David Villa Sanchez is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker.
72 Facts About David Villa
2.
David Villa is currently working as the Technical Advisor and Head of Global Football Operations of the Indian Super League club Odisha FC.
3.
David Villa moved to Real Zaragoza after two seasons, where he made his La Liga debut, and won the Copa del Rey and Supercopa de Espana.
4.
In 2018, David Villa announced his departure from New York, to join Vissel Kobe in Japan.
5.
David Villa participated in four major tournaments, and was an integral member of the Spain teams that won UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 World Cup.
6.
David Villa scored three goals at the 2006 World Cup, was the top scorer at Euro 2008, and earned the Silver Boot at the 2010 World Cup.
7.
David Villa became the first Spanish player to ever reach 50 international goals and, after a brief comeback in 2017, he retired from the national team with 59 goals in 98 matches, making him Spain's all-time top goalscorer as well as the country's top scorer in the World Cup, with nine goals.
8.
David Villa was born in Tuilla, a small parish in Langreo, Asturias, a region in northern Spain, the son of Jose Manuel David Villa, a miner.
9.
When David Villa was four, his chances of becoming a footballer were put in jeopardy when he suffered a fracture to the femur in his right leg, but he made a complete recovery.
10.
David Villa admitted that he came close to giving up football at the age of 14 after growing disillusioned and falling out with his coach.
11.
David Villa attracted interest from many Asturian teams, but one of the province's bigger teams, Real Oviedo, declared that he was too short and that they did not believe he had sufficient potential.
12.
David Villa subsequently got his professional breakthrough at his local club Sporting de Gijon, following in the footsteps of his childhood idol Quini.
13.
Pepe Acebal, Sporting's manager at the time, said that David Villa initially lacked the stamina to have a real impact and had to be given his chance bit by bit and that David Villa's capacity for work was "unrivalled".
14.
David Villa makes very clever diagonal runs, breaking away from defenders, and he invariably made the right decisions.
15.
David Villa scored his first hat-trick for Valencia against Athletic Bilbao at San Mames in La Liga on 23 April 2006.
16.
David Villa managed the hat-trick in just over five minutes, making it one of the quickest hat-tricks ever recorded.
17.
David Villa scored a free-kick goal in the first leg away from home, while one of Inter's defenders complained that David Villa had "made us look like idiots, all on his own".
18.
Under Koeman, David Villa managed to see the back of the net 18 times in his 26 appearances.
19.
That season, David Villa saw himself playing Champions League football.
20.
On his 100th league appearance for Valencia, David Villa scored a hat-trick against Levante; his 54th, 55th and 56th league goals for the club.
21.
Valencia finished second in their UEFA Cup group, although David Villa was not featured heavily and was often an unused or late-match substitute.
22.
David Villa scored a late winner against Maritimo and was used in the Round of 32 against Dynamo Kyiv, though he did not make the score sheet.
23.
Ready to return from suspension, David Villa suffered from an inflammation in the joint in his left knee due to a partial dislocation and would be ruled out for the next 15 days, missing games against Numancia, Recreativo de Huelva and Racing de Santander.
24.
Kempes reached his tally of 28 goals in 34 games while Mijatovic achieved it in 40, ultimately seeing David Villa beat their percentages, as he achieved the 28 goals in 33 games, recording a goal ratio of 0.84 goals per game.
25.
David Villa ended the season as the third top scorer in La Liga with 28 goals, just behind Eto'o and Diego Forlan.
26.
In 2009, David Villa scored more goals than any other footballer, tallying 43 goals in 54 games across all competitions for both Spain and Valencia.
27.
David Villa scored a hat-trick, his third goal being of note, which was fired in from eight yards out.
28.
Valencia still had two more games to play in the league, although David Villa did not feature, making the game against Xerez the last time he played for Valencia.
29.
David Villa made his first appearance for the club in the second leg of the Supercopa de Espana, during the second half as a substitute for fellow Spanish international Pedro.
30.
David Villa started the season with goals against Mexican clubs Guadalajara and America in pre-season friendly matches.
31.
David Villa then broke his tibia in a Club World Cup match in Yokohama against Al Sadd.
32.
David Villa ended the season with a large number of his appearances coming from the bench, partly due to the recovery time of his previous injury.
33.
David Villa finished his only season at the club with 13 league goals from 36 appearances, contributing to Atletico's first league title since 1996 and helping them reach the 2014 Champions League final, where they lost to Real Madrid.
34.
On 1 June 2014, David Villa announced that he would leave Atletico.
35.
Parallel to his joining New York City, David Villa was announced to have joined the Australian A-League with Melbourne City, following the team's association with Manchester City.
