The Blues defender, Cesar Azpilicueta Tanco was born on the 28th of August 1989. He is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a right-back or centre-back for Premier League club Chelsea and the Spain national team.
Unarguably, Cesar Azpilicueta is a youth product of Osasuna, he spent three seasons in La Liga before switching to Marseille, winning four major honours with the French club. And in the summer of 2012, Azpilicueta moved to Stamford Bridge, winning the Europa League in his first season and a domestic double two years later. According to his career statistics, he has made over 450 appearances for Chelsea and is currently seventh on their list of all-time appearances; Petr Čech is the only non-English person to have played more times for the club. As per ESPN, he captained Chelsea to win the Europa League in 2019, the Champions League in 2021 and the FIFA Club World Cup in 2021.
Club career
Osasuna
Cesar Azpilicueta Tanco, being a product of hometown club CA Osasuna’s youth system, he made his La Liga debut on 8 April 2007 in a 0–2 away loss against Real Madrid, while still registered with the reserve team; he started his career as a forward then switched to midfielder and, throughout both his club and international career (senior and youth), appeared in several positions, including centre-back and central midfielder.
Due to injuries in the main squad in 2007–08 season, Azpilicueta established himself as a first-team regular at the age of just 18, albeit as a right-back. As a matter of fact, he went on to retain this position for the following season, appearing in all but two league games.
Marseille
A French Ligue 1 club Olympique de Marseille confirmed an agreement had been reached with Osasuna for the transfer of Azpilicueta on the 21st of June 2010, in a four-year contract for €7 million. The Navarrese confirmed the agreement a week later, with the transfer fee possibly rising to as much as €9.5 million depending on appearances. As per statistics, it is recorded that in his UEFA Champions League debut he scored the match’s only goal in a group stage home match against Spartak Moscow, though in his own net.
Chelsea
The West London giants, Chelsea, on the 24th of August 2012, completed the signing of Azpilicueta for an undisclosed fee, reported as £7 million. According to teammate and countryman Juan Mata, “He is a strong running right-back who has pace as well, so I think he is already a complete player.” Due to his surname being difficult for some speakers of English to pronounce, club fans gave him the mononymous nickname “Dave”.
It is however recorded that Cesar Azpilicueta made his debut on 25 September 2012, starting in a 6–0 home win against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a League Cup tie. And again, he played his first Premier League game the following week, coming on as a substitute for Branislav Ivanović in a 4–1 success over Norwich City, also at Stamford Bridge.
Football statistics however present it that Cesar Azpilicueta became the 13th player in Chelsea’s history to make 400 appearances, when he featured against Manchester City on 3 January 2021. The final matchday of the league season on the 23rd of May, Cesar was sent off for appearing to strike Aston Villa’s Jack Grealish during a 1–2 defeat, but the three-game suspension was overturned on appeal. After six days, he captained the team to a 1–0 victory in the UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester City at the Estádio do Dragão, Porto, winning their first Champions League title in 9 years.
Again, the Spaniard lifted the trophy in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup Final in their second FIFA Club World Cup Final on the 12 February 2022, the first one being in 2012 when Chelsea lost to Corinthians. According to BBC report, With this trophy and the UEFA Super Cup secured shortly before, it meant he became the first and only Chelsea player to have won every major trophy at the club.
International career
Youth
According to various report including skysport, Azpilicueta helped the Spanish under-19 team win the UEFA European Championship in 2007. He later moved to the under-21s, being picked for the 2009 European Championships in Sweden where he started three matches in an eventual group stage exit.
The report still have it that Azpilicueta was picked for Spain’s squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics, after missing out on selection for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament. This happened due to the presence of Álvaro Domínguez, he only appeared in the last group match, a 0–0 draw with Morocco at Old Trafford, as the national team exited in the group stage.
Senior
Again, the Chelsea fullback was named in the squad for the upcoming international friendly against Uruguay on the 1st of February 2013. ESPN has it that the manager said of the selection: ‘Azpilicueta is playing many games for Chelsea. He has a lot of energy, defends well and is always willing to attack. We have a lot of hope for him. He made his debut five days later, playing the full 90 minutes in the 3–1 win in Doha, Qatar; after the match, he said that it was his “dream to play for Spain” at the senior level.
The Spanish international was again also included in the 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as well as the 24-man squad for UEFA Euro 2020. Statistics have it that Cesar scored his first senior international goal, his team’s second of a 5–3 win against Croatia in the Round of 16.
Fortunately for Azpilicueta, he captained Spain for the first time in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Georgia on 5 September 2021.
Cesar Azpilicueta net worth
One could easily say that footballers’ financial status is often a mystery, some of them muddled by their fans’ exaggerations of their wealth and debts. But, in this case, Cesar has continued to climb the ladder of success in soccer. According to sources, the famous Chelsea star has an estimated net worth of $25.8 million.
Cesar Azpilicueta’s Salary
As per sweetinfoblog.com, in December 2018 the centre back signed a contract with Chelsea that nets him a whopping salary of 8.3 Million Euro (7.2 Million Pound) per year. We have crunched the numbers, this means he earns €22,678 (£19,523) per day and €945 (£813) per hour!
Per year €8,300,000 £7,217,391
Per month €691,667 £601,449
Per week €159,615 £138,796
Per day €22,740 £19,774
Per hour €947 £823
Per minute €16 £14
Honours
Marseille
Coupe de la Ligue: 2011–12
Trophée des Champions: 2010, 2011
Chelsea
Premier League: 2014–15, 2016–17
FA Cup: 2017–18; runner-up: 2016–17, 2019–20, 2020–21, 2021–22
Football League Cup/EFL Cup: 2014–15; runner-up: 2018–19, 2021–22
UEFA Champions League: 2020–21
UEFA Europa League: 2012–13, 2018–19
UEFA Super Cup: 2021
FIFA Club World Cup: 2021; runner-up: 2012
Spain U19
UEFA European Under-19 Championship: 2007
Spain U21
UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 2011[59]
Spain
FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 2013
UEFA Nations League runner-up: 2020–21
Individual
Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year: 2013–14
UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2018–19
UEFA Champions League Squad of the Season: 2020–21