Iñaki Muñoz Oroz (born 2 July 1978) is a Spanish retired professional
footballer who played mainly as a
defensive midfielder.
He amassed
La Liga totals of 150 matches and 11 goals over nine seasons, representing in the competition
Osasuna and
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 ...
.
Club career
Osasuna
Muñoz was born in
Pamplona,
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
. Except for a
season-long loan to
CD Toledo 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 ...
he played ten senior seasons with hometown club
CA Osasuna, the first and the
second teams combined. He made his
La Liga debut with the former on 23 December 2001, coming on as a late
substitute in a 0–1 home loss against
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 ...
.
Muñoz went on to become an important first-team member, appearing in 30 games during
2005–06 as they finished fourth in the league and
qualified for the
UEFA Champions League while scoring five goals in as many wins, notably the winners at
Deportivo de La Coruña and
Atlético Madrid
Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...
. In
the previous campaign's
Copa del Rey, he netted five times in eight matches to help Osasuna reach the final of the competition, notably once in a 3–1 quarter-final home victory over
Sevilla FC (4–3 aggregate).
Athletic Bilbao
Muñoz switched west for
2007–08, moving to
Basque neighbours Athletic Bilbao on a three-year contract. He appeared sparingly in his first season, and even less in
the second and
third
Third or 3rd may refer to:
Numbers
* 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3
* , a fraction of one third
* Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute''
Places
* 3rd Street (d ...
– his 2009–10 output consisted of 30 minutes against Deportivo in the last matchday.
Muñoz scored his only competitive goal for the side on 31 January 2008, in a 3–3 home draw with
Racing de Santander in the
Spanish Cup quarter-finals.
Later years
In summer 2010, aged 32,
free agent Muñoz signed with
FC Cartagena of the
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 ...
. He retired three years later, after lower-league spells at
UD Salamanca and
CD Izarra.
International career
Muñoz represented both the
Basque and
Navarrese autonomous teams,
Navarra vence con gol de Muñoz y perdona la goleada (Navarra win with goal from Muñoz and forgive routing)
Diario AS, 26 December 2005 (in Spanish) earning six caps in total.
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Munoz, Inaki
1978 births
Living people
Spanish footballers
Footballers from Pamplona
Association football midfielders
La Liga players
Segunda División players
Segunda División B players
CA Osasuna B players
CA Osasuna players
CD Toledo players
Athletic Bilbao footballers
FC Cartagena footballers
UD Salamanca players
CD Izarra footballers
Spain youth international footballers
Basque Country international footballers