Asier Illarramendi "Illarra" Andonegi (; born 8 March 1990) 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 for and captains

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 ...

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 developed at Real Sociedad, appearing in 56 competitive matches with the first team and helping them qualify for the Champions League in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

. He then transferred to

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 ...

for €32.2 million, the most they had ever paid for a Spanish player, returning to his first club for half of that fee two years later. Illarramendi earned 31

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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 ...

from under-17 to under-23 level, winning the 2013 European Championship with the under-21 side. He made his senior debut in 2017.

Club career

Real Sociedad

A product of local

's youth system, Illarramendi was born in

Mutriku Mutriku ( es, Motrico) is a coastal town located in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Autonomous Community of Basque Country in northern Spain. It has a population of around 5000 and provides access to the Bay of Biscay. It is the site of the worl ...

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 ...

, and he spent the vast majority of his first four senior seasons with

the B team The B Team is a global nonprofit initiative co-founded by Sir Richard Branson and Jochen Zeitz. It advocates for business practices that are more centered on humanity and the climate. History In 2013, a group of leaders came together following ...

, contributing with 27 games and two goals in 2009–10 as the

Basques The Basques ( or ; eu, euskaldunak ; es, vascos ; french: basques ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Bas ...

returned to

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 ...

after one year out. On 19 June 2010, in the last day of the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

campaign, as the first team had already sealed promotion to

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 ...

as champions, he made his first official appearance, in a 4–1 away loss against

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

. On 23 January 2011, Illarramendi made his top-division debut, in a 2–1 defeat at

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 ...

. The following month, he first appeared as a starter playing the full 90 minutes in another away loss (4–1 against

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 ...

); the bulk of the season was spent, however, with the reserves in the third level. Illarramendi started in all of his 32 league appearances in

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, as Real Sociedad finished fourth and qualified to the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

for the first time in ten years. At the

LFP Awards The La Liga Awards, previously known as the LFP Awards, were presented annually by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) to the best players and coach in La Liga, the first division of association football in Spain. Established in the 2008–09 ...

, he was named Breakthrough Player and Best Midfielder.

Real Madrid

On 12 July 2013, Illarramendi signed a six-year contract with

for a fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists o ...

32.2 million, the highest amount paid by the club for a Spanish player. He made his official debut on 14 September by starting in a 2–2 away draw against Villarreal, and scored his first goal on 18 December in a 2–0 home win over

CD Olímpic de Xàtiva Club Deportivo Olímpic de Xàtiva is a Spanish football team based in Xàtiva, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1932 it currently plays in Regional Preferente, holding home games at Campo de Futbol La Murta. History Football in Xàtiv ...

in the

round of 32 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

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 ...

(also the aggregate score). Illarramendi netted his first league goal for the ''Merengues'' on 22 February 2014, after his long-range effort against Elche was deflected and the hosts won it 3–0. His second came on 5 April, as he scored the first in an eventual 4–0 victory at former team Real Sociedad in the 44th minute; he was a regular in the domestic cup campaign, coming on as a late substitute for

Ángel Di María Ángel Fabián Di María (born 14 February 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays for club Juventus and the Argentina national team. He can play as either a winger or attacking midfielder. Di María began his career with R ...

in the 2–1 final defeat of

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

, adding 11 appearances – five starts – in the team's Champions League run but remaining on the bench as they clinched the trophy against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, its ...

. Illarramendi began his second year with a brief substitute appearance in the

2014 UEFA Super Cup The 2014 UEFA Super Cup was the 39th edition of the UEFA Super Cup, an annual football match organised by UEFA and contested by the reigning champions of the two main European club competitions, the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League ...

triumph against compatriots

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA Euro ...

at the

Cardiff City Stadium The Cardiff City Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Dinas Caerdydd) is a stadium in the Leckwith area of Cardiff, Wales. It is the home of Cardiff City Football Club and the Wales national football team. Following expansion of the Ninian Stand in July 2014 ...

