Daniel Aranzubia Aguado (born 18 September 1979) 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

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 ...

. He is the current goalkeeper coach of

Amorebieta Amorebieta-Etxano, also known as Zornotza ( Spanish, ''Amorebieta-Echano''), is a town and municipality located in Biscay in the Basque Country, an Autonomous Community in northern Spain. At the time of the 2019 census, the population of the mun ...

. He appeared in 303

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 ...

matches over 13 seasons, with

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 ...

– in whose youth system he grew – Deportivo and

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 ...

. With the second club, he scored one goal in the competition. Aranzubia represented

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 ...

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

Club career

Athletic Bilbao

Born in

Logroño Logroño ( , , ) is the capital of the autonomous community of La Rioja (Spain), La Rioja, Spain. Located in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, primarily in the right (South) bank of the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of pa ...

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous communities in Spain, autonomous community and provinces of Spain, province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other List of municipalities in La Rioja, cities and towns in the ...

, but nonetheless a product of

's famed youth academy at Lezama, Aranzubia made his first-team debut on 10 June 2001 in a 1–3 home

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

loss 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, ...

. After two seasons as backup to

Iñaki Lafuente Iñaki Lafuente Sancha (born 24 January 1976) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He appeared in 146 La Liga games over ten seasons, mainly with Athletic Bilbao. He also represented Espanyol and Sporting de ...

, he emerged as the side's undisputed starter, helping them qualify for the

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 ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

while extending his contract a further four years. Following additional struggles for first-choice duties with Lafuente in the 2005–06 campaign, Aranzubia was definitely deemed surplus to requirements by 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, ...

due to the emergence of

Gorka Iraizoz Gorka Iraizoz Moreno (born 6 March 1981) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper, currently manager of Gernika Club. He spent most of his professional career with Athletic Bilbao, appearing in 392 official games. In La Liga h ...

, not appearing even when the first-choice was severely injured during 2007–08 (Athletic received veteran Armando on loan from

Cádiz CF Cádiz Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. is a Spanish professional football club based in Cádiz, Andalusia. Founded in 1910, the club competes in Segunda División, holding home games at Nuevo Mirandilla, with a seating capacity of 20,724. Salvadoran ...

, and he became the starter).

Deportivo

On 13 July 2008, Aranzubia joined

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 ...

on a three-year deal,

helping Helping behavior refers to voluntary actions intended to help others, with reward regarded or disregarded. It is a type of prosocial behavior (voluntary action intended to help or benefit another individual or group of individuals, such as sharing ...

the

Galicians Galicians ( or ''pobo galego''; ) are an ethnic group primarily residing in Galicia, northwest Iberian Peninsula. Historical emigration resulted in populations in other parts of Spain, Europe, and the Americas. Galicians possess distinct cu ...

to the

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

and starting throughout the entire

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

, save one match due to suspension. On 2 October, he saved three penalties in a

shootout A shootout, also called a firefight, gunfight, or gun battle, is a confrontation in which parties armed with firearms exchange gunfire. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used in a non-military context or to ...

against

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bergen. Founded on 26 September 1908, Brann has played in the first tier of Norwegian football for 67 out of 80 seasons, the second most of any club. They play their hom ...

in a UEFA Cup first round 2–0 home win, with ''Depor'' thus reaching the group stage. Aranzubia missed the first six games of the 2010–11 campaign due to injury, but again finished as a starter. On 20 February 2011, he scored with his

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple ani ...

through a 95th-minute

corner kick A corner kick, commonly known as a corner, is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defe ...

as his team managed a 1–1 draw at

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001 ...

, becoming the first goalkeeper in

history to score from open play.

Atlético Madrid

In August 2013, Aranzubia signed for

as a backup to

Thibaut Courtois Thibaut Nicolas Marc Courtois (; ; born 11 May 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Real Madrid and the Belgium national team. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is known ...

. He made his debut in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

on 11 December 2013 shortly after his 34th birthday, saving a penalty from

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

's Josué in a 2–0 group stage home victory. As the Belgian was unavailable due to injury, Aranzubia first played in the league with the ''Colchoneros'' on 8 February 2014, being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in the last minutes of a 2–0 loss at Almería after fouling Jonathan Zongo in the box. He finished his spell at the

Vicente Calderón Stadium The Vicente Calderón Stadium ( ) was the home stadium of Atlético Madrid from its completion in 1966 to 2017, with a seating capacity of 54,907. It was located on the banks of the Manzanares, in the Arganzuela district of Madrid, Spain. The ...

with five competitive appearances.

International career

Aranzubia made his only appearance for

on 5 June 2004, in a friendly with

Andorra Andorra, officially the Principality of Andorra, is a Sovereignty, sovereign landlocked country on the Iberian Peninsula, in the eastern Pyrenees in Southwestern Europe, Andorra–France border, bordered by France to the north and Spain to A ...

at the

Coliseum Alfonso Pérez Estadio Coliseum () is a municipally-owned football (soccer), football stadium in Getafe, Spain. It is the home ground of Getafe CF. Stadium The stadium was built in 1998 and currently, after several extensions, it has a capacity of 17,393 people ...

. He came on as a substitute for

Santiago Cañizares José Santiago Cañizares Ruiz (; born 18 December 1969) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. A product of Real Madrid's youth academies, he eventually joined the first team but proved unable to establish hims ...

, who had already replaced

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 ...

, at the hour-mark, after having been selected as third-choice for the

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

tournament. Previously, Aranzubia helped the nation to win the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams tha ...

and finish runners-up at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

, starting in both finals.

Coaching career

On 21 June 2016, Aranzubia was hired as a goalkeeper coach for SD Amorebieta under manager Aitor Larrazábal. Three years later, in the same capacity, he joined his former teammate Joseba Etxeberria's staff at

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 ...

. Aranzubia returned to Amorebieta in summer 2023, in the same role.

Career statistics

Honours

Basconia *

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 ...

: 1997–98 Deportivo *

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 ...

: 2011–12 Atlético Madrid *

: 2013–14 *

runner-up: 2013–14 Spain U20 *

FIFA World Youth Championship The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members' men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 when i ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Spain U23 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

silver medal:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

*
Deportivo official profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aranzubia, Dani 1979 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Logroño Men's association football goalkeepers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players CD Basconia footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Deportivo de La Coruña players Atlético Madrid footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's under-23 international footballers Spain men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2004 players Olympic footballers for Spain Olympic silver medalists for Spain Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Association football goalkeeping coaches Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff