Santiago Cañizares

Santiago Cañizares is a retired Spanish footballer. He was born in 1969 in Madrid and graduated from Real Madrid youth academy in 1988. He went on playing for the C team and then B team. In 1990 he was loaned out to Elche and then to Mérida. He didn’t find a spot in Real Madrid and joined Celta de Vigo in 1992. In 1992/93 Cañizares made his La Liga debut and in 1994 he re-joined Real Madrid, where he played until 1998. Then he signed for Valencia CF and helped them to win Spanish Cup and Supercup in 1999. He played for them until 2008 and throughout that period the team won La Liga in 2001/02 and 2003/04. In 1999/2000 and in 2000/01 Valencia was UEFA Champions League runners-up, in 2003/04 they won UEFA Cup and in 2004 claimed UEFA Super Cup victory. Cañizares retired after the 2007/08 season having made 500 league appearances during his playing career.

He played for the Spain national team at all youth levels and in 1993 he made his senior team debut. All in all he made 46 appearances for the Spain national squad until 2006.