Igor Jauregi Iraola (born 29 April 1974) 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 mainly as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Born in Tolosa,

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 ...

, Jauregi spent the first part of his career in the lower leagues, arriving at

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 ...

giants

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, ...

at already 24. He played 22

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 in his first season, his debut coming on 30 August 1998 in a 3–3 home draw against

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

. After a six-month loan 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 ...

with

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 ...

, which he had already represented, Jauregui returned to Real but, safe for the 2002–03 campaign, where the club incidentally finished second, he was more often than not a fringe player. In June 2007, after his contract expired, Jauregi had to retire from the game due to persistent health problems: after a poorly managed

tendinitis Tendinopathy is a type of tendon disorder that results in pain, swelling, and impaired function. The pain is typically worse with movement. It most commonly occurs around the shoulder ( rotator cuff tendinitis, biceps tendinitis), elbow ( tenn ...

three years earlier, he also contracted the

Helicobacter pylori ''Helicobacter pylori'', previously known as ''Campylobacter pylori'', is a gram-negative, Flagellum#bacterial, flagellated, Bacterial cellular morphologies#Helical, helical bacterium. Mutants can have a rod or curved rod shape that exhibits l ...

bacteria Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...

, even though he successfully dealt with the latter situation. Jauregi returned to Eibar in 2014, going on to spend several years at the

Ipurua Municipal Stadium Ipurua Futbol Zelaia (also written Ipurúa), is an all-seater football stadium in Eibar, Spain, serving as the home ground of SD Eibar. Opened in 1947, the stadium has a capacity of 8,164 seats. Ipurua has been the principal football ground in E ...

as team

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jauregi, Igor 1974 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Tolosa, Spain Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Tolosa CF footballers CD Hernani players CD Aurrerá de Vitoria footballers SD Eibar footballers Real Sociedad footballers