Aitor Elizegi Alberdi (born 27 June 1966) is a Spanish entrepreneur, chef and the president of football club

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 ...

from 2018 to 2022.

Biography

Born in 1966, in

Santutxu Santutxu is a neighbourhood of the Spanish city of Bilbao. It belongs to the 4th urban district, named Begoña. It is a popular residential neighbourhood which has a significant number of small businesses and has received some waves of immigrati ...

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

, Elizegi grew up supporting

, becoming a member of the club at the age of 25. Elizegi entered the culinary industry in 1987, winning the Spanish Chefs Championship a year later and the Basque Gastronomy Award in 2000 for best restaurateur at his Gaminiz restaurant. As of 2019, Elizegi is head of a number of Basque restaurants in Bilbao, including Txocook, Bascook and Basquery. On 27 December 2018, Elizegi won Athletic Bilbao's presidential election to succeeding former incumbent

Josu Urrutia Josu Urrutia Tellería (born 10 April 1968) is a Spanish former Association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder. His 17-year senior career was solely connected with Athletic Bilbao for which ...

, defeating Alberto Uribe-Echevarría, treasurer under Urrutia, by a margin of just 85 votes. One of his first acts as president was to replace the long-serving

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

José María Amorrortu José María Amorrortu Prieto (born 22 July 1953) is a Spanish former Association football, football Forward (association football), forward and Coach (sport), manager. Playing career Born in Bilbao, Biscay, Amorrortu signed with Athletic Bilbao ...

with

Rafael Alkorta Rafael Alkorta Martínez (born 16 September 1968) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a central defender. He is the current sporting director of Athletic Bilbao. Having represented Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid ...

and Andoni Ayarza, (both former players of the club), as promised in his election campaign. He did not seek re-election at the end of his four-year term in 2022, with Jon Uriarte appointed to succeed him.

Politics

Elizegi is a member of the

Basque Nationalist Party The Basque Nationalist Party (, EAJ ; es, Partido Nacionalista Vasco, PNV; french: Parti Nationaliste Basque, PNB; EAJ-PNV), officially Basque National Party in English,) was rejected by party members in November 2011. Nonetheless, the party did ...

. Elizegi is a

Basque nationalist Basque nationalism ( eu, eusko abertzaletasuna ; es, nacionalismo vasco; french: nationalisme basque) is a form of nationalism that asserts that Basques, an ethnic group indigenous to the western Pyrenees, are a nation and promotes the polit ...

and independentist, and has expressed a desire for the admittance of a Basque national football team into

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Notes

References

1966 births Living people People from Bilbao Athletic Bilbao presidents Spanish businesspeople Spanish chefs Basque nationalists Basque cuisine Businesspeople from the Basque Country (autonomous community) {{Spain-footy-bio-stub