Ander Iturraspe Derteano (; ; born 8 March 1989) is a Spanish former professional

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

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent all but the final season of his 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 ...

, appearing in 320 matches across all competitions after making his debut with the first team at the age of 19. Iturraspe won two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

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 2014.

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

Abadiño , population_note = , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST = CEST , ut ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Iturraspe joined

in 1999, at the age of 10. He spent several seasons in the various junior levels of the club and, in 2007, moved to

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

CD Basconia in the fourth division. On 12 March 2008, Iturraspe started for the first team in a 6–1 friendly win against

Zalla UC Zalla Unión Club is a Spanish football team based in Zalla, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1925 it plays in Tercera División – Group 4, holding home games at ''Estadio Landaberri'', with a capacity of 3,500 seats. ...

. Towards the end of the league campaign, he also played in exhibition matches with

Club Portugalete Club Portugalete is a Spanish football team based in Portugalete, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 4, holding home games at ''Estadio La Florida'', with a capacity of ...

and

Aviron Bayonnais FC Aviron Bayonnais Football Club (; commonly referred to as simply Bayonne) is a French association football club based in Bayonne. The club is a part of a sports club that was formed in 1904 that is also known for its rugby union club. History ...

. On 23 June 2008, Iturraspe was officially promoted to the main squad, being issued with the squad number 26. On 14 September he made his

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 ...

debut, starting in a 0–0 draw at

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

in the same match as another youth graduate,

Mikel Balenziaga Mikel Balenziaga Oruesagasti (; ; born 29 February 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Athletic Bilbao. Club career Born in Zumarraga, Gipuzkoa, Balenziaga started his football grooming at Real Sociedad, pla ...

; his second appearance came as a substitute, in the 2–0 home win over

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

. Iturraspe made his second start for Athletic in a

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

against

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...

, being replaced at

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

Pablo Orbaiz Pablo Orbaiz Lesaka (born 6 February 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. After starting out with Osasuna, he went on to play 11 years in La Liga with Athletic Bilbao,

. He continued appearing almost exclusively for the reserves until the end of the season, however. Benefitting from physical problems to veteran Carlos Gurpegui, Iturraspe played in nearly 60 official games in 2011–12 under new manager

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning "The Crazy Bielsa"; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional football manager who was most recently the head coach of Premier League club Leeds United. He is a forme ...

. Athletic reached both the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

and the domestic cup finals. At the end of the 2013–14 season, he was voted into the La Liga Team of the Year by the reporters of the

Liga de Fútbol Profesional Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

. In early 2019, it was announced that Iturraspe would leave Athletic at the end of the campaign when his contract ended. The club's final home match involved tributes to him, as well as fellow long-serving squad members

Mikel Rico Mikel Rico Moreno (; ; born 4 November 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for FC Cartagena. After spending much of his career in Spain's lower divisions with Conquense, Polideportivo Ejido and Huesca, h ...

and

Markel Susaeta Markel Susaeta Laskurain (, ; born 14 December 1987) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a right winger. He spent almost the entirety of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao after making his debut with the first team in 2007, ...

who were also departing in similar circumstances.

Espanyol

On 8 July 2019, Iturraspe signed a one-year contract with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

. He made his debut on 1 August in the second leg of the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

in the

, as a 65th-minute substitute in a 3–1 win at

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan, commonly known as Stjarnan, is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær.and in the top 10 in the World and they have won the League ...

(7–1 aggregate). Hampered by a shoulder injury, he did not feature for the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

-based club until 15 December, again off the bench in a 2–2 home draw against

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...

. In September 2020, after his Espanyol contract expired with the club having been relegated to the Segunda División, Iturraspe decided to decline offers from other clubs and retire from playing, aged 31.

International career

Following a strong 2013–14 season, Iturraspe was called up by Spanish national team manager

Vicente Del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

to his 30-man provisional squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

, making his debut on 30 May in a friendly with

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

where he played the full 90 minutes (2–0 win). However, the following day, he was omitted from the final list.

Personal life

Iturraspe's younger brother, Gorka, also came through Athletic's academy and became a professional in the same position.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

runner-up: 2008–09, 2011–12, 2014–15 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

runner-up:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

runner-up: 2011–12 Individual * La Liga Team of the Year: 2013–14

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iturraspe, Ander 1989 births Living people People from Abadiño Sportspeople from Biscay Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Bilbao Athletic footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain international footballers Basque Country international footballers