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Xavii

Xavii in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Xavier Reldo D'Escortez
Date of birth	(1986-07-09) 9 July 1986
Place of birth	Maicao, Colombia
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Attacking Midfielder/Second Striker
Team information
Current team	Velits
Number	7
Youth career
1993–1996	F.C Maicao Desarollo
1996-2003	Benicarlo
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004-	Velits	438	(106)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Benjamin Xavier Reldo D'Escortez, more commonly known as Xavii, is a Colombian-Spanish footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for the Velits in the RIFA World League. He graduated to the first team at a very young age and is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation. His pace coupled with his great dribbling ability have made him a target for defenders to man mark in games. He has been a regular member of the Velits starting eleven since his debut in 2004 and has competed in three RIFA World Cups - in 2006, 2010 and 2014.

Early Life

Xavii was born in Maicao, Colombia to Carlos D'Escortez and Elusana Reldo. His family was poor and he shared a house with his grandmother, who had come to live with the family when her husband, Xavii's paternal grandfather, died in 1983. The house was a shack and was very small. His mother didn't work, but stayed home to look after her grandmother-in-law, where as his father went out to work at the local market, selling fruit, to earn a living.

Xavii had visible footballing potential from a young age, first learning to kick a football when he was three. He used to practice against a wall outside his house, and attended as many football courses as his father could afford. Carlos, his father, saw that if he trained his son enough, he could become a footballer.

When Xavii was seven, he enrolled in the local football club, FC Maicao Desarollo (Maicao Youth). They played futsal in the national league and Xavii was the stand out player. On his ninth birthday he scored nine goals in a 12-3 win. After the match, the manager of the team approached Carlos and told him that Xavii's ability was much greater than he had ever seen a nine year old play, and as a birthday present to his son, offered him 70,000 Colombian peso and suggested he buy a video camera to film his son play football, and send it to a club in the mainland of Europe.

Carlos saw this as an opportunity and did so, filming Xavii juggling, doing various skills, dribbling and playing in the Futsal league. He compiled video clips and after working overtime for three weeks at the fruit market, managed to afford to send the compilation over to Spain. He approached three youth club setups, Benavente, Benicarlo and Colomera, with the latter two replying. Benicarlo offered him a place straight away and due to his outstanding talent, offered to play for his flight fee and education while he was living in Spain.

Xavii boarded the plane to Spain on the 31st December 1995, when he was 9 years old, by himself. His father worked at the fruit market for several more months before finally landing himself a job as a train ticket collector in the nearby city, and managed to afford the plane ticket, to join Xavii in Europe, on the 14th June 1996. From there, Xavii trained with the Benicarlo youth team straight away, and signed a contract to play for their youth team in the national league on his 10th birthday, 9th July 1996.

Xavii scored over 200 goals for the club in his eight years there, and helped the team to be promoted to the second top youth division in the country, while they had started in the fifth.

Career

The Velits had been one of six RIFA clubs monitoring him since he was 12 years old. When he was 16 years old, the Alfrets tried to offer him a contract to be part of their reserves team for four years before graduating to the first team at age twenty on a contract worth up to £40,000. However, on advice from the coaches at Benicarlo, Xavii and his father Carlos decided to wait for a first team offer. The Velits offered Xavii a twelve week trial in late May 2004, but cancelled it after six, knowing they were going to sign him on a permanent contract. Xavii signed his first professional contract on 17th July 2003.

He made his debut in August 2003, at the start of the RIFA World League season, against the Hornets. The Velits lost the game 2-1. Xavii had limited appearances in his first season at the club, starting just 7 times over the course of the season and appearing as a substitute 12 times.

In his second season, 2004-05, he replaced Perzen Vetran, the legendary Velits midfielder who had announced his retirement at the end of 2003-04 at the age of 35. During this season he was able to showcase his skills and talents and appeared in all but 4 of the Velits league games after impressing the manager. Throughout the season he scored 6 goals, and despite his good performances, he garnered a reputation for showboating.

