Aritz Elustondo Irribarria (born 28 March 1994) is a Spanish 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 plays mainly as a

right-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 ...

but also as a

central defender 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 ...

for

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 ...

club

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Beasain Beasain is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, northern Spain. It has an important industry of railway vehicles and related equipment ( CAF) that ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa (, , ; es, Guipúzcoa ; french: Guipuscoa) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French depa ...

Basque Country Basque Country may refer to: * Basque Country (autonomous community), as used in Spain ( es, País Vasco, link=no), also called , an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain (shown in pink on the map) * French Basque Country o ...

, Elustondo graduated from

's youth system. On 13 July 2012, he was loaned to

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

club

SD Beasain Sociedad Deportiva Beasain is a Spanish football team based in Beasain, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1905 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Loinaz'', with a capacity of ...

, and made his senior debut for the latter. Elustondo returned to his '' alma mater'' in June 2013, and was assigned to the reserves in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. He signed a new contract on 31 January 2014, running until 2016. On 14 January 2015, Elustondo made his first-team debut, starting in a 2–2 home draw against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

in the round of 16 of the

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 ...

. He first appeared in

three days later, in the 0–1 home loss to Rayo Vallecano. Elustondo scored his first professional goal on 31 January 2015, but in a 4–1 defeat at

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. On 3 January of the following year, after being regularly used by new manager

Eusebio Sacristán Eusebio Sacristán Mena (; born 13 April 1964), known simply as Eusebio in his playing days, is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who played as a central midfielder. He had a 20-year playing career, which started and en ...

, he agreed to an extension until 2020. Elustondo remained at

Anoeta Stadium Anoeta Stadium ( es, Estadio de Anoeta), currently known as the Reale Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain that was inaugurated in 1993. The stadium lies at the Anoeta Sports Complex, ...

in the ensuing years, signing new deals in February 2018 (to June 2022) and August 2020 (to June 2024).

Career statistics

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2019–20

References

External links

Real Sociedad official profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elustondo, Aritz 1994 births Living people People from Beasain Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Gipuzkoa Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players SD Beasain footballers Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers