Iñaki Descarga Retegui (born 25 August 1976) is a Spanish former

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 ...

. Mainly 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 could also operate 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 ...

. He started and ended his 16-year professional career with

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RFEF ...

, but played mainly for Levante (eight seasons and 226 official matches, 61 in

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 career

Descarga was born in

Irun Irun ( es, Irún, eu, Irun) is a town of the Bidasoaldea region in the province of Gipuzkoa in the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. History It lies on the foundations of the ancient Oiasso, cited as ...

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 ...

. After an insignificant stint with CA Osasuna in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

and a season with neighbours

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 the same level, he spent eight years with

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 ...

, where he would be one of their most influential players as well as

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, helping to two promotions to

. His first match in the competition came on 13 November 2004 in a 0–1 away loss against Deportivo de La Coruña, with the

Valencian Community The Valencian Community ( ca-valencia, Comunitat Valenciana, es, Comunidad Valenciana) is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the fourth most populous Spanish autonomous community after Andalusia, Catalonia and the Community of Madrid with ...

side being relegated on the last matchday. Following Levante's severe financial crisis during 2007–08, Descarga was one of many players who would leave, joining

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 ...

in August 2008 and reuniting with former Osasuna teammate

Iñaki Astiz Iñaki Astiz Ventura (born 5 November 1983) is a Spanish former professional association football, footballer who played as a central defender. He currently serves as the assistant coach of Legia Warsaw. Formed at CA Osasuna, Osasuna, he spent ...

. He made his Ekstraklasa debut in a game against Arka Gdynia (2–2) but, after just 13 minutes on the pitch, he tore his hamstring and never played for the team again, leaving at the end of the campaign. In July 2009, Descarga signed with his first club

, recently promoted to the second tier. On 20 June 2010, as they were immediately relegated, he helped seal their fate by scoring in his own net in a 0–2 home defeat to neighbours

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 ...

(last matchday). After not being able to help Unión return to division two, Descarga retired in June 2011 at the age of 35.

Match-fixing controversy

On 3 December 2008, Spanish regional TV channel ''Popular TV del Mediterráneo'' released a recording of a telephone conversation between Levante's president, Julio Romero, and club defender Descarga, in which the latter admitted that a certain number of his teammates had accepted a bribe to lose a 17 June 2007 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 ...

. The opposition won 2–0, and

RC Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), ...

were instead relegated.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Descarga, Inaki 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Irun Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Real Unión footballers CA Osasuna B players CA Osasuna players SD Eibar footballers Levante UD footballers Ekstraklasa players Legia Warsaw players Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Poland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Poland