Marc Roca Junqué (born 26 November 1996) 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

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

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 ...

. He started his career at

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 ...

, appearing in 121 competitive matches and four

seasons. In October 2020, he signed with

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. Roca won the 2019 European Under-21 Championship with

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 ...

Club career

Espanyol

Born in

Vilafranca del Penedès Vilafranca del Penedès, or simply Vilafranca, is the capital of Alt Penedès county in Penedès, Catalonia, Spain. It is situated in the Penedès Depression on the left bank of the Foix River, and on the main axis of communication from Barcel ...

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 ...

, Roca joined

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 ...

's youth setup in 2008, aged 11. On 24 August 2014, he made his senior debut with the reserves, starting in a 2–2

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 ...

home draw against

Lleida Esportiu Lleida Club de Futbol is a Spanish football team based in Lleida, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in July 2011, it plays in , holding home games at Camp d'Esports, with a capacity of 13,500 seats. History In mid-May 2011, hi ...

. Roca scored his first senior goal on 17 January 2015, his team's second in a 2–3 home loss to

UE Olot Unió Esportiva Olot, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Olot, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Founded in 1921, it plays in , holding home games at ''Estadi Municipal d'Olot'', with a capacity of 3,000 seats. History The histo ...

. On 4 August, he renewed his contract until 2017. On 26 August 2016, Roca made his first-team – and

– debut, starting in a 2–2 home draw against

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

. On 11 November, he agreed to an extension until 2022 and was permanently promoted to the main squad the following season. Roca scored his first goal in the top flight on 21 April 2019, in a 2–2 draw at

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– ...

. He played 44 matches across all competitions in the 2019–20 campaign, but the club was relegated 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 ...

for the first time in 26 years.

Bayern Munich

On 4 October 2020, Roca signed for

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

on a five-year contract. He made his official debut 11 days later, in a 3–0 defeat of amateurs 1. FC Düren in the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the

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 ...

. He appeared in his first

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 ...

match later that month, coming on as an injury-time substitute for

Serge Gnabry Serge David Gnabry (; born 14 July 1995) is a German professional footballer who plays as a forward for the club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. Gnabry started his career in England with Arsenal in the Premier League, making his ...

in the 2–1 away victory over

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

. Roca played his first-ever 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 ...

on 25 November 2020, starting and being

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 ...

for two bookable offences midway through the second half on an eventual 3–1 group stage win against

FC Red Bull Salzburg Fußballclub Red Bull Salzburg, commonly known as simply Red Bull Salzburg, is an Austrian professional Association football, football club based in Wals-Siezenheim, that competes in the Austrian Bundesliga, the top flight of Football in Austria ...

. He totalled only 11 appearances in his first season. Roca featured slightly more in 2021–22 as his team won the league again, but was once again a fringe first-team player.

Leeds United

On 17 June 2022,

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

announced that Roca would join the club on 1 July after an agreement was reached with Bayern Munich; he agreed to a four-year contract for a reported €12,000,000 fee that could eventually rise on add-ons. He made his

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 ...

debut on 6 August, starting in a 2–1 home victory over

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 ...

. He scored his first goal one month later, in the 5–2 away defeat to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

Betis

Roca returned to Spain in the summer of 2023, 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 at

. He scored his first goal on 1 October, through a header in a 3–0 win over

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 ...

. His third came one month later, in the 12–1 away rout of amateurs CD Hernán Cortés in the opening round 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 ...

. On 28 June 2024, Roca agreed to a permanent deal.

International career

On 28 December 2016, Roca made his debut for the Catalonia autonomous team, starting in a 3–3 draw against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

(4–2

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

loss). He was named in Spain's under-21 squad for the 2019 UEFA European Championship, starting the final three games of the tournament for the eventual winners including a 4–1 semi-final victory over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in which he scored.

Career statistics

Honours

Espanyol *

2020–21 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 ...

Bayern Munich *

, 2021–22 *

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roca, Marc 1996 births Living people People from Vilafranca del Penedès 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Province of Barcelona Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players RCD Espanyol B footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Real Betis players Bundesliga players FC Bayern Munich footballers Premier League players Leeds United F.C. players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Catalonia men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Spanish expatriate sportspeople in England