José María 'Txema' Añibarro Astondoa (born 26 July 1979) is a Spanish retired

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

defensive midfielder 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 most of his professional career with

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 ...

, after signing at the age of 29.

Club career

Born in

Zeberio Zeberio ( es, Ceberio) is a municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado). ...

Biscay Biscay (; eu, Bizkaia ; es, Vizcaya ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilbao. B ...

, Añibarro played amateur football well into his 20s. In the summer of 2005, he joined

Sestao River Club Sestao River Club is a Spanish football team based in Sestao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1996 it plays in Segunda División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at ''Estadio Las Llanas'', with a capacity of 8,905 ...

Tercera División Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...

, and appeared in 32 matches in his debut season, which ended in promotion. On 5 June 2008, Añibarro signed with

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

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 ...

. He played his first match as a professional on 3 September, starting and being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a 1–0 loss at

CD Castellón Club Deportivo Castellón, S.A.D. is a professional Spanish football team based in Castellón de la Plana, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 20 July 1922, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, holding home games at '' N ...

in the second round of the

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 footbal ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on the 20th in the 0–0 home draw against RC Celta de Vigo, and scored his first league goal on 25 April of the following year, but in a 2–3 home defeat to

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at L ...

. Añibarro appeared in 25 matches in his first season, as the ''Armeros'' were relegated to the third tier. He remained a starter the following years, contributing 27 appearances in the promotion campaign of 2012–13. On 25 June 2014, after Eibar's promotion to

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 ...

, 34-year-old Añibarro renewed his contract for a further year. He only made his debut in the competition on 16 January of the following year, coming on as a second half substitute for

Borja Ekiza Borja Ekiza Imaz (born 6 March 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for UDC Txantrea. Club career Athletic Bilbao Born in Pamplona, Ekiza arrived at Athletic Bilbao's youth system at the age of 14, being eligibl ...

in a 1–1 away draw against

Córdoba CF Córdoba Club de Fútbol (), (from the 2020–21 season onwards competing under the umbrella of Unión Futbolística Cordobesa, S.A.D.) is a Spanish football club based in Córdoba, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1951 as ...

. Añibarro announced his retirement on 17 June 2015, being immediately appointed coach at

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 ...

's ''Cadete C'' team.

Club statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anibarro, Txema 1979 births Living people People from Arratia-Nerbioi Footballers from Biscay Spanish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players SD Lemona footballers Gernika Club footballers Sestao River Club footballers SD Eibar footballers Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff