José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Poplar"), is a Spanish former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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 ...

and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Having played almost exclusively for

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

, he appeared in more than 600 official games for the club over the course of 18

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 ...

seasons, winning two

Copa del Generalísimo 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 Spanish f ...

trophies. Iribar represented the Spain national team in the 1964 Nations' Cup and the

1966 World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the final to win their first ever ...

, winning the former tournament.

Club career

Iribar was born in

Zarautz Zarautz (, ) is a coastal town located in central Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, in Spain. It is bordered by Aia to the east and the south and Getaria, Gipuzkoa, Getaria to the west, located about west of San Sebastián, Donostia/San Sebastián. It ha ...

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

. After only three

games in his first professional season at

, he proceeded to become 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, ...

' undisputed starter for the following 16 seasons; his senior debut was made at

CD Basconia Club Deportivo Basconia is a Spanish football club based in Basauri, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded on 14 March 1913, it currently plays in , holding home games at the ''Artunduaga Sports Centre'', in the town o ...

in 1961, when the latter was still not the

farm team In sports, a farm team (also referred to as farm system, developmental system, feeder team, or nursery club) is generally a Team sport, team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any s ...

: they eliminated

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 ...

in the

, and his stellar performance prompted his signing for a then-record 1 million '' pesetas''; in that competition, they later lost 10–1 at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

with him also in goal. At Athletic, Iribar profited from injury to

Carmelo Cedrún Carmelo Cedrún Ochandátegui (born 6 December 1930) is a Spanish former football goalkeeper and manager. Club career Born in Amorebieta-Etxano, Cedrún started playing professionally with local giants Athletic Bilbao, making his first-team de ...

in October 1963 and never looked back, winning two Spanish Cups and reaching the final of the

1976–77 UEFA Cup The 1976–77 UEFA Cup was the sixth season of the UEFA Cup, the third-tier club football competition organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Stadio Comunale, Turin, Italy, and at San Mamés, Bilbao, Spain. It was won by Juvent ...

, lost to

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. In the 1969–70 campaign he was awarded the

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy () is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' Marca'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ice hockey or earned run average in b ...

, conceding just 20 goals while taking part in all 30 fixtures for the runners-up. Iribar was awarded a

benefit match A benefit is a match or season of activities granted by a sporting body to a loyal sportsman to boost their income before retirement. Often this is in the form of a match for which all the ticket proceeds are given to the player in question. Howeve ...

in 1971, a 1–1 draw against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

(the former club of Athletic's manager at the time,

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for 19 years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League and scoring 276 goals. ...

), having already played the same opponents a few weeks earlier in England for

Bobby Hope Robert Hope (28 September 1943 – 10 June 2022) was a Scottish footballer who made more than 400 appearances as a midfielder in the Football League. He spent most of his club career at West Bromwich Albion, where he played more than 300 league ...

's testimonial. He retired nine years later at 37, having made 614 appearances in all competitions – a club record by some margin – as another player in the position,

Andoni Zubizarreta Andoni Zubizarreta Urreta (, ; born 23 October 1961) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. The most capped player for the Spain national team for several years, he played with individual and team success for ...

, would arrive in the summer; he also held its record in European competition until 2016, when his total of 55 was passed by Markel Susaeta. Subsequently, Iribar joined Athletic's coaching staff, taking charge of the goalkeepers. In 1983–84 he managed the reserve side

Bilbao Athletic Athletic Club "B", officially Bilbao Athletic, is the reserve team of Athletic Club, a football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country in Spain. The team currently compete in the . Founded in 1964, the team holds ho ...

, leading them to the second place in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, a best-ever, although they were not eligible for promotion. Iribar SanMames eskultura 3

Iribar also coached the main squad in the 1986–87 season; for the only time, the league had a second stage divided in three groups, and Athletic 'won' the relegation section to finish 13th. From 1988 and for over two decades, he was in charge of the Basque Country representative team. A statue of Iribar was installed in on the concourse outside San Mamés Stadium in December 2023.

