Diego Almeida Crespo (born 12 February 2004) is a 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

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''La Liga'', ''Segunda División'', and its fellow semi-professional divisions '' Primera Federación'' and ''Segunda F ...

side

Prat Prat may refer to: People * Alfonso Prat-Gay (born 1965), Argentine economist and politician *Arturo Prat (1848–1879), Chilean naval officer * Domingo Prat (1886–1944), Spanish-born Argentinean guitarist *Jean Prat (1923–2005), French rugby ...

. Born in Spain, he represented Ecuador and Spain at youth international level, before making his senior debut for

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

in 2021.

Club career

Born in Rubí,

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

, in 2018, Almeida was called up to the Ecuador national under-15 football team, the country of his parents, playing two games. Following this, he would go on to represent the country of his birth, Spain, from under-15 to under-18 level. On 9 October 2024, Almeida joined

in the fifth-tier

International career

Following his registration to become a naturalised Ecuadorian citizen, Almeida made his debut in a 1–1 draw against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

on 5 December 2021, coming on as a second-half substitute for

Gustavo Vallecilla Exon Gustavo Vallecilla Godoy (born 28 May 1999) is an Ecuadorian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Barcelona SC. Career Club career Vallecilla left his home in Esmeraldas, Ecuador at the age of 15 to join Deportivo Cuenca. ...

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Almeida, Diego 2004 births People from Rubí, Barcelona Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Living people Spanish people of Ecuadorian descent Sportspeople of Ecuadorian descent Naturalized citizens of Ecuador Spanish men's footballers Ecuadorian men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Ecuador men's youth international footballers Ecuador men's international footballers Men's association football defenders FC Barcelona Atlètic players Columbus Crew 2 players Sestao River Club footballers AE Prat players MLS Next Pro players United Premier Soccer League players Primera Federación players Ecuadorian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Ecuadorian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 21st-century Spanish sportsmen