Markel Susaeta Laskurain (, ; born 14 December 1987) 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 ...

who played as a

right winger A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He spent almost the entirety of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao after making his debut with the first team in 2007, appearing in 507 competitive matches and scoring 56 goals for the club. He also played in Japan with

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to s ...

, and in Australia with Melbourne City and Macarthur. Susaeta won one full

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 2012.

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

Eibar Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eusta ...

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 ...

, Susaeta came through the ranks of Athletic Bilbao, spending one season with the

farm team In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

and another with the B side. At the start of 2007–08 he was also registered for the reserves, but was given his first-team debut on 2 September 2007 and managed to score in a 3–1 loss at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Found ...

. He finished with 29

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' ...

appearances, netting on four occasions. In the following years, Susaeta established himself firmly in the first team, although still not an undisputed starter for the Basques. On 31 January 2009, he scored four minutes from time to give his team a 3–2 home win against Málaga CF, in an eventual narrow escape from relegation. He added six games in that campaign's

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

, as they reached

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against Barcelona. Susaeta netted a career-best 13 official goals in 2011–12, including five in the season's

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

as Athletic reached

– the ''Lions'' also reached the decisive match in the domestic cup, once again against Barcelona. Susaeta came on as a substitute in the 2015 Spanish Cup final, once more lost to Barcelona. He took the field in both legs of the following edition of the Supercopa de España, in which his team finally overcame the same opponent. In September 2016, Susaeta broke the club record for appearances in European competition, passing the total of 55 set in the 1970s by goalkeeper

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Populus, Poplar"), is a Spanish retired Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and Manager (association football), manager. ...

. In January 2019, he played in his 500th competitive match for Athletic, becoming only the fifth player in their history to reach that milestone (but still some way short of the overall record held by Iribar). It was announced that Susaeta would leave at the end of the 2018–19 season when his contract ended; the player later commented that it had been his intention to play at San Mamés for his entire career and expressed disappointment at the circumstances. The club's final home match involved tributes to him, as well as fellow long-serving squad members

Ander Iturraspe Ander Iturraspe Derteano (; ; born 8 March 1989) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He spent all but the final season of his career at Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 320 matches across all competiti ...

and

Mikel Rico Mikel Rico Moreno (; ; born 4 November 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for FC Cartagena. After spending much of his career in Spain's lower divisions with Conquense, Polideportivo Ejido and Huesca, ...

who were also departing in similar circumstances.

Later career

On 9 September 2019, Susaeta joined J1 League club

. The following 15 January, having made just seven appearances in Japan, he signed for Australia's

Melbourne City FC Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Professio ...

for the rest of the A-League

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

; he left in mid-July, the delay in his release being due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Susaeta continued in the Australian top division in November 2020, teaming up with former Athletic teammate

Beñat Etxebarria Beñat Etxebarria Urkiaga (, ; born 19 February 1987), known mononymously as Beñat, is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. He spent the better part of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, appe ...

Macarthur FC Macarthur Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in South Western Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in Australia's premier soccer competition, the A-League, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). On 1 ...

. Both retired at the end of the campaign, aged 34.

International career

On 9 November 2012, following a series of good displays, Susaeta was called up to the Spain national team for the first time, being selected by manager

Vicente del Bosque Vicente del Bosque González, 1st Marquess of Del Bosque (; born 23 December 1950) is a Spanish retired football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time and is to date the only football manager to ha ...

for a friendly against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

on the 14th and scoring the final goal in the 5–1 win in

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. He also featured for the unofficial Basque Country regional side.

Personal life

Susaeta's cousin, Néstor, was also a footballer and a winger. He unsuccessfully emerged through Basque neighbours Real Sociedad's youth system, and had a brief spell with Athletic's reserves.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Susaeta goal''.

Honours

Athletic Bilbao * Supercopa de España: 2015; runner-up: 2009 *

runner-up: 2011–12 *

runner-up: 2008–09, 2011–12, 2014–15

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Susaeta, Markel 1987 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Eibar Men's association football wingers La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers J1 League players Gamba Osaka players A-League Men players Melbourne City FC players Macarthur FC players Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Japan Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Australia