Ander Garitano Urkizu (born 26 February 1969) is a Spanish retired 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 ...

left midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

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 ...

. His career as a player – spent almost entirely in

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 ...

– was solely associated with two clubs,

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 ...

and

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

Playing career

Born in

Derio Derio is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is part of Greater Bilbao and was part of the municipality of Bilbao until 1983 and hosts Bilbao's biggest muni ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

, Garitano began his professional career at local powerhouse

. After appearing twice in the closing stages of 1987–88 he quickly imposed himself as a first-choice player with good

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

skills, scoring 35

goals over nine seasons; on 12 March 1988, two weeks after his 19th birthday, he made his official debut, starting in a 5–0 away loss against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. Garitano signed for

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 football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

in 1996, and played there until his retirement in six years later. He was still regularly used in the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and ; ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces of Spain, ...

ese side's victorious run in the

2000–01 Copa del Rey The 2000–01 Copa del Rey was the 99th staging of the Copa del Rey. The competition started on 30 August 2000 and concluded on 30 March 2001 with the Final, held at the Estadio La Cartuja in Sevilla. Format * All rounds are played ove ...

, and finally retired the following summer at 33 – Zaragoza suffered top-flight relegation – with more than 500 competitive matches to his credit; from 1986 to 1988 he played 61 games for

Athletic Bilbao B 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 ...

, with that team 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 ...

Coaching career

Subsequently, Garitano moved into coaching, first taking charge of Zaragoza's youth teams. In mid-January 2008 he replaced the dismissed

Víctor Fernández Víctor Fernández Braulio (born 28 November 1960) is a Spanish football manager. He had four spells with his hometown team Zaragoza, winning the Copa del Rey in 1994 and the Cup Winners' Cup a year later. He also led Tenerife, RC Celta de Vi ...

, first appearing in a Spanish Cup round-of-16 tie against

Racing de Santander Real Racing Club de Santander, S.A.D. (), also known as Racing de Santander () or simply Racing, is a football club based in Santander, Spain, Santander, Cantabria, Spain, that currently competes in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spani ...

, a 4–2 loss (5–3 on aggregate). Just two days after his only league game, a 3–1 home win over

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

, Garitano quit the job, quoting a lack of commitment. The club would have a further two managers until the end of the campaign, which ended in relegation. Garitano returned to Zaragoza for 2008–09, now as a youth coach. However, in late 2009, he moved to the reserves following

José Aurelio Gay José Aurelio Gay López (born 10 December 1965) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, currently a manager. He was associated with Zaragoza throughout his career, serving the club as both a player and manager. He amassed L ...

's promotion to the main squad.

Personal life

Garitano was the younger brother of Angel Garitano (also known as 'Ondarru') who served for many years as assistant to Mané at managerial appointments including

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

and Athletic Bilbao, and the uncle of another footballer (and midfielder),

Gaizka Garitano Gaizka Garitano Aguirre (born 9 July 1975) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder, currently Manager (association football), manager of Cádiz CF, Cádiz. Over 11 seasons as a player, he am ...

whom, after unsuccessfully graduating from Athletic's academy, went on to represent, among others, neighbours

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

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, ...

and Alavés. They were distantly related to Juan Urquizu who also served Athletic as player and manager. However, the Basque player and manager

Asier Garitano Asier Garitano Aguirrezábal (born 6 December 1969) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward, who is currently in charge of Sporting de Gijón. During a 14-year senior career, he appeared in 134 matches in the Se ...

is no relation.

Career statistics

Honours

Zaragoza *

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 ...

: 2000–01

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garitano, Ander 1969 births Living people People from Greater Bilbao 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Biscay Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Real Zaragoza players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish football managers La Liga managers Tercera División managers Real Zaragoza managers Deportivo Aragón managers