Iñaki Astiz Ventura (born 5 November 1983) 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

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 ...

. He currently serves as the assistant coach of

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

. Formed at

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El ...

, he spent most of his professional career at

, appearing in more than 250 competitive matches.

Club career

A product of local

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club in Pamplona, Navarre. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity El Sa ...

's youth system, Astiz was born in

Pamplona Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region. Lying at near above ...

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

, and his earlier career was spent 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 ...

where he met Jan Urban, a former club player who was manager of the reserves at the time. Thus, he was loaned for the 2007–08 Ekstraklasa, 2007–08 season to

(where Urban would work as coach) in the Ekstraklasa, becoming the first Spaniard ever to play in that competition. Astiz returned to Osasuna in June 2008, only to rejoin Legia immediately for five years despite still having a contract running. The former, however, retained the possibility to re-buy the player after the first two seasons. On 21 June 2015, Astiz signed a two-year deal with APOEL FC in the Cypriot First Division. He made his competitive debut on 14 July, in a 0–0 home draw against FK Vardar in the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League. He scored his first goal for his new team on 12 December 2016, the second in a 2–1 home victory over Anorthosis Famagusta FC for 2016–17 Cypriot First Division, the domestic league. On 15 August 2017, the 33-year-old Astiz returned to Legia Warsaw. On 12 July 2021, he joined their III liga Legia Warsaw II, reserve team. He ended his career after the autumn round of the 2021–22 season, spent with third-league Legia Warsaw II, for which he appeared seventeen times.

Coaching career

On 25 October 2021, following the promotion of Legia Warsaw II, Legia II head coach Marek Gołębiewski to the role of Legia Warsaw, first team manager, Astiz joined his staff as an assistant coach. Despite Gołębiewski being replaced by Aleksandar Vuković in mid-December that year, Astiz kept his role and is now sharing duties with Aleksandar Radunović.

Career statistics

Honours

Legia Warsaw *Ekstraklasa: 2012–13 Ekstraklasa, 2012–13, 2013–14 Ekstraklasa, 2013–14, 2017–18 Ekstraklasa, 2017–18, 2019–20 Ekstraklasa, 2019–20 *Polish Cup: 2007–08 Polish Cup, 2007–08, 2011–12 Polish Cup, 2011–12, 2012–13 Polish Cup, 2012–13, 2014–15 Polish Cup, 2014–15, 2017–18 Polish Cup, 2017–18 APOEL *Cypriot First Division: 2015–16 Cypriot First Division, 2015–16, 2016–17 Cypriot First Division, 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Astiz, Inaki 1983 births Living people Footballers from Pamplona Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Segunda División B players CA Osasuna B players CA Osasuna players Ekstraklasa players III liga players Legia Warsaw players Legia Warsaw II players Cypriot First Division players APOEL FC players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus