Ubay Luzardo

Early years and Kitchee

Born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Luzardo came through local UD Las Palmas' youth system, but never represented the senior team. During his early spell in his country, he played only in Tercera División or lower. In July 2009, Luzardo signed a three-year contract with Hong Kong side Kitchee SC. He appeared in 36 First Division games with seven goals over his first two seasons, winning the national championship in the latter and qualifying to the 2011 Premier League Asia Trophy, where he scored an own goal against Chelsea in the semi-finals and missed a penalty kick in the third-place play-off 0–3 loss to Blackburn Rovers. Luzardo scored straight off the bench to make it 3–2 for Kitchee against Tai Po FC, before reverting to his usual centre back position.

Melbourne Victory

In January 2012, Luzardo was invited to trial with Melbourne Victory FC in the A-League. Coach Jim Magilton said: "I like what I saw. I saw a few games pre-season, he played against Chelsea and Blackburn and I like what I see". On 8 February, he signed a loan deal with the club until the end of the campaign. On 10 March 2012, in the match against Sydney FC, Luzardo was adjudged to have brought down Bruno Cazarine in a 32nd-minute off-the-ball tussle in the box. The conceded penalty resulted in Sydney's 1–0 win, which put an official end to Victory's finals hopes. He subsequently returned to Kitchee only to be released, and went on to play professionally in Sweden…