Aitor Paredes Casamichana (born 29 April 2000) 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 a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

club

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

and the Spain national team.

Club career

Born in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Basque Country, Paredes joined

's youth setup in 2010 from Etorkizun KT, based in his hometown of

Arrigorriaga Arrigorriaga is a town and municipality located in the province of Bizkaia, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, northern Spain. Arrigorriaga is located 7 km south of Bilbao and is part of B ...

. He made his senior debut with the farm team during the 2018–19 season, in

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 ...

. Paredes made his debut with the reserves on 6 December 2019, starting in a 0–1

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 ...

away loss against

SD Leioa Sociedad Deportiva Leioa is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Leioa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1925 it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi ...

. Promoted officially to the B-side in June 2020, he subsequently became a regular starter for the team, playing in 18 matches (play-offs included) of the 2020–21 campaign, scoring once in a 3–0 home victory against

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

on 3 January 2021. On 26 May 2021, Paredes renewed his contract with the ''Lions'' until 2025. He made his first team – and

– debut on 29 August 2022, coming on as a late substitute for

Iñigo Lekue Iñigo Lekue Martínez (; ; born 4 May 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right or left-back for Athletic Bilbao. Developed at Athletic Bilbao, he made over 250 appearances, winning the Supercopa de España twice and als ...

in a 4–0 away routing of

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

. A short time prior to his debut he was the sixth-choice central defender in the squad, behind

Iñigo Martínez Iñigo Martínez Berridi (; ; born 17 May 1991) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. He spent most of his professional career with Real Sociedad, playing ...

Yeray Álvarez Yeray Álvarez López (; born 24 January 1995), known simply as Yeray, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Athletic Bilbao. Club career Born in Barakaldo, Biscay, Basque Country, Yeray joined Athletic Bilb ...

, Daniel Vivian, Unai Núñez and

Peru Nolaskoain Peru Nolaskoain Esnal (born 25 October 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as either a centre-back or a defensive midfielder for SD Eibar. Club career Born in Zumaia, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, joined Athletic Bilbao's Lezama ...

. However, the latter pair left on loan, and injuries to the others gave Paredes some opportunities (nine starts and seven further appearances from the bench) during

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

. From the start of the next season, with Martínez having joined

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and Yeray still absent with physical issues, the relatively inexperienced Vivian and Paredes (aged 24 and 23 respectively) formed an effective defensive partnership as the team challenged at the top end of the table, and won the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

to end the club's 40-year unsuccessful sequence in the competition. Paredes scored his first goal in the top tier on 4 January 2024, in a 2–0 away victory against

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

, and renewed his contract until 2029 on 21 March.

International career

Paredes featured in the under-18, under-19, and under-21 categories of the Spanish national team. On 30 June 2018, he was proclaimed champion of the

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

with the under-18 team managed by Luis de la Fuente, where he was a starter. On 17 March 2023, Paredes was called up to the under-21 team led by

Santi Denia Santiago Denia Sánchez (born 9 March 1974), commonly known as Santi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of the Spain under-21 national team. He appeared in 297 La Liga matches over 11 seasons ( ...

. On 2 June of that year, he was called up to the squad taking part in the

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2023) was the 24th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (27th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association f ...

in Georgia and Romania; he was part of the Starting XI in five of the six matches during the tournament, including the final against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. On 18 November 2024, Paredes debuted for Spanish senior squad in a Nations League match against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez López Estadio Heliodoro Rodriguez Lopez also Estadio de Tenerife is a association football, football stadium in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. It is the home ground of CD Tenerife. With a capacity of 22,824 seats, it is the 27 ...

, playing the full match as the former national team won 3–2.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

: 2023–24 Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

runner-up:

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paredes, Aitor 2000 births Living people Footballers from Bilbao Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders La Liga players Primera Federación players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen People from Arrigorriaga