Rafael Alkorta Martínez (born 16 September 1968) 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 ...

. He is the current

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

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 ...

. Having represented Athletic Bilbao and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

during a 17-year professional career, he amassed

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 ...

totals of 370 matches and eight goals, winning three trophies with the latter club. Alkorta appeared in three

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

with the Spain national team during the 1990s.

Playing career

Club

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 ...

, Alkorta began playing as a child with local Athletic Club in 1978, and made his senior debut with the second team seven years later, making 44

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 ...

appearances before being promoted by

Howard Kendall Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager. Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston ...

to the senior side for the 1987–88 season. His first

match was a 1–0 away defeat against

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

on 24 October 1987, and he went on to feature in a further 171 while establishing himself as an outstanding man marker. Alkorta attracted the attention of

, for whom he signed in the 1993–94 campaign (he was reluctant to make the move, but was persuaded due to Athletic's poor financial situation which was improved by the 350 million pesetas transfer fee). During his spell at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

he formed a notable partnership with

Fernando Hierro Fernando Ruiz Hierro (; born 23 March 1968) is a Spanish football executive and former player who played as a centre-back, sweeper or defensive midfielder. He won five La Liga and three Champions League trophies with Real Madrid in 14 years ...

for club and country, and accumulated more than 150 official appearances and two league titles. Alkorta returned to Athletic in 1997–98, swapping teams with fellow defender

Aitor Karanka Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player. Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka played solely in Spain for Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid, appearing ...

. He helped 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 to finish second in the first campaign upon his return and went on to play regularly the following years but, after only six games in 2001–02, was released and decided to retire aged nearly 34.

International

An international since 26 May 1990 (a 1–0 friendly away win over

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

), Alkorta earned 54

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

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 ...

over the next eight years. He played in three

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

s –

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

– and

UEFA Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in ...

, also representing the country at under-16, under-18 and under-21 levels. In the first competition, in Italy, Alkorta played ten minutes in a 2–1 group stage victory against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, starting in a further 11 matches (ten complete) in the other senior tournaments.

Coaching and administrative career

Alkorta worked as an assistant manager to former Real Madrid teammate Míchel at

Olympiacos F.C. Olympiacos Football Club ( ), known simply as Olympiacos or Olympiacos Piraeus, is a Greek professional Association football, football club based in Piraeus. Part of the major Sports club, multi-sport club Olympiacos CFP (''Olympiakós Sýnde ...

and

Olympique de Marseille Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional Association football, football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top f ...

. In December 2018, following the election of Aitor Elizegi as the president of Athletic Bilbao, he was installed as the club's new

, working with Andoni Ayarza and replacing the long-serving José María Amorrortu.

Personal life

Alkorta's younger brother, Óscar, was also a footballer who was a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. A fellow Athletic Bilbao youth graduate (alongside

José Félix Guerrero José Félix Guerrero López (born 23 August 1975) is a Spanish retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Club career Guerrero was born in Portugalete, Basque Country. Brought up in Athletic Bilbao's prolific youth ra ...

who also had a more famous sibling in the first team), the younger Alkorta never made it past the reserves and played out his career 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 ...

. The brothers were on the staff at Athletic together for a few months in 1997, between Rafael's return from Madrid and Óscar's move to CD Aurrerá de Vitoria. Óscar later worked as a youth coach at Athletic Bilbao, working under his older sibling from 2019. Rafael's son Iker received some media attention for modelling work in 2017.

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 1994–95, 1996–97 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España, also known as the Spanish Super Cup, is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football. Founded in 1982 Supercopa de España, 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2 ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

; Runner-up

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alkorta, Rafael 1968 births Living people Spanish men's footballers Footballers from Bilbao Men's association football central defenders La Liga players Segunda División players Athletic Bilbao B footballers Athletic Bilbao footballers Real Madrid CF players Spain men's youth international footballers Spain men's under-21 international footballers Spain men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Basque Country men's international footballers Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Greece Spanish expatriate sportspeople in France Athletic Bilbao non-playing staff Spanish sports executives and administrators 20th-century Spanish sportsmen