, and was also part of Real Madrid's squad which won the

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

in Morocco, playing the entirety of the 4–0 semi-final over against

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

Return to Real Sociedad

On 26 August 2015, Illarramendi returned to Real Sociedad, signing a six-year deal– the transfer fee was not officially disclosed by the clubs, but was stated in the media as being between €15–17 million, around half of the figure paid in the opposite direction two years previously. He made his league debut in his second spell three days later, starting and being booked in a 0–0 home draw against

Sporting de Gijón Real Sporting de Gijón, S.A.D. (), commonly known as Real Sporting, Sporting Gijón, or simply Sporting (although in an international context this can lead to confusion with Sporting Clube de Portugal) is a Spanish football club from Gijón, P ...

. He recorded his first goal for the team in his second spell on 25 October, in a 4–0 win at

Levante UD Levante Unión Deportiva, S.A.D. (, ca-valencia, Llevant Unió Esportiva ) is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club in Valencia, in the Valencian Community, namesake autonomous community. Founded on 9 September 1909, Levante ...

. In the 2016–17 campaign, Illarramendi had the second-highest number of interceptions across Europe's five major leagues behind only

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

N'Golo Kante Ngolo, N'Golo, or NGolo may refer to: Geography * N'Goloblasso, town in Ivory Coast * N'Golobougou, commune in Mali * N'Golodiana, commune in Mali * N'golofesso, village in Burkina Faso * N'Golonianasso, commune in Mali * Ngolo River, river ...

. However, he was also noted for his poor disciplinary record, having racked up ten yellow cards by March 2017 including one in each of his four previous games. Illarramendi scored a career-best seven goals in 2017–18, including braces in home and away victories over

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

. He had already exceeded his professional output for his whole career by February with his fifth goal. On 30 August 2019, Illarramendi suffered a broken

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity is ...

in a

Basque derby The Basque derby (in Basque ''Euskal Derbia'', in Spanish ''derbi Vasco'') is the name of the football local derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. It embodies the inter-city rivalry between Bilbao and Donostia-San Sebastián, capit ...

match against

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 ...

; it was presumed the injury would keep him out for a few months, but it was found he required surgery to his shin and ankle ligaments, and he did not feature again prior to the season being halted in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Spain The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Island ...

. The delay seemed to have given him time to return before its conclusion, but in June 2020 he suffered a further muscle injury on the training ground, and made no further appearances.

International career

Illarramendi helped

reach the final of the

2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup The FIFA U-17 World Cup 2007, the twelfth edition of the tournament, was held in South Korea between 18 August and 9 September 2007. For this event, the number of teams had been expanded from 16 to 24, with the top two of each group and the four ...

, featuring in all games but one. He missed one of the

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

in the final

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...

, which allowed

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

to lift the trophy. Illarramendi played 16 times for the under-21s, in two years. He represented them at the 2013 UEFA European Championship in Israel, being first choice as the nation won the competition and being selected in the team of the tournament. Manager

Julen Lopetegui Julen Lopetegui Agote (; born 28 August 1966) is a Spanish former professional footballer, currently manager of Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers. A goalkeeper, he played 149 La Liga matches over nine seasons, representing Real Madrid ...

first called up Illarramendi for the senior side in March 2017, ahead of a

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

against

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and a friendly with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Additionally, he played for the Basque XI from 2013 onwards, scoring to open a 3–1 win over

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

member

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

at the San Mamés Stadium on 30 December 2016. Illarramendi made his debut for Spain on 7 June 2017, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–2 friendly draw to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Murcia Murcia (, , ) is a city in south-eastern Spain, the capital and most populous city of the autonomous community of the Region of Murcia, and the seventh largest city in the country. It has a population of 460,349 inhabitants in 2021 (about one ...

. He scored his first goal on 9 October of that year, netting the game's only in

for the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Illarramendi goal.''

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2009–10 *Copa del Rey: 2019–20 Real Madrid *

: 2013–14 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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 ...

Individual *

La Liga Awards The La Liga Awards, previously known as the LFP Awards, were presented annually by the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (LFP) to the best players and coach in La Liga, the first division of association football in Spain. Established in the 2008–09 s ...

: Breakthrough Player/Best Midfielder 2012–13

References

External links

Real Sociedad official profile
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Illarramendi, Asier 1990 births Living people People from Debabarrena Sportspeople from Gipuzkoa Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Real Madrid CF players Spain youth international footballers Spain under-21 international footballers Spain under-23 international footballers Spain international footballers Basque Country international footballers