Sergio Santamaría

Sergio Santamaría González (born 16 July 1980) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Santamaría and the second or maternal family name is González.

Sergio Santamaría
Personal information
Full name Sergio Santamaría González
Date of birth (1980-07-16) 16 July 1980
Place of birth Málaga, Spain
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1991–1992 La Cala Moral
1992–1996 Málaga
1996–1998 Barcelona
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2000 Barcelona C 59 (13)
1998–2004 Barcelona B 67 (8)
2000–2005 Barcelona 6 (0)
2001–2002 → Oviedo (loan) 32 (2)
2002–2003 → Elche (loan) 15 (1)
2004–2005 → Alavés (loan) 25 (0)
2005–2006 Albacete 31 (0)
2006–2007 Sant Andreu 25 (3)
2007–2008 Logroñés 28 (3)
2008–2009 Alzira 19 (0)
2009–2010 Antequera 18 (1)
2010–2011 Alhaurín Torre 0 (0)
Total 325 (31)
National team
1997–1998 Spain U17 9 (2)
1998–1999 Spain U18 8 (1)
2000 Spain U21 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Santamaría was born in Málaga, Andalusia. At age 12, after scoring 52 goals for local La Cala del Moral, he moved to neighbours Málaga CF to continue his grooming, and joined country giants FC Barcelona after four years.

In 1998–99, the Catalan's director of football, Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, promoted Santamaría to the club's B-team, which also included Luis García, Carles Puyol and Xavi. In the following seasons, he switched back and forth between the B and the C-sides, as both squads operated in 4–3–3, and the player scored 11 goals; on 19 May 2000, he made his first-team – and La Liga – debut, playing 45 minutes against Celta de Vigo in the last matchday.[1]

After the following campaign, in which he played exclusively for the reserves, Santamaría begun a series of loans until his June 2005 final release, all in the second division. In between, he also appeared four times for Barça in the season in which he was not loaned.[2][3]

In the summer of 2005, Santamaría moved to Albacete Balompié also in the second level.[4] Subsequently, he dropped down to division three, with UE Sant Andreu[5] and CD Logroñés;[6] he had a solid individual season with the latter club, but it was nonetheless relegated due to economic issues.

Santamaría resumed his career in the fourth tier, respectively with UD Alzira, Antequera CF and Alhaurín de la Torre CF (the latter two in his native region). He retired in June 2011 at the age of 31, due to injury.

International career

As he was part of Barcelona B's setup, Santamaría was called to represent Spain at the 1997 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Egypt. He was the recipient of the tournament's Golden Ball over the likes of Ronaldinho, Gabriel Milito and Sebastian Deisler, in an eventual third-place finish.[7]

References
  1. El Barcelona se gana la peonada (Barcelona earn the peonada); El País, 20 May 2000 (in Spanish)
  2. Santamaría, una perla de La Masía sin equipo (Santamaría, La Masía gem without a team); Marca, 17 January 2011 (in Spanish)
  3. La maldición de los cedidos (The curse of the loanees); El Periódico de Catalunya, 6 July 2013 (in Spanish)
  4. David Pirri y Santamaría ya están en Albacete (David Pirri and Santamaría are already in Albacete); Diario AS, 28 July 2005 (in Spanish)
  5. Sergio Santamaría, un ex culé para el Sant Andreu (Sergio Santamaría, former culé to Sant Andreu); Sport, 16 July 2006 (in Spanish)
  6. El club ficha a Sergio Santamaría, ex jugador de Barcelona y Alavés (Club signs Sergio Santamaría, former player of Barcelona and Alavés); El Correo, 16 August 2007 (in Spanish)
  7. Campeonato Mundial Sub-17 de la FIFA Egipto 1997 (Under-17 FIFA World Cup Egypt 1997); at FIFA (in Spanish)
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