Bittor Alkiza Fernández (born 26 October 1970) 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 ...

who played for both Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao as a

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 amassed

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' ...

totals of 417 games and 19 goals over 14 seasons, and was also a Spain international in the late 90s.

Club career

Born in San Sebastián,

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 ...

, Alkiza made his professional debut with local giants Real Sociedad, being promoted to the first team at only 20 and making 105 official appearances in his first three seasons. After an aborted transfer to Real Madrid, he eventually moved to

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

neighbours Athletic Bilbao in 1994, for 220 million '' pesetas''. Alkiza was also first choice at the San Mamés Stadium, not scoring so often as the attacking duties in midfield were more often than not the task of future club great

Julen Guerrero Julen Guerrero López (born 7 January 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played solely for Athletic Bilbao as an attacking midfielder. He is the current manager of the Spain national under-17 team. He appeared in 430 offici ...

. In the 1997–98 campaign he only missed one

game – 3,146 minutes of action – as the side finished in second place and qualified for 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 competi ...

. In the latter competition, even though Athletic ranked last in their group, they did draw 0–0 at home against

Juventus FC )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnell ...

, the finalists of the previous three editions, with him playing the full 90 minutes. In summer 2003, after 328 competitive matches, Alkiza returned to Real Sociedad who were due taking part in the season's Champions League. At 33 his debut campaign was satisfactory, but he eventually retired from the game after not being able to heal a degenerative injury from early seasons. Alkiza later rejoined his last professional club, being charged with Real Sociedad's youth teams.

International career

Alkiza played three times 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 two-month span. His debut came on 23 September 1998 in a friendly with

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, in Granada: he scored the match's only goal, netting from outside the area.

International goal

:''Score and result list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Alkiza goal.''

Style of play

Although his natural position was that of

left 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 ...

, Alkiza could also play as a central one. He had a more than remarkable technique and a powerful mid-range shot coming in second line, combined with good passing and tackling abilities.

Personal life

Alkiza's father, Iñaki, also played for some years with Real Sociedad, later serving as the club's president. He was also a relatively important local politician. He broke the "curse" that stated that players from Real would never succeed at Athletic (

Loren Loren is a given name, nickname and surname which may refer to: Given name Men * Loren Acton (born 1936), American physicist and astronaut * Loren C. Ball (born 1948), amateur astronomer who has discovered more than 100 asteroids * Loren M. Ber ...

, Luciano Iturrino or

David Villabona David Villabona Echalecu (born 5 December 1969) is a Spanish retired footballer who played mostly as a central midfielder. During his professional career he played for both Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao, amassing La Liga totals of 221 m ...

). Coach

Javier Irureta Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano (born 1 April 1948), Irureta for short, is a Spanish retired football attacking midfielder and manager. He had a distinguished playing career with Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao, playing in 344 La Liga ga ...

, who managed him at Athletic in 1994–95, said of Alkiza: "I guarantee that if you pass him the ball he will not return a melon".

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alkiza, Bittor 1970 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Real Sociedad non-playing staff CD Numancia non-playing staff CA Osasuna non-playing staff