Aitor López Rekarte

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.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is López and the second or maternal family name is Rekarte.
Aitor López Rekarte
Personal information
Full name Aitor López Rekarte
Date of birth (1975-08-18) 18 August 1975
Place of birth Mondragón, Spain
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position(s) 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)
2000–2007 Basque Country 9 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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.[3]

International career

López Rekarte earned one cap for Spain, in a friendly against Scotland on 3 September 2004 (1–1, in Valencia).[4] Previously, he helped the nation's under-21s win the 1998 UEFA European Championship.

Personal life

López Rekarte was the younger brother of another professional footballer, Luis, who also played for Real Sociedad, also being a right back and an international.[5]

Honours

Spain U21

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References
  1. López Rekarte se desvincula del Almería (López Rekarte cuts ties with Almería); Marca, 27 August 2008 (in Spanish)
  2. El Eibar ficha a López Rekarte (Eibar sign López Rekarte); Marca, 18 March 2009 (in Spanish)
  3. Una regeneración completa, o casi, para una nueva etapa (Complete regeneration, or nearly, for a new spell); Gara, 3 June 2009 (in Spanish)
  4. Apagón y caos en el España-Escocia (Blackout and chaos in Spain-Scotland); El Mundo, 4 September 2004 (in Spanish)
  5. Mondragón, una 'fábrica' de defensas txuriurdines (Mondragón, a 'factory' of txuriurdin defenders); Marca, 22 September 2017 (in Spanish)
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