Hugo Novoa Ramos (born 24 January 2003) 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

right-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 ...

or a winger for club

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 ...

Club career

RB Leipzig

Born in the village of Bertamiráns in

Ames AMES, short Air Ministry Experimental Station, was the name given to the British Air Ministry's radar development team at Bawdsey Manor (afterwards RAF Bawdsey) in the immediate pre-World War II era. The team was forced to move on three occasion ...

, Galicia, Novoa was formed at local

Bertamiráns FC Bertamiráns Fútbol Club is a Spanish association football, football club based in Bertamiráns, Ames, A Coruña. Founded in 1933, the team plays in . The club's home ground is ''Municipal'', an artificial-turf football pitch which replaced the or ...

and

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

. In 2019, he turned down interest from

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

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

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 ...

to join

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

. In May 2020, having contributed five goals and eight assists to 18 games for Leipzig's under-17 team, he was moved to first-team training for the following season. On 13 August, he had his first call-up to the first team under manager

Julian Nagelsmann Julian Nagelsmann (born 23 July 1987) is a German professional football coach who is currently the manager of the Germany national team. He has previously managed TSG Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. Born in Bavaria ...

, remaining unused for a 2–1 win over

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

quarter-finals. On 23 August 2021, Novoa made his debut in the

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 ...

as an 85th-minute substitute for

Christopher Nkunku Christopher Alan Nkunku (born 14 November 1997) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward, second striker or attacking midfielder for club Chelsea F.C., Chelsea and the Fran ...

, and three minutes later scored the last goal of a 4–1 home win over

SpVgg Greuther Fürth Spielvereinigung Greuther Fürth (), commonly known as Greuther Fürth (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Fürth, Bavaria. They play in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of the German football league system, following r ...

with the first touch of his professional career. He became the youngest goalscorer for Leipzig, beating

Joshua Kimmich Joshua Walter Kimmich (; born 8 February 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a right-back or defensive midfielder for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and captains the Germany national team. Widely regarded as one of the best mid ...

by a month. The following 21 January, he extended his contract by two year until 2024, and two days later he made his first start in a 2–0 home win over

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

Loan to Basel

On 4 January 2023, Novoa extended his contract with Leipzig until June 2025, and subsequently joined Swiss side

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

until the end of the 2023–24 season. He joined Basel's first team during the winter break of their 2022–23 season under head coach Alex Frei. After playing in two test games, Novoa played his domestic league debut for the club, coming on in the 71st minute, during the away game in the

Kybunpark The Kybunpark, formerly known as AFG Arena, is a multi-use stadium in St. Gallen, Switzerland, completed in 2008. It is used mostly for football matches and hosts the home matches of FC St. Gallen of the Swiss Super League. It replaces the Es ...

on 22 January as Basel played a 1–1 draw with St. Gallen. The loan was terminated early at the end of the 2022–23 season and Novoa returned to Leipzig with the club planning to send him on a new loan elsewhere.

Loan to Utrecht

On 1 September 2023, Novoa moved on a new loan to

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

in the Netherlands. At the club, he was converted into a

Loan to Villarreal

In January 2024, Novoa joined

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

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 ...

on loan for the remainder of the

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 ...

with an option-to-buy.

Alavés

In July 2024, Novoa joined

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

on a five-year contract.

International career

Novoa is a youth international for Spain, having represented the under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 teams.

Career statistics

Honours

RB Leipzig *

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 ...

: 2021–22 *

DFL-Supercup The Franz Beckenbauer Supercup or ''German Super Cup'' is a one-off association football, football match in Germany that features the winners of the Bundesliga championship and the DFB-Pokal. The competition is run by the Deutsche Fußball Liga (E ...

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

* *
Bundesliga Profile

DFB Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Novoa, Hugo 2003 births Living people People from Santiago (comarca) Footballers from the Province of A Coruña Spanish men's footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers RB Leipzig players FC Basel players FC Utrecht players Villarreal CF B players Deportivo Alavés players Bundesliga players Swiss Super League players Segunda División players La Liga players Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands 21st-century Spanish sportsmen