Isaac Aketxe Barrutia (; born 30 June 1989) is a Spanish 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 plays as an

attacking 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. ...

Club career

Aketxe was born in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

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 ...

. Having emerged through

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 ...

's prolific youth ranks (although he also played youth football with

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 ...

neighbours Arenas Club de Getxo), he made his

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 ...

debut on 20 September 2009, coming on as a substitute for striker Fernando Llorente in the final ten minutes of a 3–2 home win against

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

. He spent the vast majority of his first two seasons at the club with the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. For the 2010–11 campaign, Aketxe was loaned to another side in the region, Sestao River Club of 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 ...

. In the summer of 2011, his contract with Athletic was not renewed and he signed for SD Eibar in division three. Aketxe continued competing in the third tier until his retirement, with

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 � ...

, Sestao, Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa,

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 5 July 1939, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish foo ...

FC Cartagena Fútbol Club Cartagena, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Cartagena, in the Region of Murcia, Spain. Founded in 1995 it currently plays in Segunda División, holding home games at '' Estadio Cartagonova'', with a capacity of 15,105 sp ...

, UCAM Murcia CF and

Hércules CF Hércules de Alicante Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. () is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football team in Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded on 25 October 1922, it currently plays in Primera Federación and plays its home games ...

. In 2014–15, while at the service of Cultural, he scored a career-best 20 goals.

Personal life

Aketxe's younger brother,

Ager Ager or AGER may refer to: * Ager (surname) Places * Ager (river), a river in Upper Austria * Àger, a municipality in Catalonia, Spain * Viscounty of Àger, a medieval Catalan jurisdiction that branched off the County of Urgell * Ager, Californ ...

, was also a footballer and a midfielder. He too was groomed at Athletic Bilbao. Their father, known as Isaac Aqueche due to spelling conventions of the time, played as a midfielder in the lower divisions of Spanish football including a spell with Athletic's reserves.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aketxe, Isaac 1989 births Living people 21st-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Getxo Men's association football midfielders La Liga players Segunda División B players Tercera División players Primera Federación players Segunda Federación players Tercera Federación players Arenas Club de Getxo footballers Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Sestao River Club footballers SD Eibar footballers Real Sociedad B footballers Cultural y Deportiva Leonesa players Albacete Balompié players FC Cartagena footballers UCAM Murcia CF players Hércules CF players CF La Nucía players UD Alzira footballers CD Badajoz players