Julen Etxabeguren Leanizbarrutia (born 7 March 1991) is a Spanish

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 as a centre back for

SD Beasain Sociedad Deportiva Beasain is a Spanish football team based in Beasain, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1905 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Loinaz'', with a capacity of ...

. Etxabeguren started his career in his native

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 ...

with

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 ...

, but did not break into their first team. He moved to Scotland in 2014 to study and signed for East Fife. After playing for East Fife in

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

for six months, he signed a contract with Scottish Premiership side

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Career

Real Sociedad

After coming through the youth system at

, Etxabeguren progressed to their B-team where he was a regular for four years. In the 2013–14 season, he trained with the first team during pre-season and was named in their Champions League squad. He was then affected by injury. Despite being offered a new contract, he decided to give up football.

East Fife

Etxabeguren moved to Scotland to study for a master's degree in electronic engineering at the University of Edinburgh. When he had nearly concluded that course, he considered resuming his football career. Etxabeguren signed for semi-professional club East Fife, playing in

, in December 2014. This was considered a surprising move for a player who had been at a relatively high level. Etxabeguren quickly became a cult hero with the

Methil Methil (Scottish Gaelic: Meadhchill) is an eastern coastal town in Scotland. It was first recorded as "Methkil" in 1207, and belonged to the Bishop of St Andrews. Two Bronze Age cemeteries have been discovered which date the settlement as ov ...

club, with his arrival coinciding with an improvement in the team's form.

Dundee

On 2 June 2015,

confirmed that Etxabeguren had signed a three-year deal with the club and would begin pre-season training in July. He became a regular in the side, featuring in 40 Scottish Premiership matches between July 2015 and March 2017 despite needing surgery on an eye injury in January 2016, but then ruptured his achilles tendon in a match against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

which resulted in a seven-month layoff. After returning in October 2017, he only made one appearance from the bench before sustaining a dislocated shoulder. Etxabeguren was released by Dundee at the end of the season.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Etxabeguren, Julen 1991 births Living people Footballers from Madrid Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Spanish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Real Sociedad B footballers East Fife F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Real Unión footballers Segunda División B players Tercera División players Scottish Professional Football League players Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland SD Beasain footballers