Íñigo Sainz-Maza Serna (born 16 June 1998) is a Spanish professional

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 lea ...

who plays as either a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

or a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

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, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

Club career

Born in

Ampuero Ampuero is a municipality located in the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain. It is surrounded by the municipalities of Limpias, Liendo, Voto, Guriezo and Rasines. Its strategic location in the centre of the Asón-Agüera County has made ...

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

, Sainz-Maza was a

youth graduate. He made his senior debut with the reserves on 21 February 2016, playing the last eight minutes in a 3–0

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

away win over

SD Gama Sociedad Deportiva Gama is a Spanish football team based in Bárcena de Cicero, in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1971 it currently plays in , holding home games at '' Campo de Fútbol Santa María'', which has a capacity of 80 ...

. Sainz-Maza scored his first senior goal on 21 October 2017, netting the opener in a 1–1 home draw against

SD Solares-Medio Cudeyo Sociedad Deportiva Solares-Medio Cudeyo is a football team based in Solares, Medio Cudeyo in the autonomous community of Cantabria. Founded in 1968, the team plays in . The club plays its home games at La Estación, which has artificial turf, ca ...

. He made his first team debut on 19 May 2019, starting in a 2–2 home draw against

UD Logroñés Unión Deportiva Logroñés, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estad ...

in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: 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 ...

, as his club was already qualified to the play-offs. On 20 August 2020, after Racing's

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, Sainz-Maza signed his first professional contract with the club and was promoted to the main squad. He was a regular starter for the club during the 2021–22 campaign, scoring once and acting as

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

as his side achieved promotion back to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

. Sainz-Maza made his professional debut on 14 August 2022, starting in a 2–0 away loss against

Villarreal CF B Villarreal Club de Fútbol "B" is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1999, it is the reserve team of Villarreal CF and plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio de la Cerámica'', wit ...

. Three days later, he renewed his contract until 2026.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sainz-Maza, Inigo 1998 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Cantabria Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Segunda División players Primera Federación players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Rayo Cantabria players Racing de Santander players People from Asón-Agüera 21st-century Spanish sportsmen