Aritz Borda Etxezarreta (born 3 January 1985) 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

central defender 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Lasarte-Oria Lasarte-Oria is a town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, northern Spain. It was founded in 1986. It is estimated to have a population of around 19.000 people ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

, Borda spent his first seven seasons as a senior 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 ...

, competing exclusively in his native Basque Country with the exception of

CD Mirandés Club Deportivo Mirandés is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Miranda de Ebro, Province of Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 3 May 1927, the club competes in the Segunda División ...

, which he represented in

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, starting in all the league matches he appeared in for the

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

side as they fell short in the

promotion playoffs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Borda joined

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

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 ...

for 2011–12 campaign. He made his official debut with the

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

ns on 7 September 2011, in a 0–2 home loss against

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community, Spain. Founded in 1923, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025–26 season, holding home matches at ...

in the second round of 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 ...

. His league debut arrived on 22 October, as he again played the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 defeat at

AD Alcorcón Agrupación Deportiva Alcorcón S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Alcorcón, in the autonomous community of Madrid. Founded in 1971, it currently plays in Primera Federación, holding home matches at the Municipal de Santo Domingo, ...

. He scored his first goal as a professional on 13 November, helping to a 4–2 home win over

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

. On 14 June 2012, aged 27, Borda moved abroad for the first time and signed a two-year contract with Cypriot club

APOEL FC APOEL FC (; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") is a Cypriot professio ...

. He scored his first goal for his new team on 11 November, the game's only at

Ethnikos Achna FC Ethnikos Achna Football Club (), commonly known as Ethnikos Achna, or simply Ethnikos, is a Cypriot professional football club based in the village of Dasaki Achnas. Founded in 1968, the club currently plays in the Cypriot First Division. Ethn ...

, and won the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

in his first season for the first major accolade of his career. During 2013–14, Borda made five appearances in the group stage of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, and helped to a treble conquest of league,

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

and

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

. After leaving in June 2014, he went on to play with

Thai Premier League The Thai League (, pronounced as ') or Thai League 1 (, pronounced as '), often referred to as T1, is the highest level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai L ...

Muangthong United F.C. Muangthong United Football Club () is a Thai professional association football, football club based in Muang Thong Thani, Pak Kret district, Nonthaburi province. The club plays in the Thai League 1, the top-flight football league of Thailand. Mua ...

for a few months. Borda switched clubs and countries again on 4 February 2015, joining

FC Rapid București Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest, that competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivi� ...

from the Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

. On 13 July he returned to his native country, after agreeing to a one-year deal with

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

. On 5 July 2016, Borda signed a two-year contract with Australian club

Western Sydney Wanderers FC Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football, association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South W ...

. On 29 July 2017 he left by mutual consent, after an extremely poor start to the season which saw him give away penalties and be

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

twice, being subsequently dropped from the squad.

Style of play

Borda was described as a central defender with a very good aerial game. He was strong in the challenge and was a good passer of the ball with both feet; additionally, he was proficient in build up play and had the ability to score goals from set pieces in attack.

Club statistics

Honours

APOEL *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14 *

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup, formally known as the Cypriot Coca-Cola Cup of First and Second Division () for sponsorship purposes, is a Cypriot knockout football club competition, hosted annually by the Cyprus Football Association. First held in 1934, it i ...

: 2013–14 *

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2013 Alavés *

: 2015–16

References

Notes

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Borda, Aritz 1985 births Living people People from Lasarte-Oria Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gipuzkoa Men's association football defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Unión footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers CD Mirandés footballers Recreativo de Huelva players Deportivo Alavés players Burgos CF footballers Cypriot First Division players APOEL FC players Aritz Borda Aritz Borda Liga I players FC Rapid București players A-League Men players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Romania Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia 21st-century Spanish sportsmen