The first trophy of Alfonso Pedraza Sag’s career came in July 2015, when he won the UEFA European Under-19 Championship with Spain in Greece. Born on 9 April 1996 in San Sebastián de los Ballesteros, in the province of Córdoba, he is a left-back who has also played as a wing-back and winger. A product of Villarreal’s academy, he made 235 competitive appearances for the club and won the 2021 Europa League, and he has played for Lazio since 2026.
Pedraza started out at Séneca CF, a grassroots club in Córdoba. In 2011, aged fifteen, he joined Villarreal’s youth system and left Andalusia for the Valencian Community. He worked his way through the youth sides to the reserve team, making his debut for Villarreal B on 11 January 2015 as a second-half substitute in a 2-2 draw with Reus in the Segunda División B. On 1 March that year he scored his first goal at that level, against Atlético Baleares. Barely a month later, on 5 April 2015, he made his La Liga debut, replacing Jonathan dos Santos in the 72nd minute of a goalless draw away to Valencia at Mestalla.
Loans at Lugo, Leeds and Alavés
To gain experience, Villarreal loaned him to CD Lugo in the Spanish second division on 28 July 2016. In Galicia he played 23 league matches and scored six goals, a high return for a left-sided player. His form attracted interest from England, and on 31 January 2017 he switched loans to join Leeds United in the Championship, where he made 14 appearances and scored once. In the summer of 2017 he was loaned to Deportivo Alavés, and in Vitoria he completed his first full top-flight season: 33 league games and three goals, or 37 appearances and four goals including the Copa del Rey.
Breakthrough at Villarreal and a year at Betis
In 2018-19 he stayed in Villarreal’s first-team squad and played 45 competitive matches, scoring four times. His first goal for the club came in November 2018 and earned a 1-1 home draw with Levante. In February 2019, in the Europa League round of 32, he scored after three minutes for the only goal of a win away to Sporting CP. In July 2019 he joined Real Betis on loan with an option to buy that the Seville club did not take up. After a season at the Benito Villamarín with more than twenty league appearances and one goal, he returned to Vila-real in the summer of 2020.
The 2021 Europa League
His return coincided with Unai Emery’s arrival as head coach. In 2020-21 he made 44 appearances and scored twice, twelve of those games coming in the Europa League. On 26 May 2021 in Gdańsk, Poland, he played 88 minutes of the final against Manchester United, which ended 1-1 and was settled by a long penalty shootout in Villarreal’s favour. It was Villarreal’s first European trophy, and Pedraza was also named in UEFA’s Europa League Squad of the Season. In 2021-22, when Villarreal reached the Champions League semi-finals, he played 41 games and scored four goals.
Spain national team
For Spain’s under-19 side he played seven matches and scored three goals, and he was part of the squad that won the 2015 European title, a tournament to which Villarreal contributed several players. With the under-21s he earned 14 caps and became Under-21 European champion in 2019 in Italy, featuring in the 2-1 group-stage win over Belgium. His senior call-up came on 12 October 2023, and three days later, on 15 October, he replaced Ferran Torres late in a 1-0 win over Norway in Oslo, a qualifier for Euro 2024.
Final seasons at Villarreal and the move to Rome
He remained at Villarreal in the following campaigns, with 29 appearances in 2022-23 and 24 in 2023-24. An ankle injury kept him out for much of 2024 and several months of 2025, limiting him to twelve games in 2024-25. In 2025-26 he regained a regular place, playing 35 matches and scoring once. He left the club with 235 competitive appearances and 13 goals. His contract expired on 30 June 2026, and Lazio announced his signing as a free agent on 3 July 2026. At his presentation he named Jordi Alba as the full-back he had looked up to. He made his debut for the Rome club on 16 August 2026 in the first round of the Coppa Italia, a 2-0 defeat to Mantova at the Stadio Olimpico.
Lazio