Javier Garrido Behobide (born 1 July 1985) is a Spanish former 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 played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Formed at

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

, he made 104

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 ...

appearances for that club and for

Las Palmas Las Palmas (, ; ), officially Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, is a Spanish city and capital of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital city of the Canary Islands (jointly with Santa Cruz de Tenerife) and the m ...

. Abroad, he represented

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

Club career

Real Sociedad

Born in

Irun Irun (, ) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as a Roman- Vasconic town. During the Spanish Civil War, ...

, Basque Country, Garrido signed for

when he was a child and continued his training at the lower levels of the club. Between 2002 and 2004, he was part of the players of

Real Sociedad B Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación � ...

, where he played 50 games for this team in the Second Division B. He made his debut with the first team in a

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 ...

match on 8 October 2003 with a 2–1 win against

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

. His professional career began in 2004 when he became a part of the first team in the 2004–05 season to replace

Agustín Aranzábal Agustín Aranzábal Alkorta (; born 15 March 1973) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back. His main asset was his crossing ability, and he played almost exclusively with Real Sociedad, which he represented for mo ...

, who had left the club in the summer transfer window for

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 ...

. He made his league debut against

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 6 September 1909, the club will compete in La Liga for the 2025– ...

on 29 August 2004. In his three seasons in

, he played 86 games and scored 1 goal and being the most used left-back for Sociedad in those three seasons. He left due to his team's economical problems following their relegation in 2006–07.

Manchester City

On 2 August 2007, Garrido signed for

for £1.5m (€2.2 million), on a four-year contract. He made his debut nine days later against

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, and played a part in the most successful

start in the club's history with four victories and four clean sheets from the opening six games, but was replaced by

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. In 1985, he made his West End debut as Marius Pontmercy in the original production of ''Les Misérables''. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles C ...

halfway through the campaign. His team eventually ended in the ninth place in the league and qualified for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

through

fairplay FairPlay is a family of digital rights management (DRM) technologies developed by Apple Inc. for protecting videos, books and apps and historically for music. Music The initial version of FairPlay was created to protect music on the iTunes S ...

. Garrido scored his first goal for City direct from a free kick against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in their 3–2 loss on 5 October 2008. In his second season at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53, ...

he made 13 league appearances, 14 fewer than the first. During his third season in England, following Manchester City's takeover, Garrido was third choice to

Wayne Bridge Wayne Michael Bridge (born 5 August 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a left back. A graduate of the Southampton academy, he made his debut in 1998 and would go on to make over 150 league appearances in Premier L ...

and

Sylvinho Sylvio Mendes Campos Júnior (born 12 April 1974), commonly known as Sylvinho (sometimes alternatively spelled Silvinho), is a Brazilian football manager and former player, who coaches the Albania national football team. Formerly a left-back, ...

as left back. In the

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to association football, football matches between Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, ...

, in which United won 4–3, Garrido, as an unused substitute in the match, was struck on the head by a coin as he headed down the tunnel at half-time. After the match, he made accusations against United, describing the club's actions as a 'climate of hostility'. However, this changed when

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for h ...

replaced

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

as City manager, he came off the bench against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

on 26 December to gain only his first league appearance of the 2009–10 season; two days later he came on for

Stephen Ireland Stephen James Ireland (born 22 August 1986) is an Irish former professional Association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Ireland played as a youth player with Cobh Ramblers F.C., Cobh Ramblers before joining English ...

against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

and scored a free kick. After leaving City, Garrido said he had no feud with Mancini, saying he was grateful to him when he gave him a chance to play in the first team.

Lazio

On 30 July 2010, Garrido joined

– just days after

Aleksandar Kolarov Aleksandar Kolarov (, ; born 10 November 1985) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a left back. He is the current assistant coach of Serie A club Inter Milan. Kolarov began his career at Red Star Belgrade, but he did not br ...

went in the opposite direction – on a four-year deal, for the fee of €2.2 million (£1.5 million). He made his debut on 14 November as a substitute in a 2–0 win over

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. Eleven days later he scored his first goal in the fourth round of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

match, a 3–0 win against AlbinoLeffe. Shortly afterwards, he suffered an Achilles tendon problem, nit returning until the following 6 March. Under manager

Edoardo Reja Edoardo Reja (born 10 October 1945) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Slovenian club Gorica. After a career as a midfielder spent mostly with SPAL and Palermo, he began working a ...

, Garrido found it difficult to make it to the first team. The next season, Garrido was barely used for the club in the first half of the season, due to muscular problems, at first, and then strain in mid-March. He made his first appearance of the season, as Lazio lost 3–2 against

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on 5 February 2012.

Norwich City

On 16 August 2012, Garrido joined

on a season-long loan, with an option to extend it beyond the 2012–13 season. The move was complete after his international clearance was granted and he was given the number 18 shirt. Upon joining Norwich, Garrido told BBC Radio Norfolk that joining the club was an easy decision to make. Garrido made his debut on 25 August in a 1–1 draw against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

, and he beat

Marc Tierney Marc Peter Tierney (born 23 August 1985) is an English former professional footballer. Predominantly a left-back, Tierney could play in other positions, such as centre-back. His brother Paul is also a retired professional footballer. A gradua ...

to the Canaries' regular left back position and established himself in the first team. In a match against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on 17 November, Garrido crossed the ball for a header by Anthony Pilkington for the only goal of the game. In late December, Garrido stated he would like to stay at Norwich. On 14 May 2013, Norwich announced they had agreed to sign Garrido on a permanent deal to join the club from 1 July on a two-year contract, with an option for another year.

Later career

On 7 August 2015, Garrido signed a 1+1 contract with

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 ...

, newly promoted to the top tier, thus returning to Spain after eight years. On 31 May of the following year, after avoiding relegation, he was released. In August 2016, he signed a two-year deal at

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

of the

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 ...

. In July 2018, Garrido returned to his hometown and signed with third-tier

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

; he had been training with the club for a year, but was injured in January. Two years later, when the club did not give him a new contract, he retired; the sudden end of the season in March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

meant he could not bid farewell.

International career

Garrido played for Spain U-19 where he won the 2004 edition of

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

. He also earned four caps for Spain U-21. Garrido played for the Basque Country against

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

and

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

from 2006 to 2016.

Career statistics

Honours

Spain U19 * UEFA U-19 Championship:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

References

External links

Norwich City profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrido, Javier 1985 births Living people Footballers from Irun Spanish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks La Liga players Real Sociedad footballers UD Las Palmas players Premier League players English Football League players Manchester City F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Serie A players SS Lazio players AEK Larnaca FC players Real Unión footballers Cypriot First Division players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England Basque Country men's international footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen