Carlos Gurpegi

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Personal information
Carlos Gurpegi
Full name	Carlos Gurpegi Nausia
Date of birth	August 19, 1980 (1980-08-19) (age 27)
Place of birth	Pamplona, Spain
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+¹⁄₂ in)
Playing position	Central midfielder
Club information
Current club	Athletic Bilbao
Number	18
Youth clubs
1997-1998 1998-2002	CD Izarra Athletic Bilbao
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999–2000 2000–2002 2002–	Baskonia Bilbao Athletic Athletic Bilbao	33 (15) 66 (5) 130 (11)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of May 21, 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Carlos Gurpegi Nausia (alternate spelling Gurpegui) (born August 19, 1980) is a Spanish Football player who plays for Athletic Bilbao. He is a central midfielder.

A product of the famous Lezama youth academy, Gurpegi debuted in La Liga on March 31, 2002, in a 5-2 away defeat against Villarreal CF, going on to establish himself as the first-choice holding midfielder in the following years (121 matches in 4 seasons). On January 17, 2004, he scored a late equaliser against FC Barcelona, at Camp Nou (1-1).

Gurpegi was banned for two years^[1] on November 3, 2003, for testing positive for nandrolone in a September 1 game against Real Sociedad (2-4 away defeat, scoring both goals) the previous season. The ban was initially suspended^[2]after repeated appeals, with Gurpegi claiming that his body produced nandrolone naturally, but the appeals were in vain as he eventually was forced to serve his sentence, which ran until April 23, 2008.^[3]Athletic Bilbao, however, neither released the player nor took his number from the official squad, and Gurpegi returned to action in a 3-0 away loss to Real Madrid, on April 27.