In all honesty, Sevilla have been pretty terrible lately, so you’d be forgiven if you forgot that they are legitimately one of the biggest clubs in Spanish football and were in the LaLiga title discussion with Real Madrid as recently as the first half of the 2021/22 season.
But since then, Sevilla have been a step above Spain’s Schalke or Bordeaux, finishing 12th and 14th in LaLiga in the last two seasons. They were even flirting with relegation in the 2022/23 season before winning the Europa League and charging up the table under miracle-worker Jose Luis Mendilibar.
Right now, Sevilla are so bereft of talent that Valencia’s Peter Lim is probably feeling pretty good about himself in comparison. They just sold their only legitimate goal-scoring threat, Youssef En-Nesyri, to Fenerbahce, which should tell you about how high expectations are for the 2024/25 season.
Yet Sevilla are a powerhouse in a way, and even when they were at their worst in 2022/23, they won the Europa League for a seventh time since the turn of the century, proving that, like Real Madrid, they have their own brand of “DNA”.
Throughout their recent history, Sevilla have boasted some wonderful footballers who have been forgotten by the world since their playing days, and it isn’t just the rugged defensive midfielders or center backs.
Sevilla have boasted some awesome strikers in their recent history, and so let’s take a look at 10 great Sevilla ballers of yesterday that you probably almost definitely forgot.
GK Andres Palop
Andres Palop is a Sevilla icon, and he was a regular starter for the club from Day 1…even though he never started even 15 games in a single season before joining Sevilla at the age of 31 from Valencia.
Immediately, Palop was a success, allowing just 1.03 goals per 90 with a 76.1 save percentage in his first season with the club in 2005/06 and then dominating LaLiga even more a year later with a 78.8 save percentage and under a goal per 90 allowed.
Palop is a great example of the power of Sevilla’s scouting and what has made this club so successful over the decades.Across seven seasons with Valencia, Palop saved 78.4 percent of the shots he faced and allowed fewer than a goal per 90, even though he only ever got to start 39 matches.
So why didn’t he start? Simple. Valencia’s goalkeeper at the time was Santiago Canizares, who is quite literally one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Spanish football.
Well, Palop wasn’t bad either, finishing an eight-year career with Sevilla on a 73.7 save percentage with a clean sheet in more than a third of his starts. And oh yeah, he won the UEFA Cup twice, the Copa del Rey twice, and was even part of the Spain side that took home Euro 2008.
ST Frederic Kanoute
Smooth as they come, Frederic Kanoute actually played for three clubs with a bigger spotlight than Sevilla before joining the Nervionenses in 2005. He was a prospect for Lyon back when they were starting to become the dominant force in French football.
From there, he moved to the Premier League and had a couple of seasons with double-digit goals before moving to Tottenham where he wasn’t necessarily a flop but had a hard time being trusted as anything more than a supporting player.
Once again, Sevilla spotted some serious talent in Kanoute and took the plunge on the Premier League vet, spending just 6.5 million euros to sign a striker who would, just two years later, be the African Player of the Year – one of the most prestigious honors in world football.
Anyone who watched LaLiga in the mid-2000’s still remembers Kanoute fondly. He was a graceful, clinical striker who played the game with both intelligence and power.
Kanoute scored 21, 16, and 18 goals in a three-season stretch in which he was one of the best strikers in Spanish football, and he wasn’t a bad partner either who could help create chances for another forward.
CM Ever Banega
It’s wild how many fans don’t even know who Ever Banega was, even though he was one of the absolute best players in LaLiga for both Valencia and Sevilla from 2009 to 2020 when he finally left for the O.G. Saudi Pro League.
Banega was like Sevilla’s Xavi or Andres Iniesta, cooking LaLiga defenses with his skill. This was a man willing to try anything with no fear, and he had a bag of special tricks and an ability to create chances from nothing.
It seemed like the Argentinian midfielder brought out his best stuff in European competition, living true to the Sevilla DNA in the 2017/18 Champions League season with 3.7 key passes and 5.0 combined dribbles completed and fouls drawn per game.
Although Banega never became a household name in the mainstream, quite literally everyone who watched LaLiga closely in the 2010s will tell you that the man was an absolute gem who could do it all.
It’s no wonder why he won three Europa League titles and was named the Player of the Tournament in literally every single one of them.
ST Luis Fabiano
Your average football fan has probably never heard of Luis Fabiano, and certainly the kids of TikTok have no clue who this guy was…but they absolutely should.
Because Fabiano was a riot. I mean, you never knew what this guy was going to do on any given Matchday. He could go crazy and start a brawl or get a red card, or, honestly more likely, he’d score an absolute screamer that ripped the back of the net off.
Fabiano was a prolific goal-scorer for both club and country. At Sevilla, he notched 72 career goals in 149 appearances. And amidst all the stars that Brazil have, Fabiano still managed to not infrequently stand out as the team’s best player, finishing his national team career with 28 goals in 45 games.
A two-time UEFA Cup and two-time Copa del Rey winner, Fabiano made the 2007/08 LaLiga season when he scored a jaw-dropping 24 goals. He and Frederic Kanoute were a monstrous pair and one of the best striker duos in, honestly, LaLiga history.
