Xavier "Xavi" Torres Buigues (born 21 November 1986) 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 ...
who plays as a
defensive midfielder
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 ...
.
Formed at
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern 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 ...
, he went on to amass
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
totals of 156 games and six goals over eight seasons, with that club,
Málaga,
Levante,
Getafe
Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality.
Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a fla ...
,
Betis and
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...
.
Club career
Early years
Born in
Xàbia
() or () is a coastal town and municipality in the ''comarca'' of Marina Alta, in the province of Alicante, Valencia, Spain, by the Mediterranean Sea. Situated on the side of the Montgó Massif, behind a wide bay and sheltered between two rock ...
,
Alicante
Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in th ...
,
Valencian Community
The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous comm ...
, Torres spent his entire youth career at
Villarreal CF
Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, ...
. He made his professional debut at another club in the region,
Alicante CF
Alicante Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1918, it played its home matches at ''Estadio Alicante CF'', with a 4,000-seat capacity.
History
''Alicante Club de Fútbol'', under th ...
, in the
2006–07 edition of
Segunda División B
Segunda División B ( en, 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 Fo ...
.
Barcelona
Torres signed for
FC Barcelona
Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional Football team, football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish footb ...
in July 2007 (after Villarreal had rebought him from Alicante), spending the vast majority of his two-year spell with
the reserve team, which he helped to return to the third division in his
debut campaign as the
Catalans
Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citiz ...
were coached by young
Pep Guardiola
Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the ...
.
Torres made his
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
debut on 17 May 2009, appearing for the
already crowned champions in a 2–1 away loss against
RCD Mallorca
Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...
. After the match, the player said that he was very grateful to Guardiola – promoted to first-team manager the previous summer – for giving him an opportunity to play in the main squad; it would be the first of two appearances.
Málaga
On 12 June 2009,
Málaga CF
Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system.
They won the UEFA Intert ...
signed Torres on a
free transfer for four seasons. He scored his first goal with the
Andalusia
Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a "historical nationality". The ...
ns on 30 August, closing a 3–0 home victory over
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in ...
in the 89th minute, in
the season's opener.
Torres made his Málaga debut as a starter on 13 September 2009, in a 1–0 defeat at
Deportivo de La Coruña
Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. They currently play in the Primera División RFEF – ...
, being replaced by
Victor Obinna
Victor Nsofor Obinna (born 25 March 1987) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a striker.
Obinna in Igbo, literally means "father's heart". He played for Chievo in Italy's Serie B, having played regularly in Serie A with ...
in the 84th minute. However, he appeared rarely in his first year and, on 7 June 2010, was loaned to
recently promoted side
Levante UD
Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a Spanish football club in Valencia, in the namesake autonomous community.
Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante play in Segunda División, holding home games at Ci ...
. His first competitive match for the latter took place on 28 August, when he played the entire 1–4 home loss against
Sevilla FC
Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Eu ...
.
Levante
In early December 2010, Torres was linked with a potential move to
Everton, but nothing came of it. He rarely missed a game for Levante – being the second-most used player in the squad – as the
Valencian
Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the Carche, El Carche comarca in Región de Murcia, Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance lan ...
team finally
retained their top-division status. In July 2011, the move was extended for a further
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 tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...
.
Torres scored his first goal for the ''Granotas'' on 20 November 2011, in a 3–2 away loss to Atlético Madrid. He ended the campaign with five, as they finished sixth and
qualified for the
UEFA Europa League
The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...
for the first time ever.
Getafe
On 31 May 2012, Levante activated the
€
The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...
300.000 buying option it had on Torres, offering the player a four-year contract which he refused. On 1 August, after lengthy negotiations, he signed a four-year deal with fellow top-flight
Getafe CF
Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...
for a fee of approximately €500,000.
Torres started in most of his league appearances for the
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), an ...
outskirts club (37 official matches during
the season), his first being on 26 August 2012 in the 2–1 home victory over
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 ...
where he featured 90 minutes.
Betis
On 7 August 2013, Torres signed for four seasons with
Real Betis
Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vi ...
. He scored his first competitive goal 22 days later, the last in a 6–0 home rout of
FK Baumit Jablonec
FK Jablonec () is a Czech professional football club based in Jablonec nad Nisou. The club has played in the top league of Czech football, Czech First League, since 1994.
History
Jablonec played its first season of top league football in the 1 ...
in the
Europa League playoff round. In December, however, he suffered an
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...
injury in a game against
HNK Rijeka
Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional football club from the city of Rijeka.
HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top division, HT Prva li ...
in the same competition and was sidelined for the rest of
the campaign
Campaign or The Campaign may refer to:
Types of campaigns
* Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beets are harvested and processed
*Advertising campaign, a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme
*Bli ...
, which ended with relegation to the second tier.
Later career
Torres terminated his contract with Betis on 15 August 2016, and joined
Sporting de Gijón
Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...
on a one-year deal shortly after. One year and ten days later, after
suffering relegation, the 30-year-old moved abroad for the first time in his career, on a one-year contract at Australian club
Perth Glory FC
Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues.
Founded in 1 ...
.
On 31 July 2018, Torres returned to Spain and its second division after agreeing to a contract with
Elche CF
Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at '' Estad ...
. In August 2019, he went back overseas to sign for
Al-Arabi SC of the
Kuwaiti Premier League
The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Al-Arabi, Qadsia and Kuwait both hold the best record in the competition, having won ...
, under his former Levante manager
Juan Ignacio Martínez
Juan Ignacio Martínez Jiménez (; born 23 June 1964), is a Spanish football coach and former player, who played as a left back, and is a current head coach.
Playing career
Martínez was born in Alicante. After playing youth football for both ...
.
On 14 September 2020,
free agent
In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...
Torres moved to second-tier
CD Lugo on a one-year deal.
Career statistics
Honours
Barcelona
*
La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
:
2008–09
Betis
*
Segunda División:
2014–15
Al-Arabi
*
Kuwait Emir Cup
The Kuwait Amir/Emir Cup ( ar, كأس أمير الكويت) is a Kuwaiti football competition created in 1962. The Emir Cup, is the last football competition held in the Kuwaiti football season. It is considered the most valuable cup.
Al Arabi ...
: 2019–20
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Xavi
1986 births
Living people
People from Xàbia
Spanish men's footballers
Footballers from the Province of Alicante
Men's association football midfielders
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
Tercera División players
Villarreal CF B players
Alicante CF footballers
FC Barcelona Atlètic players
FC Barcelona players
Málaga CF players
Levante UD footballers
Getafe CF footballers
Real Betis players
Sporting de Gijón players
Elche CF players
CD Lugo players
A-League Men players
Perth Glory FC players
Kuwait Premier League players
Al-Arabi SC (Kuwait) players
Spanish expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia
Expatriate men's footballers in Kuwait
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia
Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait