Manuel Rolando Iturra Urrutia (; born 23 June 1984) is a Chilean former professional

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 played as a defensive midfielder. He currently is an assistant coach at Universidad de Chile.

Club career

U. Chile and Leiria

Born in Temuco, Iturra made his

Primera División Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

debut with

Club Universidad de Chile Club Universidad de Chile () is a professional football club based in Santiago, Chile, that plays in the Primera División. Founded on 24 May 1927, Universidad de Chile is one of the most successful and popular football clubs in Chile, havin ...

in 2003, aged 19. He proceeded to be a first-team regular from his second season onwards, helping ''La U'' to the 2004 and

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Apertura tournaments. In January 2011, Iturra was loaned to

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria, commonly known as União de Leiria (), is a Portuguese football club based in Leiria, central Portugal. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. M ...

in Portugal, first appearing in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

on 12 February when he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away win against

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional, commonly known as Nacional and sometimes Nacional da Madeira (), is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, Portug ...

. He started in all but one of the league matches he featured in for the club, as it eventually finished in tenth position.

Spain

For 2011–12, Iturra joined Real Murcia of the Spanish

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 ...

. After featuring heavily during the campaign he returned to Universidad, where he had his contract terminated. On 28 August 2012,

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 ...

Iturra became the first summer signing of

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a association football, football club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, that competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, ...

, as a direct replacement for

Enzo Maresca Vincenzo 'Enzo' Maresca (; born 10 February 1980) is an Italian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and a current coach. After starting out at West Bromwich Albion in 1998, he went on to play for several clubs in his country, includi ...

who had moved to

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, S ...

a few days before. He made his official debut on 18 September in the club's first-ever

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

group stage match, coming on as a

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

substitute for Francisco Portillo in a 3–0 home victory over

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in ...

. Iturra scored his first goal for Málaga on 16 January 2013, profiting from a defensive scramble to put the visitors ahead at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

against

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. Founded ...

, in an eventual 2–2 draw in 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 ...

( 6–4 aggregate loss). He finished his first season at

La Rosaleda Stadium Estadio La Rosaleda (; literally The Rose Garden) is a football stadium in the city of Málaga, in Andalucia, southern Spain. It is the home stadium of Málaga CF in Segunda División and was previously that of the Club Deportivo Málaga, of wh ...

with 39 appearances in all competitions, helping to a sixth-place finish in the league. From

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, Iturra represented Granada CF also 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 ...

after signing a three-year contract. He made his competitive debut for his new team on 18 August, featuring 90 minutes in a 2–1 win at CA Osasuna.

Udinese

On 23 July 2015, Iturra joined

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

, which like Granada was also owned by Italian businessman

Giampaolo Pozzo Giampaolo Pozzo (born 25 May 1941) is an Italian businessman, currently the owner of Udinese Calcio in Italy. His son Gino is the owner of Watford FC in England. Pozzo sold the family business, tool maker Freud, to Robert Bosch in 2008. Udinese ...

. His maiden

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

match was on 23 August, and he played the entire 1–0 away defeat of

Juventus FC )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

. Iturra signed a six-month loan deal with Rayo Vallecano on 30 January 2016. He made just four starts during his brief stay.

Later years

On 4 June 2016, Iturra left Europe agreeing to a contract with Mexico's

Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Company ...

. He returned to Spain two years later, joining

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

for free and leaving the club by mutual consent on 2 January 2019. In July 2021, Iturra was appointed youth manager of

UD San Pedro Unión Deportiva San Pedro is a Spanish football team based in San Pedro Alcántara, Marbella, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1974, it plays in Tercera División RFEF – Group 9, holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal ...

, a small club in the

Province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( es, Provincia de Málaga ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to ...

. In the 2021–2022 season, Iturra played for Atlético Marbellí in the Segunda Andaluza Málaga, making 7 appearances.

International career

Iturra made his debut for

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on 17 August 2005, against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. On 24 May of the following year, he scored the game's only goal in a

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. Iturra represented the nation at the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, helping the side to the quarter-finals.

International goals

Coaching career

In 2021, he began his career as coach of

Juvenil A team. In 2022, he joined Universidad de Chile youth system, being confirmed for the 2023 season. For the 2024 season, he joined the technical staff of Gustavo Álvarez in the first team.

Personal life

Iturra married Nadia Vargas, the daughter of the former Chile international goalkeeper

Sergio Vargas Sergio Pascual Vargas Parra (Villa Altagracia, Dominican Republic, March 15, 1960) is a performer of merengue and bolero, who was very popular in the 80s and 90s, during the "golden age of merengue" and today remains active as one of the leadin ...

. In addition, he is the brother-in-law of the also former goalkeeper, Emanuel Vargas.

Honours

Universidad de Chile * Primera División de Chile: 2004 Apertura, 2009 Clausura

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iturra, Manuel 1984 births Living people Footballers from Temuco Chilean people of Basque descent Chilean men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Chilean Primera División players Club Universidad de Chile footballers Deportes Iquique footballers Primeira Liga players U.D. Leiria players La Liga players Segunda División players Real Murcia CF players Málaga CF players Granada CF footballers Rayo Vallecano players Villarreal CF players Serie A players Udinese Calcio players Liga MX players Club Necaxa footballers Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Chile men's international footballers 2007 Copa América players Chilean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Israel Chilean football managers Chilean expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain