Manuel Rolando Iturra Urrutia (; born 23 June 1984) is a Chilean 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

defensive 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. ...

. He currently is an assistant coach at

Universidad de Chile The University of Chile () is a public research university in Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the co ...

Club career

U. Chile and Leiria

Born in

Temuco Temuco () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune, capital (political), capital of the Cautín Province and of the Araucanía Region in southern Chile. The city is located south of Santiago de Chile, Santiago. The cit ...

, Iturra made his Primera División debut with

Club Universidad de Chile Club Universidad de Chile () is a professional Association football, football club based in Santiago, Chile, that plays in the Chilean Primera División, Primera División. Founded on 24 May 1927, Universidad de Chile is one of the most success ...

in 2003, aged 19. He proceeded to be a first-team regular from his second season onwards, helping ''La U'' to the 2004 and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Apertura tournaments. In January 2011, Iturra was loaned to

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pe ...

in Portugal, first appearing in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

on 12 February when he played the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 away win against

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal , P ...

. He started in all but one of the league matches he featured in for the club, as it eventually finished in tenth position.

Spain

For 2011–12, Iturra joined

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in , playing home matches at Estadio Nueva Condo ...

of the Spanish

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 ...

. After featuring heavily during the campaign he returned to Universidad, where he had his contract terminated. On 28 August 2012,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Iturra became the first summer signing of

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

, as a direct replacement for

Enzo Maresca Enzo Maresca (born 10 February 1980) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. He is the head coach of Premier League club Chelsea. After starting out at West Bromwich Albion in 1998, he went on to play for several clubs in ...

who had moved to

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

a few days before. He made his official debut on 18 September in the club's first-ever

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 ...

group stage match, coming on as a

half-time In several team sports, matches are played in two halves. Half-time (also written halftime or half time) is the name given to the interval between the two halves of the match. Typically, after half-time, teams swap ends of the field of play in or ...

substitute for Francisco Portillo in a 3–0 home victory over

FC Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club p ...

. Iturra scored his first goal for Málaga on 16 January 2013, profiting from a defensive scramble to put the visitors ahead at the

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, in an eventual 2–2 draw in the

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 ...

( 6–4 aggregate loss). He finished his first season at

La Rosaleda Stadium Estadio La Rosaleda (; literally The Rose Garden) is a football stadium in the city of Málaga, in Andalusia, southern Spain. It is the home stadium of Málaga CF in Segunda División and was previously that of Club Deportivo Málaga, of which M ...

with 39 appearances in all competitions, helping to a sixth-place finish in the league. From

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, Iturra represented

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol (), known simply as Granada or ''"Graná"'', is a professional List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that currently plays in Segunda ...

also 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 ...

after signing a three-year contract. He made his competitive debut for his new team on 18 August, featuring 90 minutes in a 2–1 win at

CA Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. The team's ...

Udinese

On 23 July 2015, Iturra joined

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

, which like Granada was also owned by Italian businessman

Giampaolo Pozzo Giampaolo Pozzo (born 25 May 1941) is an Italian businessman, currently the owner of Udinese in Italy. His son Gino is the owner of Watford in England. Pozzo sold the family business, tool maker Freud, to Robert Bosch in 2008. Udinese Calcio P ...

. His maiden

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

match was on 23 August, and he played the entire 1–0 away defeat of

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. Iturra signed a six-month loan deal with

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in the Villa de Vallecas district of Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish foot ...

on 30 January 2016. He made just four starts during his brief stay.

Later years

On 4 June 2016, Iturra left Europe agreeing to a contract with Mexico's

Club Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

. He returned to Spain two years later, joining

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 ...

for free and leaving the club by mutual consent on 2 January 2019. In July 2021, Iturra was appointed youth manager of

UD San Pedro Unión Deportiva San Pedro is a Spanish football team based in San Pedro Alcántara, Marbella, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1974, it plays in , holding home matches at ''Estadio Municipal de San Pedro Alcántara'', with a ...

, a small club in the

Province of Málaga The province of Málaga ( ) is located in Andalusia, Spain. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south and by the provinces of Cádiz to the west, Seville to the northwest, Córdoba to the north, and Granada to the east. The province ...

. In the 2021–2022 season, Iturra played for CD Atlético Marbellí in the Segunda Andaluza, making 7 appearances.

International career

Iturra made his debut for

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on 17 August 2005, against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

. On 24 May of the following year, he scored the game's only goal in a friendly with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. Iturra represented the nation at the

2007 Copa América The 2007 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, known simply as the 2007 Copa América or 2007 Copa América Venezuela, was the 42nd edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The c ...

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, helping the side to the quarter-finals.

International goals

Coaching career

In 2021, he began his career as coach of

Juvenil A team. In 2022, he joined

youth system, being confirmed for the 2023 season. For the 2024 season, he joined the technical staff of

Gustavo Álvarez Gustavo Álvarez (born 27 October 1972) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a left back. He is the current manager of Chilean club Universidad de Chile. Managerial statistics Honours Player Temperley *Primera C ...

in the first team.

Personal life

Iturra married Nadia Vargas, the daughter of the former Chile international goalkeeper

Sergio Vargas Sergio Pascual Vargas Parra (Villa Altagracia, Dominican Republic, March 15, 1960) is a performer of merengue and bolero, who was very popular in the 80s and 90s, during the "Golden Age of Merengue" and today remains active as one of the leadin ...

. In addition, he is the brother-in-law of the also former goalkeeper,

Emanuel Vargas Emanuel Sebastián Vargas Torus (born 13 February 1988) is an Argentine-born Chilean former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Career In 2005, Vargas took part of the reality TV show ''Adidas Selection Team'' from Fox Sports Chile, where ...

Honours

Universidad de Chile *

Primera División de Chile Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera, Venezuelan musician, compos ...

: 2004 Apertura, 2009 Clausura

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Iturra, Manuel 1984 births Living people Footballers from Temuco Chilean people of Basque descent Chilean men's footballers 21st-century Chilean sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Chilean Primera División players Club Universidad de Chile footballers Deportes Iquique footballers Primeira Liga players U.D. Leiria players La Liga players Segunda División players Real Murcia CF players Málaga CF players Granada CF footballers Rayo Vallecano players Villarreal CF players Serie A players Udinese Calcio players Liga MX players Club Necaxa footballers Israeli Premier League players Maccabi Haifa F.C. players Chile men's international footballers 2007 Copa América players Chilean expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Spain Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Italy Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Chilean expatriate sportspeople in Israel Chilean football managers Chilean expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Spain