Eloy Olaya

Eloy

Personal information
Full name	Eloy José Olaya Prendes
Date of birth	(1964-07-10) 10 July 1964
Place of birth	Gijón, Spain
Height
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
	Colegio Inmaculada
	Sporting Gijón
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982–1983	Sporting B
1982–1988	Sporting Gijón	191	(36)
1988–1995	Valencia	203	(37)
1995–1996	Sporting Gijón	36	(3)
1996–1998	Badajoz	28	(4)
Total		458	(80)
International career
1980	Spain U16	2	(0)
1981–1982	Spain U18	13	(5)
1983–1986	Spain U21	10	(4)
1985–1990	Spain	15	(4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

This name uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Olaya and the second or maternal family name is Prendes.

Eloy José Olaya Prendes (born 10 July 1964 in Gijón, Asturias), known simply as Eloy, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a forward.

Club career

During his career Eloy played for Sporting de Gijón (being part of a strong 80's team that achieved two fourth places in La Liga, in 1985 and 1987, with the player scoring 11 goals in 43 games in the latter season), Valencia CF (with roughly the same individual records, helping the Che to a runner-up spot in the 1989–90 campaign) and CD Badajoz (retiring after an unassuming Segunda División spell). On 28 November 1979, aged only 15, he made his professional debut, appearing with the Asturias side in a Copa del Rey contest against CD Turón, as the Royal Spanish Football Federation did not allow clubs to field players from the reserves, which were able to also compete in the tournament in that period.

After retiring in 1998 at the age of 34, with top level totals of 429 matches and 76 goals, Eloy served as general manager for main club Sporting, from 2001 to 2006.

International career

Between 1985 and 1990 Eloy gained 15 caps and scored four goals for the Spanish national team, and was a participant in the 1986 FIFA World Cup (where he netted against Algeria in a 3–0 win, also missing in a penalty shootout quarterfinal loss to Belgium) and UEFA Euro 1988 (no appearances).

His debut came on 20 November 1985 in a 0–0 friendly with Austria, played in Zaragoza.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	22 January 1986	Insular, Las Palmas, Spain	Soviet Union	2–0	2–0	Friendly
2.	12 June 1986	Tecnológico, Monterrey, Mexico	Algeria	0–3	0–3	1986 FIFA World Cup
3.	1 April 1987	Prater, Vienna, Austria	Austria	0–1	2–3	Euro 1988 qualifying
4.	1 April 1987	Prater, Vienna, Austria	Austria	1–2	2–3	Euro 1988 qualifying

Honours

Club

Valencia

• Copa del Rey: Runner-up 1994–95

Country

Spain U21

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1986

External links

• Eloy Olaya profile at BDFutbol
• National team data (Spanish)
• Eloy Olaya at National-Football-Teams.com
• Eloy Olaya – FIFA competition record
• Biography at CiberChe (Spanish)