Ainhoa Tirapu de Goñi (born 4 September 1984) is a Spanish retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. She spent most of her club career at

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional Association football, football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country (autonomous com ...

, and was a member of the Spain national squad for almost a decade.

Club career

Tirapu began her career at

SD Lagunak Sociedad Deportiva Lagunak is a Spanish football team based in Barañáin in the autonomous community of Navarre. Founded in 1975, it plays in . Its stadium is Estadio ''Sociedad Lagunak'' with a capacity of 500 seaters. The club is better know ...

and played in the 2005 Copa de la Reina for CF Puebla. She then signed for

, who had just won their third

Superliga Femenina The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of sports league, league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of t ...

in a row, as a replacement for the retiring Eli Capa. In August 2005 she played her first match for Athletic in the 2005–06 UEFA Women's Cup's qualifying stage, a 6–2 victory over Scottish champions Glasgow City. From 2006 to 2020,Ainhoa was Athletic's first choice goalkeeper. She won two

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

titles with Athletic in 2006–07 and 2015–16.

International career

In 2002 Tirapu was part of the Spanish national under-19 squad which competed in the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship finals in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. Tirapu made her senior Spain women's national football team debut in the second game of the

UEFA Women's Euro 2009 qualifying Qualifying for UEFA Women's Euro 2009 determined which 11 teams joined Finland, the hosts of the 2009 tournament, to play for the UEFA Women's Championship. Preliminary round 20 teams were divided into 5 groups of 4. The 5 group winners qualified ...

series; a 2–2 draw against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Plzeň Plzeň (; German and English: Pilsen, in German ) is a city in the Czech Republic. About west of Prague in western Bohemia, it is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 169,000 inhabita ...

on 27 October 2007. She remained as Spain's first choice goalkeeper for the rest of the stage, which ended in a 4–0 play-off defeat to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She also retained the position during the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification Qualification for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup determines which 15 teams join Germany, the hosts of the 2011 tournament, to play for the Women's World Cup. Europe has 5.5 qualifying berths (including the hosts), Asia 3 berths, North and Cent ...

campaign. In June 2013 national team

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Ignacio Quereda Ignacio Quereda Laviña (born 24 July 1950) is a Spanish football coach who managed the Spain women's national football team between 1988 and 2015. Playing career Born in Madrid, Quereda was raised in Badajoz where his family moved when he was ...

selected Tirapu in the Spain squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013 in Sweden. She was a mainstay of the team which negotiated the group stage before being beaten 3–1 by

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in the quarter final. She was part of Spain's squad at the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the ...

. She also represented the

Basque Country women's national football team The Basque Country women's football team (officially, in Basque, ''Euskal Herriko emakumezkoen futbol selekzioa'') is considered the national team of the Basque Country greater region. It is organised by the Basque Football Federation (''Euskadi ...

Personal life

Tirapu has a

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in environmental contagion and toxicology from the University of the Basque Country. While playing in the youth ranks of SD Lagunak she was given the

nickname A nickname is a substitute for the proper name of a familiar person, place or thing. Commonly used to express affection, a form of endearment, and sometimes amusement, it can also be used to express defamation of character. As a concept, it is ...

"Sensi" by teammates Marta Moreno and Erika Vázquez, due to her perceived sensitivity to being hurt by the ball. The nickname remained with Tirapu throughout her career. The ex-footballer brothers Fernando Tirapu and Mariano Tirapu are distant relatives of Ainhoa.

Honours

Club

;Athletic Bilbao *

: 2006–07, 2015–16

References

External links

* *
Profile
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tirapu, Ainhoa 1984 births Living people Spanish women's footballers Spain women's international footballers Footballers from Pamplona Primera División (women) players Athletic Club Femenino players Women's association football goalkeepers 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players SD Lagunak (women) players