Unai Gómez Garcia (born 25 May 2003) 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 an

attacking 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

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 ...

Career

Born in

Bermeo Bermeo is a town and municipality in the ''comarca'' of Busturialdea. It is in the province of Biscay, which is part of the autonomous region of the Basque Country in northern Spain. With a population of 16,765, it is the most important fishing ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Basque Country, Gómez joined

's youth setup in 2013 from hometown side

Bermeo FT Bermeo Futbol Taldea is a Spanish football team based in Bermeo, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1950 it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal Itxas Gane'', which has a 3,000-seat capacity. Club ...

. He left in 2016, and spent three years with

Danok Bat CF Danok Bat Club de Fica is a Spanish football team based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1972, the club is mainly known for their successful youth setup, which helps players to develop and join other senior clu ...

before returning to the

Lezama Facilities The Lezama Facilities (, ), are the training ground and academy of the Primera Division club Athletic Bilbao. Located in the village of Lezama, around 10–15 kilometers east of Bilbao, the facilities were opened in 1971 and currently cover 1 ...

in 2019. Gómez was promoted to the farm team in Tercera División RFEF on 19 July 2021, and made his senior debut on 5 September, starting in a 0–0 away draw against

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

. He scored his first senior goal on 21 November, netting the winner in a 1–0 home success over

Santutxu FC Santutxu Fútbol Club is a Spanish football team based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1918, it plays in , holding home matches at '' Estadio Maiona'', which has a capacity of 4.000 spectators. Ibai Gómez, ...

. Gómez was promoted to the reserves on 10 July 2022, and made his first appearance for the side on 28 August by coming on as a second-half substitute for

Ewan Urain Ewan Roy Urain Aird (born 10 March 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Spanish club Unionistas. Born in Spain, he represented Scotland at under-21 level. Background Urain was born in Durango in the Basque region. His ...

in a 2–1

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, officially the Primera Federación Versus e-Learning for sponsorship reasons (formerly known as Primera RFEF). is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administe ...

home loss against

CF La Nucía Club de Fútbol La Nucía is a Spanish football team based in La Nucía, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1995, it plays in , holding home games at '' Estadio Camilo Cano'', which has a capacity of 3,000 spectators. Team colo ...

. He scored his first goals for the B-side on 29 January 2023, netting a brace in a 3–0 home win over

UD Logroñés Unión Deportiva Logroñés, S.A.D. is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Logroño, in the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja. Founded in 2009, it currently plays in , holding home matches at ''Estad ...

. In the summer of 2023, he was one of the players chosen to do the preseason with the senior squad, where he was one of the most outstanding performers. In addition, within the first few minutes of his first friendly match as a starter, he scored a goal against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

. On 12 August 2023, he made his full

debut at San Mamés in a defeat against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. On 27 August he scored his first professional goal to seal a 4–2 victory against

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 ...

. On 20 October, he renewed his contract with Athletic until June 2028. On 20 December he scored with a header following a save by

Álvaro Valles Álvaro Valles Rosa (born 25 July 1997) is a Spanish professional association football, footballer who plays as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Betis. Career Early career Born in La Rinconada, Andalusia, L ...

, to secure a 1–0 victory over

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas S.A.D. is a professional association football, football club based in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain. The club will compete in Segunda División, the 2nd division in the Spanish football league syst ...

in the 94th minute.

International career

On March 15, 2024, he was called up by under-21 coach

Santi Denia Santiago Denia Sánchez (born 9 March 1974), commonly known as Santi, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a central defender, currently manager of the Spain under-21 national team. He appeared in 297 La Liga matches over 11 seasons ( ...

for two qualifying matches for the Under-21 European Championship against Slovakia and Belgium.

Career statistics

;Notes

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

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 ...

: 2023–24

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Unai 2003 births Living people People from Bermeo Footballers from Biscay Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Primera Federación players Tercera Federación players Danok Bat CF players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers 21st-century Spanish sportsmen