Benjamín Zarandona

Benjamín Zarandona Esono (born 2 March 1976 in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain), simply Benjamín, is an Equatoguinean footballer who plays for CD Íscar in Tercera División, as a midfielder.

He can either play in the left or middle, and spent most of his professional career in Spain, notably with Betis, where he remained nine years, winning one Copa del Rey and appearing in more than 200 official matches.

Club career

Benjamín began his career with Real Valladolid, playing initially for the reserve team in Segunda División B. His first team debut took place on 2 April 1995, in a 0–3 loss at Real Sociedad, and he would make a further nine top flight appearances during that season.

The highlight of his career at Valladolid was helping the Castile and León side qualify for the 1997–98 UEFA Cup as seventh in the league, with home braces against CD Logroñés (2–1) and Valencia CF (4–1).

In 1998, Benjamín joined Real Betis, playing in 28 matches in his debut season and making four appearances in the club's UEFA Cup run, scoring twice. Additionally, he spent 2000–01 helping the Andalusians achieve promotion from the second level, alongside neighbours Sevilla FC.

After appearing in 26 league contests in 2004–05, as Betis achieved UEFA Champions League qualification honours and lifted the season's domestic cup, Benjamín went on loan to Cádiz CF for 2005–06, and his role with Betis would gradually lose importance onwards: he was unregistered as a first-team player for over a year, and a mutual termination of his contract was agreed in the summer of 2007.

In 2007–08, Benjamín joined second division side Xerez CD, but lasted only a few months, being released. In September 2008, he signed with CF Palencia, in the fourth level.

International career

In 1998, Benjamín helped Spain U21s win the 1998 European Championship.

However, in 2004, he switched allegiances and, as his younger brother Iván, who also played for Valladolid, opted to represent Equatorial Guinea.^[2]

Honours

Betis

• Spanish Cup: 2004–05

Spain U21

• European Under-21 Championship: 1998

Personal

Benjamín's father is Basque and his mother is from Equatorial Guinea. Despite his Basque parentage, he was never approached by Athletic Bilbao, nor did he play for Euskadi.^[3]

References

1. ^ Minimal amount of matches played
2. ^ Equatorial Guinea import success
3. ^ Voluntad de tradición (Will of tradition) (Spanish)

External links

• BDFutbol profile
• Benjamín Zarandona at National-Football-Teams.com
• Benjamín Zarandona – FIFA competition record
• El Mundo stats (Spanish)
• Benjamín Zarandona on Playerhistory.com

v t e Spain squad – 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Winners (2nd Title) FW Angulo GK Arnau DF Ballesteros MF Benjamín DF Cuartero GK Esteban MF Felipe DF García Calvo DF Guerrero MF Guti MF Ito FW Iván MF Josico DF Rekarte MF Roger DF Salgado FW Salva MF Valerón MF Vales MF Víctor Coach: Sáez