Joseba Andoni Etxeberria Lizardi (born 5 September 1977) is a Spanish retired 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 mostly as a winger, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. After starting his career at the age of 17 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, ...

, he quickly switched to

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 ...

, going on to spend the rest of his extensive career there. Exteberria earned 53

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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 ...

, representing the nation at the 1998 World Cup and two

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

Club career

Born in

Elgoibar Elgoibar () is an industrial town located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, northern Spain. Located in a valley, it is traversed by the Deba River, Deba river. El ...

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 ...

, Etxeberria began his career with

, making 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 at only 17 in a 2–0 home win against Español on 29 January 1995. That summer, he moved to neighbouring

in a controversial transfer that cost over

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3 million and caused the clubs to break off formal relations– at the time, it was the highest transfer fee paid for an under-18 player in

Spanish football Football is the most popular sport in Spain, with 61% of the population interested in it. Spain has some of the most influential teams in Europe (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, and others) as well as many playe ...

. When he returned to

Anoeta Stadium Anoeta Stadium (), currently known as the Reale Arena for sponsorship purposes, is a football stadium in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain that was inaugurated in 1993. The stadium lies at the Anoeta Sports Complex, and is mostly used for ...

in 2001, the Real Sociedad supporters prepared banners of his face on

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s denoting him as a 'mercenary', and when he scored they responded with a hail of bottles and verbal abuse which earned the organization a fine from the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

. In 1997–98, Etxeberria scored 11 league goals as Athletic finished second, achieving a career-best 14 five seasons later. He netted the goal that took his team into the group stage of 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 ...

as they overcame

Dinamo Tbilisi Dinamo Tbilisi is a sports club from Tbilisi, Georgia (country), Georgia. It was founded in 1925. Among its highest honors, is the European trophy earned by its Association football, football team which won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating ...

on the

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, and repeated the feat in that phase of the competition against Rosenborg (1–1 home draw); in his first 12 years he never appeared in less than 28 league games, his lowest scoring output being three in the 2004–05 and 2006–07 campaigns, while he was also eventually awarded team captaincy. On 1 October 2008, already playing second-fiddle, Etxeberria agreed a deal with the

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 ...

side according to which he effectively played 2009–10, his last season as a professional, for free, after his contract expired in June 2009. Etxeberria's last year was not a successful one individually as he only appeared in seven league matches, adding another seven with two goals in the season's

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 ...

, including his final for the club (a late

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equaliser) against

Nacional Nacional, the Portuguese and Spanish word for "national", may refer to: Airlines * Nacional Transportes Aéreos, a Brazilian airline defunct in 2002 * Transportes Aéreos Nacional, a Brazilian airline defunct in 1961 Bank * Banco Nacional, a ...

in the

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of the

on 5 November 2009. On 15 May 2010, he was replaced to a

standing ovation A standing ovation is a form of applause where members of a seated audience stand up while applauding, often after extraordinary performances of particularly high acclaim. Standing ovations are considered to be a special honor. Often they are ...

in Athletic's 2–0 home victory over

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 ...

, and represented his main club in 514 official matches (104 goals), third-best in its history only behind

José Ángel Iribar José Ángel Iribar Kortajarena (born 1 March 1943), nicknamed ''El Chopo'' ("the Populus, Poplar"), is a Spanish former professional association football, football goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and Manager (association football ...

and Txetxu Rojo. Etxeberria's

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

at the San Mamés Stadium was played against 200 children, and he scored twice in a 5–3 win.

International career

After leading the

1995 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1995 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 10th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held in Qatar from 13 to 28 April 1995. The tournament t ...

scoring charts and winning fourth place, Etxeberria was called up to the Spain full national team, making his debut on 19 November 1997 in a friendly against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Palma de Mallorca Palma (, ; ), also known as Palma de Mallorca (officially between 1983 and 1988, 2006–2008, and 2012–2016), is the capital and largest city of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is ...

and scoring in the 1–1 draw. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

53 times and netted 12 goals, representing his country at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and

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 ...

. On 18 June, in the second tournament, he scored the 2–1 winner in the group stage match to defeat

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

. Etxeberria also featured for the unofficial Basque Country side in 11 matches, a record number of appearances at the time which was honoured by the territorial federation upon his retirement.

Coaching career

Etxeberria began a

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

career after retiring, his first job being with the Basque Country representative youth teams. In 2012 he returned to Athletic, starting out at the

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

; having spent so many years at the club as a player, he described the

Lezama Lezama is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain. It is home to the training headquarters of the football team Athletic Bilbao, and is accessible by bus - Bizka ...

training centre as a "second home". In 2015, Etxeberria moved to the first team under manager

Ernesto Valverde Ernesto Valverde Tejedor (born 9 February 1964) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a forward. He is the current manager of La Liga club Athletic Bilbao. Over ten seasons, he amassed La Liga totals of 264 games and 68 ...

. The following year he was appointed at affiliate Basconia, controlling a group of players he had previously managed at the '' Juvenil'' age group level. In summer 2017, Etxberria departed from the Athletic internal structure whilst remaining contracted to the club and moved within the same region to become manager of third-tier side

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 ...

, replacing the departed Aitor Larrazábal (a former Athletic teammate and coaching colleague). On 5 February of the following year, he replaced fired José Luis Martí at

Tenerife Tenerife ( ; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands, an Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Spain. With a land area of and a population of 965,575 inhabitants as of A ...

. In May 2018, Athletic Bilbao confirmed that Etxeberria had cut all ties with the club to continue his coaching career independently. On 17 September, he was fired by Tenerife after the team failed to record a victory in the first five league matches of the season. Etxeberria returned to the Athletic Bilbao staff in late May 2019, now as head coach of the reserve team

Bilbao Athletic 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 ...

, on a two-year contract. On 14 February 2022, he took over from Lolo Escobar at the helm of Mirandés 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 ...

. On 24 May 2023, Etxeberria announced that he would leave the ''Jabatos'' at the end of the campaign. On 14 June, he replaced Gaizka Garitano as manager of fellow second division side

Eibar Eibar (, ) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Autonomous Community of Euskadi. It is the capital of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Debabarrena. Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eustat, 2018). Its chief industry is ...

. On 16 February 2025, Etxeberria was dismissed after five games without a win and a 17th place in the place; in the process, he became the first coach to be shown the door by the club in 15 years.

Personal life

Etxeberria was not related to former Athletic teammate Imanol Etxeberria. Coincidentally, they were raised just a few miles from one another (Imanol hailed from

Bergara Bergara (; ) is a town and municipality located in the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, in the north of Spain. An Enlightened center of education operated by the '' Real Sociedad Bascongada de Amigos del P ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Spaon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Etxeberria goal.''

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Etxeberria, Joseba 1977 births Living people 20th-century Spanish sportsmen Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Elgoibar Men's association football wingers Men's association football forwards La Liga players Segunda División B players Real Sociedad B footballers Real Sociedad footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Euro 2004 players Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish football managers Segunda División managers Segunda División B managers Tercera División managers CD Basconia managers SD Amorebieta managers CD Tenerife managers Athletic Bilbao B managers CD Mirandés managers SD Eibar managers Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff