Aitor López Rekarte (born 18 August 1975) 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 ...

. He played as a defender on the

right side Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

, and sporadically on the other flank. His professional career was closely connected to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

, where he spent 13 of 15 total seasons, appearing in 338 competitive games.

Club career

Born in

Mondragón Mondragón ( eu, Arrasate or ''Mondragoe''), officially known as Arrasate/Mondragón, is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa Province, Basque Country, Spain. Its population in 2015 was 21,933. Economic and historical significance The town is be ...

, Basque Country, López Rekarte played a decade with local club

, with nearly 350 overall appearances with the first team. After being promoted to the main squad for 1997–98 he immediately became the starter, his worst output consisting of 26 games in his second professional season. López Rekarte featured mostly at

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

in that campaign as Real finished third, as habitual starter

Agustín Aranzábal Agustín Aranzábal Alkorta (; born 15 March 1973) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a left-back. His main asset was his crossing ability, and he played almost exclusively with Real Sociedad, which he represented for ...

suffered a long injury lay-off. Eventually, he also became

team captain In team sport, captain is a title given to a member of the team. The title is frequently honorary, but in some cases the captain may have significant responsibility for strategy and teamwork while the game is in progress on the field. In eithe ...

, only missing one

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

match in 2002–03 for the runners-up. In July 2007, López Rekarte switched to newly promoted

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

, but appeared scarcely throughout the season as the

Andalusia Andalusia (, ; es, Andalucía ) is the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomous community in the country. It is officially recognised as a ...

ns overachieved, being subsequently released. On 18 March 2009, he joined

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

in a deal until the end of the campaign. After the latter's relegation, he chose to retire from football at nearly 34.

International career

López Rekarte earned one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, in a friendly against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

on 3 September 2004 (1–1, in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

). Previously, he helped the nation's under-21s win the 1998 UEFA European Championship.

Personal life

López Rekarte was the younger brother of another professional footballer,

Luis Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...

, who also played for Real Sociedad, also being a right back and an international. His niece,

Maitane López Maitane López Millán (born 13 March 1995) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for American National Women's Soccer League club NJ/NY Gotham FC and the Spain women's national team. Club career In June 2015, Levant ...

, was also involved in the sport.

Honours

Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Rekarte, Aitor 1975 births Living people People from Mondragón Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers UD Almería players SD Eibar footballers Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain international footballers Basque Country international footballers