Loris Benito Souto (born 7 January 1992) is a Swiss 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 le ...

who plays as a left-back for Young Boys and the Switzerland national team.

Club career

Benito was born in

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

, Switzerland. A product of local FC Aarau youth ranks, Benito made his professional debut on 1 November 2009, age 17, under then coach, Martin Andermatt. His performances led to a move in 2012 to

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

. On 10 March 2013, in an away match against

FC Thun Fussballclub Thun 1898 is a Swiss football team from the Bernese Oberland town of Thun. The club plays in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of the Swiss football league system, following relegation from the Swiss Super League in the ...

, Benito was bitten on the finger by a beech marten he had caught after it invaded the pitch. After solid performances in the Swiss league, news started about a potential move abroad. On 22 June 2014, Benito signed a five-year deal with Portuguese champions Benfica for an unconfirmed fee of around €2.5 million. On 18 October 2014, Benito made his debut for Benfica in a win at

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã, is Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the second-tier Liga Portugal 2. The club was founded in 1923. Their nickname is the ...

(2–3) in the third round of Taça de Portugal. On 6 December 2014, he debuted in

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

in a home win (3–0) against

Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses, commonly known as Os Belenenses (), is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 25,000-seat Estádio do Reste ...

. On 22 February 2015, Benito debuted for

Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B", commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in ...

against

Oriental The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the ...

in Segunda Liga. On 23 June 2015, he returned to Swiss football, signing a four-year contract with

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

. His first two seasons back in Switzerland have been almost on the sidelines with injuries including a metatarsal fracture and torn ligaments in his knee. On 30 January 2022, he signed a 1.5-year contract with

Sion Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Plac ...

. On 4 July 2022, Benito returned to Young Boys with a three-year contract.

International career

In May 2019, he played in

2019 UEFA Nations League Finals The 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals was the final tournament of the 2018–19 edition of the UEFA Nations League, the inaugural season of the international football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of ...

, where his team finished 4th. In 2021 he was called up to the national team for the 2020 UEFA European Championship, where the team created one of the main sensations of the tournament reaching the quarter-finals.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first.''

Career statistics

Club

Personal life

He is the nephew of

Ivan Benito Ivan Benito (born 27 August 1976) is a Swiss former professional footballer who played as goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designa ...

. Of Spanish descent, Benito is fluent in German, Italian, Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French.

Honours

Benfica *

: 2014–15 *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

: 2014–15 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

FC Zürich *

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

: 2013–14 Young Boys *

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

: 2017–18, 2018–19, 2023–24 *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual

Team of the Year: 2018–19

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Benito, Loris 1992 births Living people Sportspeople from Aarau Swiss men's footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's international footballers Swiss people of Spanish descent Swiss people of Asturian descent Swiss people of Galician descent Men's association football midfielders UEFA Euro 2020 players Swiss Super League players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Ligue 1 players FC Aarau players FC Zürich players S.L. Benfica footballers S.L. Benfica B players BSC Young Boys players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players FC Sion players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in France Swiss expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Swiss expatriate sportspeople in France Footballers from Aargau