Mikel Santamaría Ciprián (born 20 July 1987) is a Spanish

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

CD Izarra Club Deportivo Izarra is a Spanish football team, based in Estella-Lizarra, in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1924 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Merkatondoa'', with a capacity of 3,500 seats. History In the 1 ...

Club career

Born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Navarre, Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. Lying at near above sea level, the city (and the wider Cuenca de Pamplona) is located on the flood pl ...

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

, Santamaría finished his development at

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

, and made his senior debut with the reserves in the

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 ...

. In 2008, he signed with

CD Alfaro Club Deportivo Alfaro is a Spanish football team based in Alfaro, in the autonomous community of La Rioja. Founded in 1922 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio La Molineta'', with a capacity of 4,000 seats. History In the 2013– ...

of the same league. Santamaría joined

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

in the summer of 2009, being assigned to

the B team The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. History In 2013, a group of leaders came together followin ...

also in the third division. He subsequently represented, still in that tier,

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

and

CD Leganés Club Deportivo Leganés, S.A.D. is a professional football club based in Leganés, Community of Madrid. They currently compete in La Liga, the first tier of the Spanish league system. Leganés was officially founded 23 June 1928 and played thei ...

, being promoted 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 ...

with the latter club at the end of the 2013–14 season. On 24 August 2014, Santamaría played his first match as a professional, starting in a 1–1 home draw against

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 ...

. On 21 July of the following year, he moved to

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, recently relegated from division two.

Personal life

Ciprián's older brother, Roberto, was also a footballer. A

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, he too was developed at Osasuna. In 2022, both siblings signed for

CD Tudelano Club Deportivo Tudelano is a Spanish football team based in Tudela, in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1935 it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Ciudad de Tudela'', with a capacity of 11,000 seats. History Early His ...

and played together for the first time.El sueño de un día de verano para los hermanos Santamaría (The dream of a summer day for the Santamaría brothers)
Diario de Navarra, 11 October 2022 (in Spanish)

References

External links

* * 1987 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Pamplona Men's association football central defenders Segunda División players Segunda División B players Segunda Federación players CA Osasuna B players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Albacete Balompié players CD Leganés players Racing de Santander players Hércules CF players UD Logroñés players CD Calahorra players Racing Rioja CF players CD Tudelano footballers CD Izarra footballers {{Spain-footy-defender-stub