to the third tier, he extended his contract by another year in July 2019.[11]

References
  1. Pontevedra: se suma Santi Villa. (Pontevedra: adding Santi Villa) Archived 4 September 2013 at Archive.today; esFutbol, 27 July 2009 (in Spanish)
  2. El Badalona fitxa Santi Villa (Atlético Ciudad) (Badalona sign Santi Villa (Atlético Ciudad)); El 9 Esportiu, 13 July 2010 (in Catalan)
  3. Santi Villa y Samuel, nuevos fichajes del Cacereño (Santi Villa and Samuel, new signings of Cacereño); El Periódico de Extremadura, 20 July 2011 (in Spanish)
  4. Santi Villa: 'El Real Jaén me ofrece un proyecto atractivo' (Santi Villa: 'Real Jaén offer me an attractive project'); Diario de Jaén, 20 July 2012 (in Spanish)
  5. Navarro, Adrián (30 June 2013). "Real Jaén es de Segunda sufriendo hasta el final con Huracán Valencia" [Real Jaén are in Segunda suffering with Huracán Valencia until the end] (in Spanish). Vavel. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  6. El Jaén muere en la orilla (Jaén die on the shore); Marca, 18 August 2013 (in Spanish)
  7. Gutiérrez, José A. (28 November 2016). "Santi Villa se disfraza de 'killer'" [Santi Villa disguises himself as a 'killer'] (in Spanish). Ideal. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  8. García, César (30 April 2017). "El Real Jaén desciende a Tercera División" [Real Jaén relegated to Tercera División] (in Spanish). Cadena SER. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  9. "Adiós con el corazón" [Goodbye with heart] (in Spanish). Diario Jaén. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  10. "El Mérida 'renueva' a Santi Villa" [Mérida 'renew' Santi Villa] (in Spanish). Hoy. 24 July 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  11. "Santi Villa jugará su tercera temporada con el Mérida" [Santi Villa will play his third season with Mérida] (in Spanish). Mérida AD. 22 July 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
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