Josu Sarriegi Zumarraga (born 19 January 1979) 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 ...

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 ...

. In his country he played professionally with Alavés, Eibar and

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 ...

, appearing in 71

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 ...

games over four seasons. He added 78 matches in

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 ...

(five goals in total). From 2007 until his retirement, Sarriegi represented

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

of Greece.

Club career

Sarriegi was born in

Lazkao :''See Lazcano (disambiguation) (a variant form) for people with this surname.'' Lazkao ( es, Lazcano) is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country. Location Lazkao is located in ...

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 ...

. After having first featured professionally for modest and amateur Basque clubs, he signed for

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually abbreviated to Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the ...

in 1999, making his first-team debut on 18 February 2001 in a 1–0 away win against CA Osasuna. After a loan 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

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 ...

, Sarriegi renewed his contract for a further three years, then played 28 games in the 2004–05 season as Alavés returned to

after two years of absence. In the following campaign he was also first choice, but his team was relegated again. Having missed only two league matches with another Basque side,

, in 2006–07, Sarriegi joined

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Panathinaikos F.C. Panathinaikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναθηναϊκός Α.Ο. ), known as Panathinaikos, or by its full name, and the name of its parent sports club, Panathinaikos A.O. or PAO (; ''Panathinaïkós Athlitikós Ómilos'', "All-Athenian ...

in August 2007. On 26 November of the following year he scored the winning goal for the

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

club as it defeated

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

1–0 at the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

, in a

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 ...

group stage fixture. On 9 July 2010, after appearing regularly over the course of three years, the 31-year-old Sarriegi extended his contract for a further two seasons.Ανανέωσε ο Σαριέγκι (Sarriegi renewed)
Gazzetta, 9 July 2010 (in Greek) The following year, after the departures of Djibril Cissé and

Gilberto Silva Gilberto Aparecido da Silva (; born 7 October 1976) is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder most notably for English Premier League club Arsenal, Super League club Panathinaikos F.C., Clube Atlétic ...

, he was voted by his teammates as the new

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 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sarriegi, Josu 1979 births Living people People from Goierri Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Sportspeople from Gipuzkoa Association football defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players SD Beasain footballers Deportivo Alavés B players Deportivo Alavés players SD Eibar footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Super League Greece players Panathinaikos F.C. players Basque Country international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece