Sergio Canales Madrazo

Racing Santander

Born in Santander, Cantabria, Canales was a product of hometown Racing de Santander's youth ranks. In 2006, 50% of his playing rights were bought by Deportivo de La Coruña as part of the deal that saw Pedro Munitis return to Racing with Dudu Aouate and Antonio Tomás moving in the opposite direction. Canales made his first-team debut on 18 September 2008, playing in a UEFA Cup home tie against FC Honka of Finland, a 1–0 win. Roughly two weeks later he first appeared in La Liga, with the same result happening at CA Osasuna. Having gradually received more playing time with the main squad, Canales scored twice against RCD Espanyol in a 4–0 away win on 6 December 2009, and repeated the feat at Sevilla FC on 9 January 2010 (2–1 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium), receiving Player of the match honors in the latter game. The following week, as Racing drew at home to Real Valladolid 1–1, he also found the net, and eventually finished his first full season with six goals and four assists to help his team narrowly avoid relegation.

Real Madrid

On 12 February 2010, Real Madrid announced the signing of Canales on a six-year deal for a fee believed to be around €4.5 million plus incentives. He made his debut on 4 August, scoring a goal in a 3–2 friendly win over Club América. His first league appearance came on 29 August, in a 0–0 draw against RCD Mallorca. Canales totalled 518 minutes of action in his only year with the club, which included three…

In 2008, Canales helped Spain's under-17 team win the UEFA European Championship in Turkey. At age 19 he made his under-21 debut, scoring twice in his first two games. Subsequently, Canales was named in the squad for the 2009 European Under-19 Championship. The following year, in the same category, he represented the nation at the European Championships, reaching the final and scoring one goal in the semi-finals, a 3–1 win over England. Canales was selected to the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, playing four out of five games for the national team (three starts) in an eventual penalty shootout quarter-final exit. He featured regularly in the 2013 European Championship Under-21 qualification where he netted three times, including a brace against Georgia; despite missing the playoff game with Denmark he was named in the squad for the finals in Israel, but withdrew from the tournament after picking an injury in the first group match against Russia– Spain went on to win the trophy. On 15 March 2019, Canales was called up by full side manager Luis Enrique for two UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying matches against Norway and Malta. He made his debut eight days later, as a 74th-minute substitute for Dani Ceballos in the 2–1 victory over the former in Valencia. Canales scored his first goal on 11 November 2020, opening the 1–1 friendly draw with the Netherlands in Amsterdam.

Club

As of match played 28 August 2026

International

Spain score listed first, score column indicates score after each Canales goal.

Canales' second cousin, Borja Docal, was also a footballer.