Borja Iglesias Quintas (; born 17 January 1993) 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 striker 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 Betis. Formed at Celta, where he played mainly in the reserves, Iglesias achieved totals of over 200 La Liga appearances and 60 goals for Celta,

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

and Betis, winning the

2021–22 Copa del Rey The 2021–22 Copa del Rey was the 120th staging of the Copa del Rey (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The winners were assured a place in the 2022–23 UEFA Europa League group stage. Both the winners and the runners- ...

with the latter. Iglesias made his full debut for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in 2022.

Club career

Villarreal

Born in

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela, simply Santiago, or Compostela, in the province of Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, is the capital of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Galicia (Spain), Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city ...

Province of A Coruña The province of A Coruña ( ; ; historical ) is the northwesternmost province of Spain, and one of the four provinces which constitute the autonomous community of Galicia. This province is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and north ...

, Galicia, Iglesias began playing football as a toddler in his local primary school, until he was recruited by

SD Compostela Sociedade Deportiva Compostela is a Spanish football team based in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia. They play home matches at San Lázaro, and compete in . History A team called Compostela Foot-ball Club was founded in 1928, ceasing to exist ...

at age 10. He eventually graduated from

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

's youth setup after stints at

CD Roda Club Deportivo Roda is a Spanish football team based in Villarreal, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded in 1974, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Ciutat Esportiva Pamesa Ceràmica''. Initially dedicated exclusive ...

and

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...

, starting his senior career in 2012 with the former's C team in the

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 ...

Celta

Iglesias joined

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was fou ...

on 9 July 2013, signing a two-year deal with an option for a further three and being assigned to the reserves 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 ...

. On 3 January 2015 he made his first-team – and

– debut, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute for

Santi Mina Santiago "Santi" Mina Lorenzo (; born 7 December 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward. He spent most of his career at Celta, totalling 163 games and 42 goals across two spells. He made 268 appearances and scored 63 ...

in a 1–0 away loss 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 ...

. On 11 December 2016, after scoring a brace in a 3–2 away defeat to

Caudal Deportivo Caudal Deportivo is a Spanish football team based in Mieres, in the autonomous community of Asturias. Founded in 1918 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Hermanos Antuña'' (built in 1951), with a capacity of 2,940 spectators. Hist ...

, Iglesias became Celta B's all-time top scorer with 53 goals, surpassing Goran Marić. He topped the third-tier charts at 32, being essential as his team sealed a play-off berth. On 6 July 2017, Iglesias was loaned 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 ...

club

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

for one year. He scored his first goal for his new team on 27 August, the equaliser through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

in a 1–1 home draw with

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

. Additionally, he netted braces against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Córdoba, Andalusia, Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1954 after the dissolution of RCD Córdoba. Currently it plays ...

Sevilla Atlético Sevilla Atlético is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1950, it is the reserve team of Sevilla FC, Sevilla. It plays in and holds home games at the Ciu ...

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

and

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

, to reach 15 goals by March and finish the season as the division's joint-third highest scorer on 22. Earlier on 24 September, he was

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 ...

just before half time in a 1–1 draw with

Gimnàstic de Tarragona Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in . The club was founded in 1886 an ...

La Romareda Estadio de La Romareda () is the home stadium of Real Zaragoza, in Zaragoza, Spain. It was inaugurated on 8 September 1957, with a game between Real Zaragoza and CA Osasuna (4–3). The official capacity is 33,608, with an average attendance of ...

for what the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

considered an aggression towards

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Stole Dimitrievski Stole Dimitrievski (; born 25 December 1993) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Valencia and the North Macedonia national team. After starting off at Rabotnički in 2010, he has spent most of his ...

Espanyol

On 9 July 2018, Iglesias signed a four-year contract with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

with a

buyout clause A buyout clause or release clause refers to a clause in an employment contract. It allows the employee to terminate the contract unilaterally upon payment of a specified (usually substantial) fee to the employer. The fee may be paid by the employ ...

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

28 million. He made his official debut for the club on 18 August, starting in a 1–1 home draw against former club Celta. In his next appearance, he helped the hosts defeat

2–0 after profiting from a Cristiano Piccini mistake midway through the second half. Iglesias scored three goals over two legs in an aggregate 7–1 win over

Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

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 ...

in late July and early August 2019.

Betis

On 14 August 2019, Iglesias moved to

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

after agreeing to a five-year deal for a fee of €28 million, reuniting with his former Espanyol manager Rubi. He struggled with just three goals as the team finished 15th in his debut campaign, and received a red card on 20 February at the end of a goalless draw at

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

for pushing an opposition coach. In 2020–21, he contributed 13 goals – 11 in

the league ''The League'' is an American television sitcom that aired on FX and later FXX from October 29, 2009, to December 9, 2015, for a total of seven seasons. The series, set in Chicago, is a semi-improvised comedy show about a fantasy football l ...

