Isaac Aketxe Barrutia (; born 30 June 1989) 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

UD Alzira Unión Deportiva Alzira is a Spanish football team based in Alzira, in the autonomous community of Valencia. Founded in 1946 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' Estadio Luis Suñer Picó'', with a capacity of ...

as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Aketxe was born in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

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 ...

. Having emerged through

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 ...

's prolific youth ranks (although he also played youth football with

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

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at Campo Mu ...

), 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 on 20 September 2009, coming on as a substitute for

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

Fernando Llorente Fernando Javier Llorente Torres (; born 26 February 1985), nicknamed ''El Rey León'' ("The Lion King" in Spanish), is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a striker. He started his career with Athletic Bilbao, working his way throu ...

in the final ten minutes of a 3–2 home win 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 ...

. He spent the vast majority of his first two seasons at the club with the reserve team, in

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 ...

. For the 2010–11 campaign, Aketxe was loaned to another side in the region,

Sestao River Club Sestao River Club is a Spanish football team based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1996 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,905 ...

of the

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 ...

. In the summer of 2011, his contract with Athletic was not renewed and he signed for

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 division three. Aketxe continued competing in the third tier until his retirement, with

Real Sociedad B Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación ...

, Sestao,

Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa (), better known as Cultural Leonesa or La Cultural, is a Spanish football team based in León, in the autonomous community of Castile and Leon. Founded on 5 August 1923, it currently plays in Primera División RFE ...

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at ''Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 spe ...

UCAM Murcia CF Universidad Católica de Murcia Club de Fútbol, commonly known as UCAM Murcia or simply UCAM, is a Spanish football club based in Murcia. Founded in 1999 it plays in Segunda Federación, holding home games at ''Estadio de La Condomina'', with ...

and

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football team in Alicante, in the autonomous community of Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 3 and plays its hom ...

. In 2014–15, while at the service of Cultural, he scored a career-best 20 goals.

Personal life

Aketxe's younger brother,

Ager Ager or AGER may refer to: *Ager (surname) *Ager (river), a river in Upper Austria *Àger, a municipality in Catalonia, Spain *Viscounty of Àger, a medieval Catalan jurisdiction that branched off the County of Urgell *Ager, California, unincorpo ...

, is also a footballer and a midfielder. He too was groomed at Athletic Bilbao. Their father, known as Isaac Aqueche due to spelling conventions of the time, played as a midfielder in the lower divisions of Spanish football including a spell with Athletic's reserves.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aketxe, Isaac 1989 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Getxo Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Segunda Federación players Arenas Club de Getxo footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Sestao River Club footballers SD Eibar footballers Real Sociedad B footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Albacete Balompié players FC Cartagena footballers UCAM Murcia CF players Hércules CF players CF La Nucía players UD Alzira footballers