Ion Ansotegi Gorostola (born 13 July 1982) is a Spanish former

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

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 ...

, currently manager of

Real Sociedad B Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación � ...

. He spent most of his professional career with

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 signing with the club at the age of 21, going on to appear in 226 competitive matches in 11 seasons. 124 of those came 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 ...

(six goals scored).

Playing career

Ansotegi was born in Berriatua, Basque Country. After starting his professional career 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 ...

(with a loan to

Barakaldo CF Barakaldo Club de Fútbol is a Basque football team based in Barakaldo, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Founded in 1917 it plays in , holding home stadium is '' Lasesarre'', with a 7,960 Seat Capacity. History Barakaldo pla ...

included), he moved to local giants

. He made his

debut on 22 January 2006 in a 3–3 home draw against

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 the

Basque derby The Basque derby (in Basque language, Basque ''Euskal Derbia'', in Spanish language, Spanish ''derbi Vasco'') is the name of the association football, football local derby between Real Sociedad and Athletic Bilbao. It embodies the inter-city ri ...

, and totalled 33 appearances over his first two top-flight seasons. Ansotegi only missed two matches in 2009–10, being booked just six times in his 40 complete appearances – and adding four goals – as Real Sociedad returned to division one after a three-year absence. He featured in 32 games (all starts) the following campaign as the team retained their league status, but lost his importance in the squad following the January 2011 signing of Norwegian Vadim Demidov and the emergence of youth product

Iñigo Martínez Iñigo Martínez Berridi (; ; born 17 May 1991) is a Spanish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for La Liga club FC Barcelona, Barcelona. He spent most of his professional career with Real Sociedad, playing ...

. On 1 June 2015, aged 33, Ansotegi renewed his contract with Real Sociedad until 2016. On 1 February of the following year, after only two

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 ...

appearances in the first part of the season, he cut ties with the ''Txuriurdin'' and moved back to his first club Eibar after agreeing to an initial six-month deal. On 30 June 2016, Ansotegui signed a one-year contract with

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (, , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or RCD Mallorca, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Palma de Mallorca, ...

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

In July 2017, having suffered relegation, the 35-year-old Ansotegi announced his retirement and immediate return to Real Sociedad as youth system coordinator. Roughly one year later, he joined Asier Garitano's as an individual coach, and remained in the staff after the appointment of Imanol Alguacil. On 29 May 2025, Ansotegi was named manager of ''Sanse'' for the 2025–26 season, with Imanol Agirretxe as his assistant.

Honours

Real Sociedad *

: 2009–10

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ansotegi, Ion 1982 births Living people People from Lea-Artibai 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Biscay Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players SD Eibar B footballers SD Eibar footballers Barakaldo CF footballers Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers RCD Mallorca players Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish football coaches Spanish football managers Real Sociedad B managers Real Sociedad non-playing staff