Roberto Olabe Aranzábal (born 20 October 1967) is a Spanish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

Playing career

Born in

Vitoria-Gasteiz es, vitoriano, vitoriana, , population_density_km2 = auto , blank_name_sec1 = Official language(s) , blank_info_sec1 = Spanish, Basque , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Basque Country, Olabe enjoyed a ten-year senior career. His professional input consisted of 35

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 ...

games with

UD Salamanca Unión Deportiva Salamanca, S.A.D. () was a historical Spanish football team based in Salamanca, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded on 9 February 1923 and nicknamed ''Los Charros'', the club played in white shirts and black ...

, and two 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 ...

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 ...

. Olabe made his debut in the Spanish top flight on 15 October 1995, starting in a 1–2 home loss against

CP Mérida Club Polideportivo Mérida was a Spanish football team based in Mérida, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Having played twice in La Liga ( 1995–96 and 1997–98), the club was dissolved in 2000, due to serious economic debts. Its ...

. During his four-year tenure at the

Anoeta Stadium Anoeta Stadium ( es, Estadio de Anoeta), currently known as the Reale Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain that was inaugurated in 1993. The stadium lies at the Anoeta Sports Complex, ...

, he played second-fiddle to

Alberto Alberto is the Romance version of the Latinized form (''Albertus'') of Germanic ''Albert''. It is used in Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. The diminutive forms are ''Albertito'' in Spain or ''Albertico'' in some parts of Latin America, Albertin ...

Coaching career

Olabe retired in June 1999, at not yet 32. He was immediately appointed coach of Real Sociedad's youths. Late into the 2001–02 season, Olabe replaced the fired

John Toshack John Benjamin Toshack (born 22 March 1949) is a Welsh former professional football player and manager. He began his playing career as a teenager with his hometown club Cardiff City, becoming the youngest player to make an appearance for th ...

at the helm of the first team, going on to avoid team relegation after collecting five wins and two draws from nine matches. On 2 July 2002, he and assistant manager

Jesús María Zamora Jesús María Zamora Ansorena (born 1 January 1955) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Born in Rentería, Gipuzkoa, Zamora played his entire professional career with local club Real Sociedad. Af ...

were handed a four-month ban as the former did not possess a coaching licence. After acting as the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

, Olabe was appointed

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 ...

coach on 27 December 2005. He was dismissed less than three months later, as the second-tier campaign eventually ended in relegation. In

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Olabe was one of three managers in charge of

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

– where he had already worked in directorial capacities– who returned to the second division after a four-year stay. In the ensuing summer, he signed 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 ...

in the same capacity. Olabe became Real Sociedad's director of football in March 2018, replacing

Loren Loren is a given name, nickname and surname which may refer to: Given name Men * Loren Acton (born 1936), American physicist and astronaut * Loren C. Ball (born 1948), amateur astronomer who has discovered more than 100 asteroids * Loren M. Ber ...

in the role.

Personal life

Olabe's son, also named Roberto, is also a footballer. A winger, he also represented Real Sociedad.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Olabe, Roberto 1967 births Living people Spanish footballers Footballers from Vitoria-Gasteiz Association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players CD Mirandés footballers Deportivo Alavés players UD Salamanca players Real Sociedad footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Real Sociedad managers SD Eibar managers UD Almería managers Real Unión managers Real Sociedad non-playing staff