Biography

Background and Youth

David Villa was born December 3rd 1981 in Tuilla, a small village in Northern Spain. He began his youth career with UP Langreo in 1991. An injury when he was four years to his thigh bone in his right leg meant he had to use his left foot more when he was recovering. As a result of this injury he is now ambidextrous. He stayed with UP Langreo until 1999 when Villa got his break with local club Sporting de Gijon. After just one year in the ‘B’ team he was given a chance with the senior side

Sporting de Gijon

Sporting were playing in the Segunda division and Villa notched up an impressive 18 league goals from 40 matches in his first full season. That form was taken into next season where he scored an even better 20 league goals from 40 matches. This led to some of Spain’s top flight clubs showing an interest in the young starlet.

Real Zaragoza

In 2003 David Villa’s impressive form caught the eye of Real Zaragoza. Villa got his chance of taking a step up in class and playing in La Liga. Villa netted 16 goals in his debut season in the top flight and 21 goals in total as Real Zaragoza beat Real Madrid to lift the Copa Del Ray. David Villa scored in the 3-2 victory that had to be decided in extra time. The following season Villa netted another 15 league goals and another 3 in Europe. His consistent performances were bound to attract bigger fish sooner or later.

Valencia

In 2005 former Chelsea coach Claudio Ranieri took over from Rafa Benitez and bought David Villa for €12 million. This is now seen as one of the shrewdest pieces of business in recent years. In Villa’s first season he scored an incredible 25 league goals finishing second leading goalscorer behind Eto. In 2006/07 he formed a lethal partnership with Fernando Morientes and scored 16 league goals, 21 in all competitions. 2007/08 saw Villa collect his first piece of silverware with Valencia winning the Copa Del Ray for the second time in his career. Los Che beat Getafe 3-1 in the final and David Villa has now finished top scorer for Valencia every season he has been there.

Spain

David Villa made his debut for Spain against San Marino on 9th February 2005 in a World Cup Qualifier. He scored his first International goal against Slovakia later that year. Villa’s consistent performances for club and country saw him get called up to his first major tournament, the World Cup 2006 in Germany. Villa wasted no time in making an impact scoring two goals in Spain’s 4-0 win over the Ukraine in the opening game. Spain were disposed of 3-1 by France in the first knockout stage after Villa put the Spaniard’s 1-0 up.

Those World Cup performances cemented Villa’s name in the Spanish squad and he was heavily involved in there qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, scoring 6 goals. Villa scored a hat trick against Russia the first player to score three goals in a match at the European Championships since Patrick Kluivert back in 2000. David was unfortunately injured in the semi finals but finished the tournament as top scorer with four goals in four games to win the golden boot. His contribution to Spain’s campaign despite missing the final was priceless.