Robin Aimé Robert Le Normand (born 11 November 1996) is a 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

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 club

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 ...

. Born in France, he plays for the Spain national team. Le Normand started his professional career in France at Brest, where he made one first-team appearance, before joining Spanish side

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, ...

in 2016. Le Normand obtained Spanish nationality in 2023, and was part of the Spain squad that won the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

in the same year, before also winning the

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Club career

Brest

Born in Pabu, Côtes-d'Armor, Le Normand represented Brest as a youth player. On 21 September 2013 he made his senior debut, starting with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

in a 1–0

CFA 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a Association football, football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football ...

away loss against

Lannion Lannion ( ; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. It is a subprefecture of Côtes-d'Armor, the capital of Trégor and the center of an urban area of almost 60,000 inhabitants. Climate Lannion h ...

. Le Normand scored his first senior goal on 19 March 2016, netting his team's third in a 3–3 draw at Fougères. On 15 April, he made his professional debut by starting in a 2–1 away loss against

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy ...

for the

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

Real Sociedad

On 5 July 2016, Le Normand signed a two-year deal with

, being assigned to the B-team in

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 ...

. He received a new contract in August 2018, for two more years. Le Normand made his first team – and

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 ...

– debut on 26 November 2018, starting in a 2–1 home win against

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was foun ...

. The following 12 February, he renewed his contract with the ''Txuri-urdin'' until 2022, and was definitely promoted to the main squad on 9 June. After the departure of

Héctor Moreno Héctor Alfredo Moreno Herrera (born 17 January 1988) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga MX club Monterrey. Moreno ascended the youth ranks of Club Universidad Nacional, making his senior debut in 2006 at ...

, Le Normand became an integral part of the starting XI. He scored his first

goal on 30 November 2019, opening the scoring in a 4–1 home win against

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

. He was rewarded with a contract extension until 2024 on 4 June 2020. On 19 December, he scored in an 8–0 win at

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

club

Becerril Becerril or Becerril de Campos is a town and municipality of the Colombian Department of Cesar. Geography The municipality of Becerril borders to the east with the country of Venezuela where the Serranía del Perijá mountain ranges is shared ...

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

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 ...

; he also played in the 1–0 win over

Basque derby The Basque derby (in Basque language, Basque ''Euskal Derbia'', in Spanish language, Spanish ''derbi Vasco'') is the name of the association football, football local derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. It embodies the inter-city ri ...

rivals

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 COVID-delayed final on 3 April 2021. Le Normand was chosen as

La Liga Player of the Month The Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best La Liga player each month of the season. Winners Multiple winners The following table lists the number of awards won by players who have won at least two Player ...

for October 2021, the first defender since

Diego Godín Diego Roberto Godín Leal (born 16 February 1986) is a Uruguayan former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation, he started out at C.A. Cerro, Cerro and ...

in 2014. He played 48 out of 51 games in 2021–22, missing only one league game by suspension, and then extended his contract until 2026.

Atlético Madrid

On 27 July 2024,

announced an agreement with Real Sociedad for the signing of Le Normand. On 3 August, Le Normand officially became a new Atlético Madrid player, signing a five-year contract. On 19 August, he made his debut for the club in a 2–2 draw against

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

in the league.

International career

In May 2023, the Spanish Council of Ministers granted Spanish nationality to Le Normand after living in Spain for almost seven years, meaning he would be eligible to play for the Spanish national team. On 2 June, he was included in their 23-man squad for the

, debuting 13 days later in their 2–1 semi-final win over

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he started in central defence alongside another naturalised Frenchman, Aymeric Laporte. On 18 June, he started in the final as Spain defeated

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in a penalty shootout to win their first Nations League title. On 19 November 2023, Le Normand scored his first goal for Spain in their final UEFA Euro 2024 qualifier – a 3–1 win over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. In June 2024, Le Normand was named in Spain's squad for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

finals in Germany. He started the team's first group match, playing the full match in central defence as Spain beat Croatia 3–0 at Berlin's Olympiastadion. With Spain's victory over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, 2–1, in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, Le Normand, along with the rest of the squad, became European champions.

Personal life

Le Normand's younger brother, Théo, is also a professional footballer, who made his debut for

Guingamp Guingamp (; ) is a commune in the Côtes-d'Armor department in Brittany in northwestern France. With a population of 7,115 as of 2020, Guingamp is one of the smallest towns in Europe to have a top-tier professional football team: En Avant Guin ...

in 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Le Normand goal.''

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2019–20 Spain *

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 ...

; runner-up: 2024–25 Individual *

: October 2021

References

External links

Profile
at the Atlético Madrid website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Le Normand, Robin 1996 births Living people Footballers from Côtes-d'Armor French men's footballers Spanish men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Stade Brestois 29 players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Atlético Madrid footballers Ligue 2 players Segunda División B players La Liga players Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players UEFA Nations League–winning players Naturalised association football players Naturalised citizens of Spain French emigrants to Spain UEFA European Championship–winning players 21st-century French sportsmen 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Sportspeople from Brittany