International career

Iribar made his debut for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 11 March 1964, in the first leg of the

1964 European Nations' Cup The 1964 European Nations' Cup was the second edition of the UEFA European Championship. The final tournament was held in Spain. It was won by the hosts 2–1 over the defending champions, the Soviet Union. The tournament was a knockout comp ...

's last qualifying stage, a 5–1 home win against the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

(7–1 aggregate). He was the starter during the finals, and the nation claimed the tournament on home soil. Iribar also represented Spain at the

1966 FIFA World Cup The 1966 FIFA World Cup was the eighth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in England from 11 to 30 July 1966. England defeated West Germany 4–2 in the 1966 FI ...

, playing all three group-stage matches. He retained his position for a further ten years; on 20 November 1974, in a

UEFA Euro 1976 The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA and the first and only tournament that was held in a socialist state. The ...

qualifier away to

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, he equalled the record of 46

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

held by fellow goalkeeper

Ricardo Zamora Ricardo Zamora Martínez (; 21 January 1901 – 8 September 1978) was a Spanish footballer and manager. He played as a goalkeeper for, among others, RCD Espanyol, FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As an international he played for Spain. As a man ...

, and overtook him the following 5 February at home to the same opponents. His 49th and final game was on 24 April 1976 in a 1–1 draw against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

in the quarter-finals of the same competition; he missed the second leg, officially due to a finger injury, which he denied decades later amidst theories that he was dropped for his political views. Another goalkeeper,

Luis Arconada Luis Miguel Arconada Etxarri (born 26 June 1954) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played only for Real Sociedad for nearly 20 years, and helped the club to four titles including two La Liga championship ...

, broke Iribar's mark in 1983.

Style of play

Spanish

2010 World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

winning goalkeeper

Iker Casillas Iker Casillas Fernández (; born 20 May 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and currently works as a football commentator. Popularly dubbed "''San Iker''" ("Saint Iker") for his ability to produce miracu ...

included Iribar in his list of the ten greatest goalkeepers of all time, and described him as "one of the greatest keepers Spain has ever produced. He was a big presence in goal and had that ability to intimidate opponents. But it wasn't all about his size, which is useless on its own. He combined his physicality with terrific positioning." In Italy, the former was given the nickname "Zoff's twin" due to his goalkeeping ability, leadership and physical resemblance to Italian counterpart

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever ...

Political views

On 5 December 1976, before a game against

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, ...

, Iribar and the opposing

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, Inaxio Kortabarria, carried out the ''

Ikurriña The flag of the Basque Country, also known as the ikurrina (in Basque)EuskaltzaindiaDictionary of the Standard Basque, retrieved 2010-10-04. or ikurriña ( Spanish spelling of the Basque term), is the official flag of the Basque Country Auton ...

'', the Basque flag, and placed it ceremonially on the centre-circle. This was the first public display of the flag since the death of

Francisco Franco Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...

, but it was still illegal. He subsequently became involved in

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 ...

local politics, and was a founding member of the separatist coalition

Herri Batasuna Herri Batasuna (; ; HB) was a Far-left politics, far-left Basque nationalist coalition in Spain. It was founded in 1978 and defined itself as abertzale left, abertzale, left-wing, socialism, socialist, and supported the independence of the Basque ...

Career statistics

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

; runner-up 1965–66, 1966–67, 1976–77 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

runner-up: 1976–77 Spain *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

Individual *

: 1969–70 *

Team of The Year: 1975–76

References

External links

*
Athletic Bilbao manager profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iribar, Jose Angel 1943 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Zarautz Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers 1964 European Nations' Cup players 1966 FIFA World Cup players UEFA European Championship–winning players Spanish football managers La Liga managers Segunda División managers Athletic Bilbao B managers Athletic Bilbao managers Association football goalkeeping coaches Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff Spanish sportsperson-politicians Herri Batasuna politicians Basque nationalists