Josu Urrutia
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Josu Urrutia Tellería | ||
| Date of birth | 10 April 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Bilbao, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1977–1986 | Athletic Bilbao | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1984–1990 | Bilbao Athletic | 109 | (13) |
| 1988–2003 | Athletic Bilbao | 348 | (10) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Josu Urrutia Tellería (born 10 April 1968) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and the current president of Athletic Bilbao.
His 17-year senior career was solely connected with Athletic Bilbao, for which he appeared in 348 La Liga games over the course of 16 seasons, scoring ten goals.[1]
Club career
Born in Bilbao, Biscay, and a product of the Athletic de Bilbao youth academy, Lezama, Urrutia appeared once for the first team during 1987–88, then amassed a further five La Liga games in the following, going on to represent the B-side in both the second and third divisions; on 9 September 1984, aged only 16, he made his first appearance with the reserves due to a strike by the professional footballers, and he played 67 minutes in a 3–1 home win against UD Salamanca for the second level championship.[2]
From 1990–91 onwards Urrutia became a very important first-team member, being a valuable midfield element with tackling and stamina skills – a perfect complement for the more attacking Julen Guerrero. He appeared in 30 matches during 1997–98 as the Basque qualified for the UEFA Champions League, as second.
After just 25 overall appearances from 2001–03 combined (only played in one Spanish Cup contest in the latter season), Urrutia retired from the game at the age of 35 due to recurrent problems in his right knee, having appeared in exactly 400 official games.[3] On 7 July 2011 he won the presidential elections at his only club (54,36% of the votes), becoming only the fourth former player to be chosen for the post.[4]
See also
References
- ↑ 300 rugidos (300 roars); El Mundo Deportivo, 9 March 2000 (Spanish)
- ↑ 3–1: La juventud se impuso en San Mamés (3–1: Youth won at San Mamés); El Mundo Deportivo, 10 September 1984 (Spanish)
- ↑ “Mi trayectoria es más que un título” (“My career means more than an honour”); El Mundo Deportivo, 13 June 2003 (Spanish)
- ↑ Josu Urrutia, new president; Athletic's official website, 7 July 2011