Aitor López Rekarte
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Aitor López Rekarte | ||
| Date of birth | 18 August 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Mondragón, Spain | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position | Right back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1989–1994 | Real Sociedad | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1994–1997 | Real Sociedad B | 98 | (2) |
| 1997–2007 | Real Sociedad | 316 | (4) |
| 2007–2008 | Almería | 10 | (0) |
| 2009 | Eibar | 11 | (0) |
| Total | 435 | (6) | |
| National team | |||
| 1991 | Spain U16 | 7 | (0) |
| 1993 | Spain U17 | 3 | (0) |
| 1994 | Spain U18 | 6 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Spain U21 | 6 | (0) |
| 1997 | Spain U23 | 3 | (0) |
| 2004 | Spain | 1 | (0) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Aitor López Rekarte (born 18 August 1975) is a Spanish retired footballer. He played as a defender on the right side, and sporadically on the other flank.
His professional career was closely connected to Real Sociedad, where he played 13 of 15 total seasons, appearing in 338 competitive games.
Club career
Born in Mondragón, Basque Country, López Rekarte played a decade for local club Real Sociedad, with nearly 350 overall appearances with the first team. After being promoted to the main squad for 1997–98, he immediately became the undisputed starter, with his worst output consisting of 26 games in his second professional season.
In that first campaign, as Real finished third, Rekarte featured mostly at left back, as habitual starter Agustín Aranzábal suffered a long injury lay-off. Eventually, he also became team captain, only missing one La Liga match in 2002–03 for a final runner-up place.
In July 2007 López Rekarte switched to newly promoted UD Almería, but appeared scarcely throughout the season as the Andalusia team overachieved, being subsequently released.[1] On 18 March 2009 he joined second division side SD Eibar, in a deal until the end of the campaign.[2] After the latter's relegation he chose to retire from football, at nearly 34.
International career
López Rekarte gained one cap for Spain, in a friendly against Scotland on 3 September 2004 (1–1, in Valencia).[3] Previously, he helped the nation's under-21s win the 1998 UEFA European Championship.
Personal life
López Rekarte is the younger brother of another professional footballer, Luis, who also played for Real Sociedad, also being a right back and an international.
Honours
- Spain U21
References
- ↑ López Rekarte se desvincula del Almería (López Rekarte cuts ties with Almería); Marca, 27 August 2008 (Spanish)
- ↑ El Eibar ficha a López Rekarte (Eibar signs López Rekarte); Marca, 18 March 2009 (Spanish)
- ↑ Apagón y caos en el España-Escocia (Blackout and chaos in Spain-Scotland); El Mundo, 4 September 2004 (Spanish)
External links
- Aitor López Rekarte profile at BDFutbol
- National team data
- Aitor López Rekarte at National-Football-Teams.com