Rubén Belima Rodríguez (born 11 February 1992) 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 ...

who plays as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Born and raised in Spain to an Equatoguinean father and a Spanish mother, he

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

for the Equatorial Guinea national team.

Club career

Belima was born in

Móstoles Móstoles () is a municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. With over 200,000 inhabitants, it is the region's second most populated municipality after Madrid. Móstoles was a small town for a long time, but expanded rapidly in the ...

Community of Madrid The Community of Madrid (; es, Comunidad de Madrid ) is one of the seventeen autonomous communities of Spain. It is located in the centre of the Iberian Peninsula, and of the Central Plateau (''Meseta Central''). Its capital and largest mun ...

, Spain. He began his career with FC Torrevieja before joining the youth ranks of

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, and making his way into their C-team. He made his professional debut with the reserve team in Segunda División on 4 May 2014, as an 85th-minute substitute for Burgui in a 1–1 home draw with fellow strugglers

Real Jaén CF Real may refer to: Currencies * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Music Albums * ''Real'' (L'Arc-en-Ciel album) (2000) * ''Real'' (Bright album) (2010 ...

. After 18 months in Slovenia with

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. Koper is one of five ...

, Belima returned to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

on 31 July 2017, signing for

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well k ...

of Portugal's

LigaPro The Liga Portugal 2 (), also known as Liga Portugal 2 SABSEG for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division of the Portuguese football league system. At the end of each season, the two top-finishing teams are promoted to the top-tier Pri ...

for one year with the option of a second. He scored four times in 24 games for the club from

Matosinhos Matosinhos, Porto, Portugal () is a city and a municipality in the northern Porto district of Portugal, bordered in the south by the city of Porto (8 km from the city centre). The population in 2011 was 175,478, and covered an area of approx ...

– including the only one of a home victory over F.C. Paços de Ferreira in the

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 ...

groups on 20 September – before making the journey back to the previous country to

NK Domžale Nogometni klub Domžale ( en, Domžale Football Club), commonly referred to as NK Domžale or simply Domžale, is a Slovenian football club that plays in the town of Domžale. They have won both the Slovenian League and the Slovenian Cup twice ...

. On 28 January 2019 Belima was back in Portugal's second tier, with G.D. Estoril Praia. He scored once in the remainder of the season, albeit in the 4–2 loss at F.C. Penafiel that ended the team's hope of promotion to the

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 ...

International career

Belima made his international debut for Equatorial Guinea on 16 November 2013 in a friendly against his birth country Spain in

Malabo Malabo ( , ; formerly Santa Isabel) is the capital of Equatorial Guinea and the province of Bioko Norte. It is located on the north coast of the island of Bioko, ( bvb, Etulá, and as ''Fernando Pó'' by the Europeans). In 2018, the city had ...

; he was a last-minute substitute for Juvenal Edjogo-Owono in the 2–1 loss. The game was however stricken from the FIFA records as the host team had not given sufficient notice that the referee would be a compatriot. Equatorial Guinea were given the hosting rights to the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

when Morocco withdrew due to the Ebola virus epidemic, and Belima was named in their squad. He was a substitute in the opening match against the Congo and the quarter-final, before starting the semi-final and play-off as the team came fourth.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Belima, Ruben 1992 births Living people People from Móstoles Citizens of Equatorial Guinea through descent Spanish men's footballers Footballers from the Community of Madrid Equatoguinean men's footballers Men's association football wingers Tercera División players Segunda División B players Segunda División players CD Torrevieja players Real Madrid C footballers Real Madrid Castilla footballers SD Logroñés players Slovenian PrvaLiga players FC Koper players NK Domžale players Liga Portugal 2 players Leixões S.C. players G.D. Estoril Praia players Hércules CF players CD Móstoles URJC players Segunda Federación players Equatorial Guinea men's international footballers 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Equatoguinean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Slovenia Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Equatoguinean sportspeople of Spanish descent Spanish expatriate men's footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Spanish sportspeople of Equatoguinean descent Equatoguinean expatriate sportspeople in Slovenia 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players