Diego Castro

Málaga and Sporting

Castro was born in Pontevedra, Galicia. After starting out professionally with local Pontevedra CF (Segunda División B) he moved to Málaga CF, but spent almost three seasons mainly registered with the Andalusians' reserves; in December 2005, he appeared in two consecutive home losses for the main squad, against CA Osasuna (2–1) and Real Madrid (2–0). After both Málaga teams dropped down a level in 2006, Castro moved to Sporting de Gijón of Segunda División, being an essential first-team element from the start (20 league goals over his first three seasons – with the Asturians achieving La Liga promotion in his third– six of them in 2008–09, as the club narrowly avoided relegation). In the following campaign, Castro was arguably Sporting's most important player as he topped their scoring charts at ten, four of those coming through penalties. Sporting again managed to stay in the top division. Castro again led Sporting de Gijón in goals scored in 2010–11, netting one goal less. On 13 March 2011, after Nacho Novo won a penalty kick in the last-minute of an away fixture against Villarreal CF, he converted it in Panenka-style for a final 1–1 draw – the visiting team was then reduced to only nine players.

Getafe

Shortly after the season ended, Castro confirmed his departure from Sporting as a free agent, signing shortly after for Getafe CF. On 3 June 2015, after four years as first choice, he left the latter after his contract expired.

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Castro's father, Fernando Castro Santos, also had a career intimately connected with football. He coached several teams in the first and second divisions from 1992 (notably SD Compostela), also working in Portugal. Besides his native language, Castro is also able to speak English, describing it as that he had fully learned the language while in Australia as part of the challenge of playing abroad.

Perth Glory

A-League: Premiers 2018–19 Individual

PFA Team of the Season: 2015–16, 2018–19 PFA A-League Player of the Month: February 2016, March 2016 Johnny Warren Medal: 2015–16