Loading AI tools
Javier 'Javi' Flaño Bezunartea (born 19 August 1984) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a right-back.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Javier Flaño Bezunartea[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 19 August 1984[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Pamplona, Spain[1] | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Right-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Osasuna | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2001–2005 | Osasuna B | 99 | (0) |
| 2005–2009 | Osasuna | 72 | (1) |
| 2009–2011 | Numancia | 75 | (1) |
| 2011–2013 | Elche | 41 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Mirandés | 29 | (0) |
| 2014–2018 | Osasuna | 84 | (2) |
| 2018–2019 | Logroñés | 20 | (0) |
| Total | 420 | (4) | |
| International career | |||
| 2003 | Spain U20 | 2 | (0) |
| 2006 | Spain U21 | 3 | (0) |
| 2005 | Spain U23 | 2 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
He represented Spain up to under-23 level, and spent most of his career with Osasuna.
A product of hometown CA Osasuna's youth system, Flaño was born in Pamplona, and he made his debut with the first team in a La Liga 2–1 home win against Villarreal CF on 28 August 2005,[2] going on to finish his first season with 31 games. Aged only 17, he began playing regularly with the reserves in the Segunda División B.
Flaño remained an important fixture with the Navarrese the following campaign. He scored his first goal on 10 December 2006 in a 3–0 home victory over RCD Mallorca,[3] adding eight appearances in the club's semi-final run in the UEFA Cup (plus both legs in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round against Hamburger SV).
From 2007 onwards, twin brother Miguel became an undisputed starter while Javier was only a fringe player.[4][5] Released in June 2009, he joined CD Numancia on a free transfer for two years, as the Soria side had just been relegated from the top division;[6] he appeared in 40 Segunda División matches in his second season – 39 starts – in a final comfortable midtable position.[7]
On 22 July 2014, following one-year spells in the second division with Elche CF and CD Mirandés, Flaño returned to his first club, where his brother was still playing.[8] On 7 June of the following year, in the last round of the campaign and with the team needing one point to avoid a second consecutive relegation, he scored a last-minute header for a 2–2 draw at CE Sabadell FC.[9]
Flaño started in 37 of his 38 league appearances in 2015–16 to help Osasuna return to the top flight after a two-year absence. In the early stages of the following season, both siblings suffered a complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament on their left knee, being sidelined for several months.[10]
Having only totalled ten games in his last two seasons, Flaño left for third-tier UD Logroñés in July 2018.[11]
Flaño's twin brother, Miguel, was also a footballer and a defender. Both were groomed at Osasuna.[12]
Elche
Spain U23
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
