Urko Vera
Personal information
Full name Urko Vera Mateos[1]
Date of birth (1987-05-14) 14 May 1987
Place of birth Barakaldo, Spain
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Centre-forward
Team information
Current team
 Santutxu
Youth career
1996–1997 Santutxu
1997–1999 Athletic Bilbao
2001–2003 Lezama
2003–2006 Santutxu
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2007 Santutxu 16 (8)
2007–2008 Laudio ? (10)
2008–2009 Portugalete ? (6)
2009–2010 Eibar B ? (14)
2010 Eibar 3 (0)
2010–2011 Lemona 18 (13)
2011 Bilbao Athletic 7 (1)
2011 Athletic Bilbao 5 (1)
2011–2012 Hércules 31 (11)
2012–2013 Ponferradina 14 (2)
2013 Alcorcón 7 (1)
2013–2014 Eibar 31 (5)
2014–2015 Mirandés 38 (17)
2015 Jeonbuk Hyundai 6 (0)
2016 Osasuna 19 (3)
2016–2017 Huesca 14 (1)
2017 Mirandés 16 (5)
2017–2019 CFR Cluj 17 (5)
2018 → Astra Giurgiu (loan) 10 (1)
2019–2020 Oldham Athletic 10 (2)
2020 Guijuelo 4 (0)
2020–2021 Portugalete 7 (0)
2021– Santutxu 40 (12)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 12:27, 12 May 2022 (UTC)

Urko Vera Mateos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈuɾko ˈβeɾa];[lower-alpha 1] born 14 May 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Santutxu FC as a centre-forward.

Club career

Born in Barakaldo, Biscay, Vera played mostly amateur football until the age of 23, having represented Basque giants Athletic Bilbao as a youth from ages 10–12. During his spell at SD Lemona, he received part of his wage by taking the team's kits to the laundry.[2]

In the last minutes of the 2011 January transfer window, after impressing with Lemona in Segunda División B (the club was coached by legendary Athletic player Aitor Larrazábal), Vera was acquired by the Lions, signing a one 1/2-year contract and initially being assigned to the reserve side, Bilbao Athletic.[3] He made his first-team – and La Liga – debut on 5 February, coming on as a substitute for Iker Muniain for the final 15 minutes of a 3–0 home win against Sporting de Gijón.[4]

On 14 March 2011, again appearing from the bench, Vera scored his first goal for Athletic Bilbao, heading home in injury time in a 2–2 draw at Getafe CF.[5] After being released he resumed his career in Segunda División, representing five clubs in just four years, including CD Mirandés[6] for which he netted 20 times in all competitions.[7][8]

Vera moved to Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC in the K League 1 in late July 2015.[9] On 10 January of the following year, he returned to his country and joined CA Osasuna in the second level.[10]

On 19 August 2016, Vera signed a one-year deal with SD Huesca, still in the second tier.[11] The following 23 January, he returned to Mirandés after leaving by mutual consent.[12]

On 18 May 2017, Vera moved to Romania with CFR Cluj.[13] In January 2019, after a short loan spell at FC Astra Giurgiu also in the country's Liga I,[14] he signed with English League Two club Oldham Athletic.[15] His contract at the latter was mutually terminated on 24 January 2020,[16] and he returned to the Spanish lower leagues shortly after with CD Guijuelo.[17]

Vera returned to his native region on 28 August 2020, with the 33-year-old agreeing to a deal at third-tier Club Portugalete.[18]

Honours

Eibar

Jeonbuk Hyundai

CFR Cluj

Notes

  1. ↑ In isolation, Vera is pronounced [ˈbeɾa].

References

  1. ↑ "Notification of shirt numbers: Oldham Athletic" (PDF). English Football League. p. 50. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
  2. ↑ Urko Vera, de mileurista al cielo (Urko Vera, from mileurista to the sky); El Mundo, 16 March 2011 (in Spanish)
  3. ↑ Urko Vera ficha por el Athletic hasta 2012 (Urko Vera signs with Athletic until 2012); Canal Athletic, 26 January 2011 (in Spanish)
  4. ↑ Easy for Bilbao; ESPN Soccernet, 5 February 2011
  5. ↑ Vera rescues point for Bilbao; ESPN Soccernet, 14 March 2011
  6. ↑ El Mirandés ficha a Urko Vera y Aitor Fernández (Mirandés sign Urko Vera and Aitor Fernández); Mundo Deportivo, 13 August 2014 (in Spanish)
  7. ↑ Un triplete de Urko Vera mete al Mirandés en la tercera fase (Three from Urko Vera send Mirandés to third stage); Diario AS, 10 September 2014 (in Spanish)
  8. ↑ Los goles de la Liga Adelante tienen pasaporte español (Liga Adelante goals have a Spanish passport); La Liga, 9 June 2015 (in Spanish)
  9. ↑ 루이스-우르코 베라,'전북의 새 외국인 선수' (Luiz Henrique-Urko Vera, 'Jeonbuk Hyundai's new foreign players'); Osen, 26 July 2015 (in Korean)
  10. ↑ Urko Vera y Manuel, nuevos jugadores de Osasuna (Urko Vera and Manuel, new players of Osasuna); CA Osasuna, 10 January 2016 (in Spanish)
  11. ↑ Urko Vera llega a la SD Huesca (Urko Vera arrives at SD Huesca); SD Huesca, 19 August 2016 (in Spanish)
  12. ↑ Urko Vera, nuevo jugador del Club Deportivo Mirandés (Urko Vera, new player of Club Deportivo Mirandés); CD Mirandés, 23 January 2017 (in Spanish)
  13. ↑ "Încă un transfer la CFR Cluj! Ardelenii și-au adus un atacant din liga a doua spaniolă" [Another transfer to CFR Cluj! The Transylvanians brought a striker from the Spanish second league] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  14. ↑ "Atacantul spaniol Urko Vera a semnat cu Astra Giurgiu" [Spanish forward Urko Vera signed with Astra Giurgiu] (in Romanian). Libertatea. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  15. ↑ "Urko Vera and Sonhy Sefil: Oldham Athletic sign duo". BBC Sport. 18 January 2019. Retrieved 15 April 2019.
  16. ↑ "Urko Vera departs". Oldham Athletic A.F.C. 24 January 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  17. ↑ "Urko Vera ficha por el Guijuelo" [Urko Vera signs for Guijuelo] (in Spanish). El Desmarque. 28 January 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  18. ↑ "El ex león Urko Vera regresa al Portugalete doce años después" [Former lion Urko Vera returns to Portugalete twelve years later] (in Spanish). El Correo. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2020.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.