In 2005-06, Xavii improved on his goalscoring record by netting 9 in 43 games, but was sent off twice. The first time was for removing his shirt in a goal celebration which earned him a booking, and later in the game cynically tripping Liverpranas midfielder Leis Artre which earned him his second yellow of the game. Later that season he was performing showboat tricks on the touchline during the Velits 5-0 victory over the Cronickers when he was hit with a strong sliding tackle by right back Grono Meritic, who was sent off as a result. However, Xavii reacted by standing up and pushing Meritic in the face, earning himself a red card too, the second of his career.

Xavii was selected for the Velits squad for the 2006 RIFA World Cup, and played 4 out of the 5 games that they competed in, as they made it to the quarter final. Xavii didn't manage to score a goal during the tournament.

During 2006-07, Xavii's showboating came under scrutiny when he was trying to dribble out of defence, but ended up losing the ball and conceding a goal, in a match against the Chelsetes, which led to the match finishing 1-1 rather than 1-0 to the Velits, as it had been. Xavii was dropped from the team for the next match and was reduced to the substitutes bench again in the next game, before coming on in the 75th minute. He completed all of his 24 passes and scored a stunning free kick to make the score 3-0 and score the final goal in the Velits' victory against the Barkers.

In 2007-08 Xavii broke through the 10 goal barrier for the first time, netting 12 throughout the course of the season, despite only one being while wearing the home kit. At the end of the season he was named the Velits player of the year at the age of only 21 years old.

At the start of the 2008-09 season, Xavii was handed the number 7 shirt, having requested it after wearing the number 17 for 5 consecutive seasons. This was his most prolific season, as he scored 17 goals altogether. Xavii began to become widely regarded as one of the best players in the world due to his dribbling ability. He scored 2 hat-tricks over the course of the season, the first against the Rarburnas and the second in a 5-0 demolishing of the Sliders. His three goals against the Sliders all came in the second half, within in 12 minutes of each other.

Xavii had never before experienced an injury while playing on the pitch for the Velits, but at the start of 2009-10, he pulled his hamstring while running to get the ball late on in a game against the Zippers. The injury kept him out for four games. He only missed one other game throughout the course of the season, when the Velits league position had already been determined and he was left out of the side for the penultimate game of the season against the Dragos.

Personal Life

Xavii is married to Spanish model Elena Verasco. They got married on the 26th September 2008 and have 2 daughters and a son: Sara (born 5th April 2005), Cerysa (born 1st January 2009) and Rodrigo (born 17th July 2013).

Xavii has been quoting as saying he owes alot of his footballing ability to his grandfather who died. He had played as a semi-professional footballer in the Colombian division. Because he had failed to make it to RIFA, he wanted to see a member of his fmily do it. When he died of a stroke at the age of 67 in 1983, he left all of his footballs to Xavii in his will. He never got to meet his grandson.

Xavii has a notorious reputation for repeatedly changing his hairstyle. Since he joined the Velits, he has sported a variety of trends including a mohawk, a long fringe, and spiky hair, aswell as a range of colours such as blonde, black with orange highlights, and brown.

Career Statistics

Team	Season	League		World Cup		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Velits	2003-2004	19	2	-	-	19	2
Velits	2004-2005	42	6	-	-	42	6
Velits	2005-2006	43	9	4	0	47	9
Velits	2006-2007	36	7	-	-	36	7
Velits	2007-2008	45	12	-	-	45	12
Velits	2008-2009	45	17	-	-	45	17
Velits	2009-2010	41	11	6	2	47	13
Velits	2010-2011	43	8	-	-	43	8
Velits	2011-2012	46	16	-	-	46	16
Velits	2012-2013	35	10	-	-	35	10
Velits	2013-2014	26	5	7	1	33	6
Career total		421	103	17	3	438	106