– to clinch a Europa League place. On 3 March 2022, in the second leg of the

semi-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

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 ...

against

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

, Iglesias scored in stoppage time to ensure his team a 1–1 draw and a spot in the final. In the decisive match on 23 April, he opened a 1–1 draw with Valencia as his team won on penalties; he also topped the tournament's individual charts at five, and was the final's most valuable player. Iglesias opened the 2022–23 season with six goals in six games, earning himself the accolade of

La Liga Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best La Liga player each month of the season. Winners Multiple winners The following table lists the number of awards won by players who have won at least two Player ...

for August. On 6 November, both he and teammate Nabil Fekir (as well as

Gonzalo Montiel Gonzalo Ariel Montiel (born 1 January 1997) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as right-back for the Argentine Primera División club River Plate and the Argentina national team. Montiel began his professional career with River ...

for the opposition) received straight red cards in an eventual 1–1 home draw with Sevilla in the

Seville derby The Seville derby (''Derbi Sevillano''), also known as The Great Derby (''El Gran Derbi''), is the name of a local city derby located in Seville, Spain contested between Real Betis and Sevilla. Sevilla FC were founded in 1890. This was followe ...

. Iglesias scored only twice from 18 appearances in the first part of 2023–24, failing to find the net in the domestic league. On 27 January 2024, he was sent on loan to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. ...

until the end of the campaign, with a reported option to buy for €8 million; he arrived to cover for the injured Victor Boniface. He totalled ten games during his spell, winning a domestic

double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

but failing to score in the process. On 19 July 2024, Iglesias returned to Celta on 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan. He scored a squad-best 11 goals while veteran

Iago Aspas Iago Aspas Juncal (; born 1 August 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker for La Liga club Celta, which he captains. He has spent most of his career with Celta, appearing in 524 official games across 16 seasons and ...

added ten, and they qualified for the Europa League after finishing seventh; this included his first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

in the top division on 19 April 2025, a fruitless one as it was in a 4–3 away loss against eventual champions

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 ...

International career

In September 2022, Iglesias and

Nico Williams Nicholas Williams Arthuer (born 12 July 2002) is a Spanish professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger for La Liga club Athletic Bilbao and the Spain national football team, Spain nationa ...

were called up for the first time to the Spain national team, ahead of

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

games with

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 ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He made his debut against the former, in a 2–1 loss in

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

. Despite his 20 goals making him the top scoring national player of the calendar year, he was overlooked for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

– the first Spaniard since

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

to be in this position. In August 2023, in response to the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

president

Luis Rubiales Luis Manuel Rubiales Béjar (born 23 August 1977) is a former Spanish Association football, football official and professional player who played as a Defender (association football), defender, appearing in 53 La Liga matches over three seasons. ...

non-consensually kissing Spanish midfielder

Jennifer Hermoso Jennifer Hermoso Fuentes (born 9 May 1990) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga MX Femenil club Tigres UANL and the Spain national team. She is the all-time top scorer for Spain, and was part of her country's c ...

during the Women's World Cup medal ceremony, Iglesias announced he would boycott playing for Spain until Rubiales resigned.

Personal life

Iglesias was nicknamed ''Panda'', after the song of the same name by rapper

Desiigner Sidney Royel Selby III (born May 3, 1997), better known by his stage name Desiigner, is an American rapper and singer. He is best known for his 2015 debut single "Panda", which topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Shortly after the song gained vira ...

. He received attention for painting his fingernails black in support of

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

in 2020; his gesture was also a statement against

homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...

, for which he was praised by the actor

Brays Efe Brays Fernández Vidal (born 30 September 1988), best known by the stage name Brays Efe, is a Spanish actor and television personality. He became popular for his role in the comedy web series ''Paquita Salas''. Biography Brays Fernández Vidal ...

. When asked about his political opinions, he said "Footballers tend to lean a little bit to

the right Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

because sometimes we value that economic policy. For me, for example, that's not the only thing worth anything. What I'm trying to say is, I prefer to pay more to live in a country where I like what they do with that money".

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Betis *

: 2021–22 Bayer Leverkusen *

: 2023–24 *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

: 2023–24 Individual *

August 2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw the removal of most COVID-19 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iglesias, Borja 1993 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Santiago de Compostela Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Villarreal CF C players RC Celta Fortuna players RC Celta de Vigo players Real Zaragoza players RCD Espanyol footballers Real Betis players Bundesliga players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Spain men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany