Ander Iturraspe Derteano (; ; born 8 March 1989) is a Spanish 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 lea ...

who played as a

defensive 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. ...

. He spent all but the final season of his career at

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 ...

, appearing in 320 matches in all competitions after making his debut with the first team at the age of 19. 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 ...

, he also played with Espanyol. Iturraspe won two

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 ...

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 ...

, in 2014.

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

Abadiño Abadiño (; ) is a town located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the north of Spain, about 35 km from the provincial capital of Bilbao. The area of the municipality is about and according to the ...

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 ...

, Iturraspe joined

in 1999, at the age of 10; he returned to his hometown four years later due to

homesickness Homesickness is the distress caused by being away from home.Kerns, Brumariu, Abraham. Kathryn A., Laura E., Michelle M.(2009/04/13). Homesickness at summer camp. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home ...

, but went back to Lezama to complete his development shortly after. He spent several seasons in the various junior levels of the club and, in 2007, moved to

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 ...

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 the

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. On 12 March 2008, Iturraspe started for the first team in a 6–1 friendly win against Zalla UC. Towards the end of the league campaign, he also played in exhibition matches with

Club Portugalete Club Portugalete is a List of football clubs in Spain, Basque football team based in Portugalete, in the autonomous community of Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it plays in , holding its home games in the '' ...

and Aviron Bayonnais FC. On 23 June 2008, Iturraspe was officially promoted to the main squad, being issued with the squad number 26. He made his

debut on 14 September, starting in a 0–0 draw at

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

in the same match as another youth graduate, Mikel Balenziaga; his second appearance came as a substitute, in the 2–0 home victory over

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 ...

. Iturraspe made his second start for Athletic in a

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 ...

match A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...

against

Recreativo de Huelva Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Huelva, Andalucia, Spain. Founded on 23 December 1889, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play in , holding home ...

, being replaced at

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 ...

Pablo Orbaiz Pablo Orbaiz Lesaka (born 6 February 1979) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. After starting out at Osasuna, he went on to play 11 years in La Liga with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 318 competiti ...

. He continued appearing almost exclusively for the reserves until the end of the season, however. Benefitting from physical problems to veteran Carlos Gurpegui, Iturraspe played 58 official games in 2011–12 under new manager

Marcelo Bielsa Marcelo Alberto Bielsa Caldera (, nicknamed ''El Loco Bielsa'' , meaning 'The Madman Bielsa'; born 21 July 1955) is an Argentine professional Association football, football manager who is the current manager of the Uruguay national football team ...

; Athletic reached both the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

and the domestic cup finals. At the end of the 2013–14 season, he was voted into the La Liga Team of the Year by the reporters of the

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

. In early 2019, it was announced that Iturraspe would leave the San Mamés Stadium at the end of the campaign when his contract ended. The club's final home match involved tributes to him, as well as fellow long-serving squad members Mikel Rico and Markel Susaeta who were also departing in similar circumstances.

Espanyol

On 8 July 2019, Iturraspe signed a one-year deal with

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

. He made his debut on 1 August in the second leg of the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

in the

, as a 65th-minute substitute in a 3–1 win at

Stjarnan Ungmennafélagið Stjarnan (, ), commonly known as Stjarnan (), is an Icelandic multi-sports club specialising in handball, football, basketball, volleyball and gymnastics located in Garðabær. Basketball Men's basketball As of the 2017–2 ...

(7–1 aggregate). Hampered by a shoulder injury, he did not feature for the

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

-based side until 15 December, again off the bench in a 2–2 home draw against

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

. In September 2020, after his link expired and with his team having been relegated to

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 ...

, Iturraspe decided to decline offers from other clubs and retire from playing, aged 31.

International career

Following a strong 2013–14 season, Iturraspe was called up by Spain national team manager Vicente Del Bosque to his 30-man provisional squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

, making his debut on 30 May in a friendly with

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

where he played the full 90 minutes (2–0 win). However, the following day, he was omitted from the final list.

Personal life

Iturraspe's younger brother, Gorka, also came through Athletic's academy and became a professional in the same position.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Athletic Bilbao *

runner-up: 2008–09, 2011–12, 2014–15 *

runner-up: 2011–12 Individual * La Liga Team of the Year: 2013–14

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iturraspe, Ander 1989 births Living people People from Abadiño 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Biscay Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers RCD Espanyol footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's international footballers Basque Country men's international footballers