Xabier 'Xabi' Iruretagoiena Arantzamendi (born 21 March 1986), commonly known as Irureta, 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

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 ...

for

FC La Unión Atlético Fútbol Club La Unión Atlético is a Spanish football team based in La Unión, Murcia, in the Region of Murcia. Founded in 2010, it plays in , holding home matches at ''Municipal''. History Founded in 2010 as ''Torre Pacheco Fútbol Club Pinatar ...

. 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 ( Eustat ...

, representing the club in all three major levels of Spanish football while appearing in 229 matches in all competitions.

Club career

Eibar

Born in

Ondarroa Ondarroa is a town and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, northern Spain. Main sights *Church of St. Mary, ...

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 ...

, Irureta made his senior debut with local

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 2005–06 season, in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

. In summer 2006, he moved to amateurs

CD Aurrerá Ondarroa Club Deportivo Aurrerá Ondarroa (Ondarroako Aurrera Kirol Elkartea in Basque) is a Spanish football team based in Ondarroa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1921, it plays in , holding home matches at ''Zaldupe''. Dev ...

also in his native Basque Country. In July 2007, Irureta joined

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 ...

, being initially assigned to the reserves in the

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 ...

. He played his first game as a professional on 30 May 2009, starting in a 3–0

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 ...

away loss against

Xerez CD Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

, and made a further three appearances during the campaign as the side suffered relegation after finishing in 21st position. Irureta was definitely promoted to the main squad in July 2009, being named first choice ahead of Zigor Goikuria. In

2012–13 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 ...

, he appeared in 46 matches (34 in the league, 4,126 minutes of action) to help Eibar return to the second division after a four-year absence.Nueve jugadores del Eibar, de Segunda B a Primera en dos años (Nine Eibar players, from ''Segunda B'' to ''Primera'' in two years)

El Diario Vasco ''El Diario Vasco'' (English: ''The Basque Daily'') is a Spanish morning daily newspaper based in San Sebastián, Basque Country. History and profile ''El Diario Vasco'' was founded in 1934 by the Sociedad Vascongada de Publicaciones, led by co ...

, 27 November 2014 (in Spanish) On 20 February 2014, Irureta signed a new two-year deal with the club, which was promoted 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 ...

for the first time ever. He made his debut in the competition on 24 August aged 28, in a 1–0 home victory over

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 ...

Zaragoza

On 20 July 2016,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Irureta agreed to a two-year contract at

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 La ...

of the second tier. On 1 September of the following year, after losing his starting position to youth graduate Álvaro Ratón, he left.

Delhi Dynamos

Irureta moved abroad on 4 January 2018, joining

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

franchise

Delhi Dynamos FC Odisha Football Club () is an Indian professional football club based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. Prior to the inaugural Indian Super League season, the club was founded ...

. He made his debut in the competition three days later, in a 2–2 away draw against

Chennaiyin FC Chennaiyin Football Club is an Indian professional football club based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of Indian football. The club was founded in August 2014 during the inaugural season o ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iruretagoiena, Xabi 1986 births Living people People from Ondarroa Sportspeople from Biscay Spanish footballers Footballers from the Basque Country (autonomous community) Association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tercera Federación players Real Unión footballers SD Eibar footballers Real Zaragoza players UD San Sebastián de los Reyes players Villarrubia CF players Indian Super League players Odisha FC players Basque Country international footballers Spanish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in India Spanish expatriate sportspeople in India