Alexandre "Álex" Geijo Pazos (born 11 March 1982) is a former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He amassed Segunda División totals of 216 matches and 70 goals over seven seasons, representing five clubs in the process. He added eight goals from 90 appearances in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

, with Málaga, Levante,

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league syst ...

and

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

, and also competed professionally in his birth nation of Switzerland, Italy (all three major levels) and England.

Club career

The son of Spaniards who immigrated to Switzerland, Geijo was born in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situ ...

. He started his professional career in his country of birth with Neuchâtel Xamax FCS in 2000, moving the following year to Spain where he began playing with

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. They won the UEFA Intert ...

, with little individual success (15 matches in three seasons, playing mostly for the reserves), being released in summer 2005. For the next two years, Geijo played in the Segunda División with another

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...

n club,

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

, where he blossomed into a useful attacking player, scoring 13 goals in his first season. For the 2007–08 campaign, he joined

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a Spanish football club in Valencia, in the namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante play in Segunda División, holding home games at Ci ...

: in a team severely hindered by financial problems, and eventually relegated from

, he finished as the second team goal scorer at five, behind Mustapha Riga's eight. Geijo started his

second year Second year (also known as S2 in Scotland) is the second year of schooling in secondary schools in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Eu ...

strong, netting ten second-tier goals before the end of 2008. However, he missed the remainder of the season due to a serious

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a human leg, leg bone on the Lateral (anatomy), lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long ...

injury, after an awkward fall in a training session. On 28 July 2009, Geijo joined

for four years; still recovering from injury, he nonetheless completed a successful medical. His only goal only arrived on 24 January 2010, but it was a crucial one, as the

Cantabria Cantabria (, also , , Cantabrian: ) is an autonomous community in northern Spain with Santander as its capital city. It is called a ''comunidad histórica'', a historic community, in its current Statute of Autonomy. It is bordered on the ea ...

ns beat

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

away by a single goal. However, on 1 February, he signed with

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a f ...

, rejoining former Levante coach Gianni De Biasi. In July 2010, inserted in a partnership between

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021 ...

and Udinese, Geijo was loaned by the Italians in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long move. On 30 October he put three past former team Xerez in a 5–0 home win and, on 13 November, he scored all of his team's goals in a 4–1 home victory over FC Barcelona B. He finished the campaign with 24 goals (fourth-best in the competition) and his team achieved a second consecutive promotion, reaching the top flight after 35 years. Geijo started 2011–12 injured, with Granada languishing in the table's bottom three for most of the first months. On 31 October 2011 he scored his first goal of the campaign, equalising an eventual 2–1 away defeat of

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Eu ...

in a

local derby Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administra ...

. On 9 August 2012, Geijo joined

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

Watford Watford () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal en ...

on a

-long loan. He scored his first goal on 27 November, playing the full 90 minutes in a 4–1 win at

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

. Geijo only scored once for Udinese in the

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

, in the 2–2 away draw with U.C. Sampdoria on 21 December 2014. He remained in the country subsequently, with

Brescia Calcio Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia (), is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy, that currently plays in . The club holds the record for total number of seasons (64) and consecutive seasons (18, from 1947–48 to ...

in the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

and Venezia F.C. in the

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega ...

, winning promotion with the latter in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Geijo retired in August 2021 at the age of 39, after two seasons in his country's

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Fo ...

with Atlético Sanluqueño CF.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geijo, Alexandre 1982 births Living people Swiss people of Spanish descent Spanish footballers Swiss men's footballers Footballers from Geneva Association football forwards Swiss Super League players Neuchâtel Xamax FCS players La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Atlético Malagueño players Málaga CF players Xerez CD footballers Levante UD footballers Racing de Santander players Granada CF footballers RCD Mallorca players Atlético Sanluqueño CF players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Udinese Calcio players Brescia Calcio players Venezia F.C. players English Football League players Watford F.C. players Spanish expatriate footballers Swiss expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Italy Swiss expatriate sportspeople in England