Photo: Ruben Ortega / CC BY-SA 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Rubén Baraja is the kind of midfielder I have real affection for. Seventeen years as a professional, most of them anchoring Valencia, and an essential figure in five major club titles tells you everything about his reliability. A complete central midfielder with tackling, technique, passing and a goalscoring touch is a rare blend, and at 180cm he had the frame to compete physically. What I admire most is the second act: retiring and stepping straight into management. Players who understand the game well enough to teach it often had the sharpest minds on the pitch, and his Valladolid roots clearly run deep.
Overview
Rubén Baraja Vegas (Spanish pronunciation: [ruˈβem baˈɾaxa]; born 11 July 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer, currently a manager. A complete central midfielder with good tackling, technique, and offensive qualities, together with accurate passing and goalscoring ability, he played mostly for Valencia during a 17-year professional career, being an essential figure in five of the club's major titles, which included…
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Rubén Baraja
- Name (Japanese)
- ルベン・バラハ
- Reading
- るべん・ばらは
- Born
- July 11, 1975 (age 50)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Rabbit
- Origin
- Valladolid, Valladolid Province, Spain
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 180 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- association football player / association football coach
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Association football player — see all → · Association football coach — see all → · More people from Spain →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.