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Marc Cucurella Saseta (; born 22 July 1998) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back or left wing-back for club Chelsea and the Spain national team.
Cucurella made his senior club debut at FC Barcelona, but spent most of his time there with the reserve team. He went on to play over 100 La Liga games for SD Eibar and Getafe CF, before joining Brighton & Hove Albion in 2021. He spent a season with Brighton before joining Chelsea in 2022.
Cucurella was capped for Spain over every youth level from under-16 to under-23, winning the silver medal with the latter at the 2020 Olympic tournament. He made his debut for the senior team in 2021, representing the side at UEFA Euro 2024, where the team won the tournament.
Cucurella contributed with 17 appearances for the side, achieving promotion to the Segunda División via the play-offs. On 7 July 2017, he renewed his contract until 2021, with a €12 million clause. He made his professional debut on 1 September, starting in a 2–2 away draw against Granada CF. He made his first-team debut on 24 October, coming on as a late substitute for Lucas Digne in a 3–0 Copa del Rey away win against Real Murcia. He scored his first senior goal for Barcelona B on 17 March 2018, equalising in a draw away to Lorca FC.
On 31 August 2018, Cucurella was loaned to fellow La Liga club SD Eibar, for one year with a €2 million buyout clause. He made his top-flight debut on 25 September in a 1–0 loss away to Espanyol. Appearing as one of eight changes by manager José Luis Mendilibar, he was praised by Marca journalist Ander Barroso despite the result. He scored his first La Liga goal on the final day of the season on 9 May 2019, opening the scoring in 2–2 draw at home to his parent club.
Cucurella made his European debut on 19 September 2019 as a substitute for Kenedy in a 1–0 home win over Trabzonspor in the UEFA Europa League group stage. He played eight games of that campaign, which ended 11 months later with a 2–0 loss on aggregatre to Inter Milan in the last 16.
On 3 March 2020, Getafe triggered his option to buy for €6 million, no longer connecting him to Barcelona. Getafe exercise option to purchase Cucurella for six million euros Marca. 3 March 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2020 The club fully exercised his option to buy on 30 June.
On 15 December 2024, Cucurella scored his first Premier League goal for Chelsea, a headed opener assisted by Noni Madueke in a 2–1 home victory over Brentford. In the same game, Cucurella would receive his first career red card, being shown a second yellow for a scuffle with Brentford's Kevin Schade after the final whistle which Schade also received a yellow card for.
Cucurella was also part of the Spain under-23 team that won the silver medal at the 2020 Olympic Games, that took place in 2021 due to the previous year's postponement as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In November 2020, manager Luis Enrique called up Cucurella to the senior Spain squad for UEFA Nations League games against Switzerland and Germany, as José Gayà was injured. He was an unused substitute for the fixtures.
Due to the isolation of some national team players following the positive COVID-19 test of Sergio Busquets, Spain's under-21 squad were called up for the international friendly against Lithuania on 8 June 2021. Cucurella made his debut, acting as captain, in this match that Spain won 4–0.
On 26 March 2024, Cucurella won his second cap for the Spain senior team, playing the full 90 minutes at left back in a 3–3 draw with Brazil at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.
In June 2024, Cucurella was named in Spain's squad for UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany. He made his competitive debut in the team's opening match of the tournament, starting at left back as La Furia Roja beat Croatia 3–0 at Berlin's Olympiastadion. In the quarter-finals against Germany, Cucurella was the center of controversy when he touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area, yet no penalty was awarded from the referee because he wasn't considered to be "unnaturally enlarging his body" with his arm when the ball hit his hand. Cucurella provided the assist on Mikel Oyarzabal's winning goal as Spain defeated England 2–1 in the final. He was also named in the Team of the Tournament.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition !rowspan="2" | Club !rowspan="2" | Season !colspan="3" | League !colspan="2" | National cup !colspan="2" | League cup !colspan="2" | Europe !colspan="2" | Other !colspan="2" | Total |
| Barcelona B | 2016–17 | Segunda División B | 0 | |||||
| 2017–18 | Segunda División | 1 | ||||||
| FC Barcelona | 2017–18 | La Liga | 0 | |||||
| SD Eibar (loan) | 2018–19 | La Liga | 2 | |||||
| Getafe CF (loan) | 2019–20 | La Liga | 1 | |||||
| Getafe | 2020–21 | La Liga | 3 | |||||
| 2021–22 | La Liga | 0 | ||||||
| Brighton & Hove Albion | 2021–22 | Premier League | 1 | |||||
| Chelsea | 2022–23 | Premier League | 0 | |||||
| 2023–24 | Premier League | 1 | ||||||
| 2024–25 | Premier League | 7 | ||||||
| 2025–26 | Premier League | 0 | ||||||
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year !National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals | |
| Spain | 0 |
| 0 | |
| 0 | |
Chelsea
Spain U23
Spain
Individual
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