Agustín de Carlos Elduayen (born 4 August 1964) 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

Club career

Born in

San Sebastián San Sebastián, officially known by the bilingual name Donostia / San Sebastián (, ), is a city and municipality located in the Basque Autonomous Community, Spain. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, from the France–Spain border ...

, Elduayen made his professional debuts with local

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

, being barred by legendary Luis Arconada. In the 1985–86 season, however, as the starter suffered a severe injury in the first

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

game, he was chosen by manager

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 the ...

as his successor, and the

Basques The Basques ( or ; ; ; ) are a Southwestern European ethnic group, characterised by the Basque language, a Basque culture, common culture and shared genetic ancestry to the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Basques are indigenous peoples, ...

eventually finished in seventh position but with one of the worst defensive records in the competition (51 goals against with 34 matches from the player). In the 1986 summer, Elduayen signed with fellow top flight club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

, starting in his first year but being relegated to the substitutes bench after the emergence of Abel Resino, who had been playing with the reserves. He experienced his best years with

Real Burgos CF Real Burgos Club de Fútbol was a Spanish football team based in Burgos, in the autonomous community of Castile and León. Founded in 1983, it ceased to compete in 1996 and returned in 2011, holding home games at ''Complejo Deportivo San Amaro'' ...

, helping the lowly

Castile and León Castile and León is an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in northwestern Spain. Castile and León is the largest autonomous community in Spain by area, covering 94,222 km2. It is, however, sparsely populated, with a pop ...

side to three consecutive seasons in the first division. In 1991–92, as they finished in a best-ever ninth position, he played in all 38 games (3,338 minutes) and only conceded 43 goals, winning the Don Balón Award for Best Spanish Player in the process. In 1993, after Burgos

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

, Elduayen signed for

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña () or simply Depor, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia, that competes in the Segunda División, the ...

for about 1 million pesetas. With Francisco Liaño firmly established as first-choice for ''Super Depor'', he could only appear three times in the league in three seasons combined, subsequently leaving for

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

, where he met exactly the same fate in exactly the same period of time, retiring from the game at the age of 35. Having spent 16 seasons in Spain's top division, Elduayen appeared in 179 games. Whilst at Burgos he was summoned by manager Vicente Miera to the Spanish national team, but eventually did not make his debut.

Honours

Club

;Deportivo *

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

: 1994–95 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Country

;Spain U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Individual

* Don Balón Award – Best Spanish Player: 1992

References

External links

*
Biography at Porteros Vascos de Leyenda
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elduayen, Agustin 1964 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from San Sebastián Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Atlético Madrid footballers Real Burgos CF footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Real Valladolid players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers 20th-century Spanish sportsmen