CB Julien Escude
Raise your hand if you know who Julien Escude was. Seriously? Put your hand down. Escude was as solid as they come at center back, forming the foundation of those Sevilla sides that won two Copas del Rey and two UEFA Cups in the 2000s.
The Frenchman had already logged a lot of matches for Cannes, Rennes, and Ajax before joining Sevilla in 2006, but he never really got the respect for being one of European football’s better defender until he landed with the LaLiga powerhouse.
Escude made 164 starts for the Nervionenses, more than making good on the absolute bargain of a price Sevilla paid for him. How much did they pay for Escude, you ask? 1.5 million euros.
RB Coke
Coke was one of the best right backs in the world in the 2010s, even though, again, the vast majority of football fans still have no idea who this guy was. And that’s because Coke had the unglamorous role of being a defensive right back who did the dirty work for Sevilla.
Another thing you come to realize in football is that the most consistent players tend to be the most underrated. From 2011 to 2016, Coke never had a bad season for Sevilla, averaging at least 2.5 tackles per game three times and 2.0 interceptions per game twice.
A classy defensive presence for Sevilla, Coke wasn’t bad on the attacking end either, capable of progressing play and even helping the passing game. He three-peated the Europa League from 2013 to 2015, averaging 2.5 tackles and 2.7 interceptions per game during the tournament of the first triumph.
DM Vicente Iborra
Vicente Iborra is a good, old-school Spanish defensive midfielder who never should have left the club for Leicester City in 2017, though he did at least return to the top level when he came back to LaLiga in 2019 with Villarreal.
The funny thing is that Iborra is still playing now at the age of 36 for Levante, though the Frogs finished eighth last season in the Segunda, meaning Iborra won’t be in LaLiga for the 2024/25 season.
Iborra three-peated the Europa League with Sevilla at the beginning of the 2010s and then actually won the tournament again a handful of years ago with Villarreal and Unai Emery over there.
He was a top, top midfielder in the 2010s with three seasons scoring seven goals for Sevilla, including a career hat trick. Iborra was money in European competitions, even for Levante in his first stint with the Frogs before joining Sevilla, averaging 3.7 tackles and 2.9 interceptions per game in the 2012/13 season.
CB Daniel Carrico
Daniel Carrico was a monstrous defensive presence during Sevilla’s three-peat era, even averaging a whopping 4.9 tackles and 1.9 interceptions per game during the first of those Europa League triumphs.
Unai Emery knew as well as anyone that the Portuguese international would go to war for him and was legitimately one of the best center backs in Europe – if not one of the most underrated.
The problem with Carrico is that his career is remembered for a very ugly incident in 2016 in which he ruined the Copa del Rey Final for Sevilla vs. Barcelona, calling the official a homophobic slur after receiving a yellow card for a tackle on Lionel Messi.
Carrico was given a second yellow for his unacceptable words and then banned an additional four games. He won four Europa League titles with Sevilla and was a legend in that competition, but he never won the Copa del Rey due to his own literal ignorance.
Ironically enough, two years earlier, Carrico kissed teammate Ivan Rakitic after Sevilla won the Europa League in 2013/14. Your reminder that there was nothing wrong with that, and we still have a loooong way to go when it comes to addressing homophobic slurs and even media coverage in men’s football, which is even further behind other professional sports.
DM Grzegorz Krychowiak
Grzegorz Krychowiak was an absolute unit and arguably the toughest player in world football at the time, forming a monstrous double-pivot for Sevilla alongside Frenchman Steven N’Zonzi.
Known as “The Poilsh Terminator” during his time with Reims in Ligue 1, Krychowiak played exactly as that nickname would suggest, steamrolling opponents in midfield with impunity.
This guy could take anyone’s legs out and inspired fear in the hearts of the opposition, grinding ankles into mincemeat. Krychowiak wasn’t bad technically at all, and even though he only played for Sevilla from 2014 to 2016 before making a big jump to Qatar’s PSG project, he was one of the top defensive midfielders in Europe for the Nervionenses.
I mean, his numbers were off the charts. In his first Europa League triumph in 2014/15, Krychowiak made the Team of the Season with 3.2 tackles and 3.5 interceptions per game.
Those are insane numbers, but what’s even more insane is the fact that Krychowiak pretty much nailed those numbers in every league or cup campaign he played in for Sevilla.
ST Carlos Bacca
Carlos Bacca is a lot like Luis Fabiano, Frederic Kanoute, Ever Banega, and Grzegorz Krychowiak. If you watched him play, you definitely remember him, and you can’t fathom how there are people who don’t know who he is.
From 2013 to 2015, Bacca was one of the top strikers in European football, carrying the torch for Kanoute and Fabiano all those years later. Bacca played just two seasons for the Nervionsenses but made them count as an absolute star, scoring 34 goals with 11 assists combined.
Bacca could do it all, creating his own chances and also creating a few for others. The Colombian No. 9 was a devastating finisher and a great athlete. A master of the rabona, Bacca thrived at Sevilla with the freedom and trust he was given by Emery, who saw a world-class forward in him.
Although Bacca flopped after his first season of 18 goals with AC Milan, he more than proved himself during his time at Sevilla, winning the Europa League twice with a Team of the Season appearance in 2014/15 after scoring 7 goals and 3 assists despite only starting 8 of his 15 appearances.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.