Esteban (footballer)

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Andrés and the second or maternal family name is Suárez.

Esteban

Esteban in action for Almería (2011)
Personal information
Full name	Esteban Andrés Suárez[1]
Date of birth	(1975-06-27) 27 June 1975 (age 49)[1]
Place of birth	Avilés, Spain[1]
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
	Navarro
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1993–1995	Navarro	46	(0)
1995–1996	Avilés	40	(0)
1996–1997	Oviedo B	40	(0)
1997–2002	Oviedo	182	(0)
2002–2003	Atlético Madrid	23	(0)
2003–2005	Sevilla	58	(0)
2005–2008	Celta	33	(0)
2008–2014	Almería	136	(0)
2014–2017	Oviedo	68	(0)
Total		626	(0)
International career
1998	Spain U21	1	(0)
2000–2002	Asturias	3	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Esteban Andrés Suárez (born 27 June 1975), known simply as Esteban, is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He started and finished his extensive senior career, which spanned more than two decades, at Real Oviedo. He appeared in 280 matches in La Liga over 13 seasons, also representing in the competition Atlético Madrid, Sevilla, Celta and Almería.^[2]

Club career

Early years

Born in Avilés, Asturias, Esteban began his career with hometown's SD Navarro CF in 1993, but soon moved to local giants Real Oviedo after a stint at Real Avilés Industrial. In five seasons with the first team, four of those spent in La Liga, he only missed a total of 12 league games, and moved to Atlético Madrid in summer 2002 as the Colchoneros had just returned to the top flight after a two-year absence,^[3] finishing the campaign as starter after beginning as understudy to Germán Burgos.^[4][5]

Esteban joined fellow top-division club Sevilla FC in August 2003.^[6] After two solid seasons with the Andalusians (two sixth league places, as first choice) he signed for RC Celta de Vigo,^[7] backing up José Manuel Pinto in the Segunda División side until the latter moved to FC Barcelona in January 2008.^[8]

Almería

In the 2008 off-season, Esteban joined UD Almería in the top tier,^[9] where he was second choice to Diego Alves in his first year. However, profiting from injury to the starter in late March 2009, he was put between the posts and remained there until the end of the season even when the Brazilian recovered.^[10]

In the 2009–10 campaign, Esteban's league output consisted of 30 minutes – the last round notwithstanding^[11]– after Alves was sent off in a 0–3 home defeat against Valencia CF.^[12] At the season's end, however, the 35-year-old renewed his contract for another year.^[13]

Esteban continued as Alves' backup in 2010–11. He was the starter, however, in Almería's Copa del Rey run, which saw the club reach the competition's semi-finals for the first time ever.^[14] In the final stretch of the campaign, as they were already relegated and Alves announced his departure to Valencia, he appeared in four matches and conceded 11 goals, including eight in a 8–1 loss at Real Madrid.^{[15][16][17][18]}

Subsequently, at 36, Esteban became Almería's first choice.^[19] He played all 42 league games during the second-division season, conceding 43 goals as the team finished seventh.^[20]

Esteban did not miss one single match in the 2013–14 campaign, as the Rojiblancos were again in the Spanish top flight and managed to stay afloat.^[21]

Return to Oviedo

On 13 May 2014, Esteban announced he was returning to Oviedo twelve years after leaving.^[22] An undisputed starter in his first two seasons, he was overtaken by new signing Juan Carlos in 2016–17.^[23]

On 29 June 2017, despite Esteban's willingness to play a further season,^[24] he retired and was immediately included in the club's backroom staff.^[25]

Honours

Oviedo

• Segunda División B: 2014–15

Spain U21

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1998

References

1. "ESTEBAN Andrés Suárez" (in Spanish). El Mundo. Retrieved 20 June 2019.
2. El portero incombustible (The neverending goalkeeper); El Comercio, 14 January 2015 (in Spanish)
3. Esteban, nuevo jugador del Atlético (Esteban, new player of Atlético); Diario AS, 15 August 2002 (in Spanish)
4. Esteban vence al Mono Burgos (Esteban beats Monkey Burgos); Diario AS, 28 September 2002 (in Spanish)
5. Para debate, el suyo (Speaking about debates, theirs); Marca, 14 September 2013 (in Spanish)
6. Esteban: "A ver si puedo debutar en la selección jugando aquí" (Esteban: "Let's see if i can make the national team playing here"); Diario AS, 8 August 2003 (in Spanish)
7. Esteban: "Vengo a ayudar y a ganarme la titularidad" (Esteban "I come to help and to earn myself a starting position"); Diario AS, 7 July 2005 (in Spanish)
8. Pinto, el eterno suplente, un profesional del fútbol (Pinto, the eternal backup, a professional of football); Público, 18 January 2008 (in Spanish)
9. El Almería ficha al portero Esteban Andrés Suárez (Almería sign goalkeeper Esteban Andrés Suárez); Diario de Almería, 4 July 2008 (in Spanish)
10. Se vuelve a encender la alarma por Diego Alves (Alarms go off for Diego Alves again); Diario AS, 1 April 2009 (in Spanish)
11. "Rodri fires Seviila [sic] into raptures". ESPN Soccernet. 15 May 2010. Archived from the original on 14 July 2011. Retrieved 14 June 2016.
12. Pablo inspires Los Che win Archived 25 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine; ESPN Soccernet, 25 October 2009
13. El Almería renueva a Esteban y Kalu Uche (Almería renew Esteban and Kalu Uche); Marca, 10 May 2010 (in Spanish)
14. El Almería se niega a despertar del sueño (Almería refuse to awake from dream); Marca, 19 January 2011 (in Spanish)
15. Almeria suffer relegation Archived 25 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine; ESPN Soccernet, 7 May 2011
16. Third place dream dying for Villarreal Archived 16 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine; ESPN Soccernet, 11 May 2011
17. Rare win for Almeria Archived 25 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine; ESPN Soccernet, 15 May 2011
18. Ronaldo breaks record in rout Archived 24 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine; ESPN Soccernet, 21 May 2011
19. La hora de Esteban (Esteban's time); El País, 30 September 2011 (in Spanish)
20. El Almería ensancha el récord de Esteban y el portero hace una estirada al ascenso (Almería extend Esteban record and the goalkeeper goes one-on-one with promotion) Archived 10 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine; Almería 360, 13 February 2013 (in Spanish)
21. Esteban, el adiós más dulce (Esteban, the sweetest goodbye); Vavel, 19 May 2014 (in Spanish)
22. "Me quiero despedir dejando al Almería en Primera División" ("I want to say goodbye leaving Almería in Primera División"); UD Almería, 13 May 2014 (in Spanish)
23. Juan Carlos se reivindica (Juan Carlos takes a stand); Marca, 20 July 2017 (in Spanish)
24. Esteban quiere jugar y el club piensa en él como entrenador (Esteban wants to play and the club thinks about him as a manager); La Nueva España, 30 June 2017 (in Spanish)
25. El Oviedo hace público en su web el futuro de sus 26 jugadores (Oviedo turn public future of their 26 players in their web); Marca, 29 June 2017 (in Spanish)

External links

• Esteban at BDFutbol
• Esteban at Futbolme (in Spanish)
• Esteban at Soccerway
• Esteban at WorldFootball.net