36.
David Villa was named New York City's first ever team captain on 1 February 2015, as well as their first Designated Player.
37.
In July 2016, David Villa was included in the roster for the 2016 MLS All-Star Game.
38.
David Villa won the 2016 MLS MVP Award for the best player in the league.
39.
David Villa scored 23 goals in the 2016 Major League Soccer season.
40.
David Villa was chosen to start against former Clasico rivals Real Madrid in the 2017 MLS All-Star Game.
41.
David Villa started on the right of a front three, alongside Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco.
42.
The goals were his 400 and 401st for club and country, and in doing so, David Villa became one of the few players of the modern era to score more than 400 goals in their career.
43.
On 1 December 2018, David Villa signed a contract for the 2019 season with J1 League club Vissel Kobe.
44.
David Villa joined his former Barcelona and Spain teammate Andres Iniesta.
45.
On 13 November 2019, David Villa announced that he would end his 19-year career and retire at the end of the 2019 J1 League season.
46.
On 1 January 2020, David Villa played in the 2019 Emperor's Cup Final, coming on as a 92nd minute substitute.
47.
On 13 November 2019, David Villa announced that, once he retired, he would be investing as an owner of USL Championship side Queensboro FC, based in Queens, New York City, United States.
48.
David Villa was called up for the tournament where he formed a striking relationship with Torres, with whom he would often celebrate his goals.
49.
David Villa made the UEFA Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament alongside striking partner Torres.
50.
Spain's first match during qualification for the 2010 World Cup was against Bosnia and Herzegovina where David Villa scored the only goal of the game.
51.
David Villa would go on to score four goals in Spain's next three games, including a last minute winner against Belgium.
52.
On 5 September 2009, David Villa added two more goals to his goal tally for Spain, while assisting twice during the World Cup qualifier against Belgium, in A Coruna.
53.
David Villa finished the year with his sixth international brace against Austria in the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, the setting where Spain were crowned European champions the previous year.
54.
In 2010, David Villa came first in the IFFHS "2010's World Top Goalscorer at International Level" rankings, he was selected as a part of Vicente del Bosque's 23-man squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
55.
In Spain's first 2010 World Cup match, David Villa was chosen as a lone striker, but could do nothing to prevent their shock defeat at the hands of Switzerland.
56.
David Villa said he was "not proud" of the heat of the moment incident, but he escaped a ban.
57.
David Villa started in the final against the Netherlands, where he had an opportunity to score from close range, but was impeded by John Heitinga who managed to block his shot; during regulation time, he managed five shots, none of which troubled the opposing goalkeeper, however.
58.
David Villa was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team.
59.
That same match was the first time David Villa was able to wear the captain's armband while playing for the Spanish national team.
60.
David Villa finished as top scorer of Group I with seven goals after fracturing his tibia in December 2011, he was left out of Spain's final squad for Euro 2012 after telling Vicente del Bosque that he would not be fit for the tournament.
61.
David Villa made his return in the 53rd minute during a friendly against Saudi Arabia and found himself on the score sheet just ten minutes later.
62.
David Villa was named in Spain's squad for the 2014 World Cup.
63.
In December 2015, David Villa revealed that he was considering reversing his international retirement.
64.
On 25 August 2017, David Villa was included in Spain's squad for the 2018 World Cup qualification matches against Italy and Liechtenstein, three years after originally retiring from international football.
65.
In February 2010, Bernd Schuster was asked if Raul did not favour David Villa moving to Real Madrid, to which he responded, "I have a cough," which caused many to believe that he was implying the rumour to be true.
66.
An opportunistic, versatile and well-rounded player, David Villa is naturally right-footed, but an accurate and powerful finisher with either foot, due to his ambidexterity, both inside and outside the area, despite his lack of height or physicality; he was a set piece and penalty kick specialist.
67.
David Villa was a quick, agile, and mobile team player, with excellent technique and dribbling skills, who was known for his work-rate and intelligent offensive movement, as well as his ability to either create space for teammates or make attacking runs into the area.
68.
In 2003, David Villa married his childhood sweetheart Patricia Gonzalez, who had been a footballer in her teenage years.
69.
David Villa is actively involved with the campaigns of the UNICEF charity.
70.
In 2010, David Villa sang alongside Grammy Award-nominated Spanish singer Ana Torroja on the song "Insurrection" by El Ultimo de la Fila.
71.
David Villa commented that footballers "are an example for society and we have to be ready to get involved in these projects, where we can help people who need it".
72.
David Villa is the owner of DV7 Group, which has multiple companies including DV7 Soccer and DV7 Management.