David Villabona


David Villabona Echalecu is a Spanish retired footballer who played mostly as a central midfielder.
During his professional career he played for both Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, amassing La Liga totals of 221 matches and 13 goals over 15 seasons.
Villabona was a member of the Spanish side that won the gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Club career

Villabona was born in Irun, Gipuzkoa. In a career blighted by injuries, he started playing professionally with Real Sociedad, but only amassed seven La Liga appearances in his first three seasons, being an undisputed starter however in 1989–90 as he helped the Basques to a final fifth place.
Subsequently, Villabona joined neighbours Athletic Bilbao, being regularly used at the beginning but very little in his final campaign, facing stiff competition from Josu Urrutia and youngster Julen Guerrero. His most steady period was lived at Racing de Santander, being a very important midfield element for the Cantabrians; due to recurrent injuries, however, he only appeared 12 times from 1997 to 2001 combined, and retired at the age of 31.

Honours

Spain U23