Ander Garitano

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Garitano and the second or maternal family name is Urkizu.

Ander Garitano Urkizu (born 26 February 1969) is a Spanish retired professional football left midfielder and manager.

Ander Garitano

Personal information
Full name	Ander Garitano Urkizu
Date of birth	(1969-02-26) 26 February 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Derio, Spain
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1988	Bilbao Athletic	67	(15)
1988–1996	Athletic Bilbao	234	(35)
1996–2002	Zaragoza	147	(15)
Total		448	(65)
International career
1984–1985	Spain U16	9	(3)
1986	Spain U18	2	(1)
1989–1990	Spain U21	5	(0)
Managerial career
2002–2008	Zaragoza (youth)
2008	Zaragoza
2008–2009	Zaragoza (youth)
2009–2010	Zaragoza B
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

His career as a player – spent almost entirely in La Liga – was solely associated with two clubs, Athletic Bilbao and Zaragoza.

Playing career

Born in Derio, Biscay, Garitano began his professional career at local powerhouse Athletic Bilbao. After appearing twice in the closing stages of 1987–88 he quickly imposed himself as a first-choice player with good free kick skills, scoring 35 La Liga goals over nine seasons; on 12 March 1988, two weeks after his 19th birthday, he made his official debut, starting in a 5–0 away loss against Real Madrid.^[1]

Garitano signed for Real Zaragoza in 1996, and played there until his retirement in six years later. He was still regularly used in the Aragonese side's victorious run in the 2000–01 Copa del Rey,^[2] and finally retired the following summer at 33 – Zaragoza suffered top-flight relegation – with more than 500 competitive matches to his credit; from 1986 to 1988 he played 61 games for Athletic Bilbao B, with that team in the Segunda División.^[3]

Coaching career

Subsequently, Garitano moved into coaching, first taking charge of Zaragoza's youth teams.^[4] In mid-January 2008 he replaced the dismissed Víctor Fernández,^[5] first appearing in a Spanish Cup round-of-16 tie against Racing de Santander, a 4–2 loss (5–3 on aggregate).^[6]

Just two days after his only league game, a 3–1 home win over Real Murcia, Garitano quit the job, quoting a lack of commitment.^[7] The club would have a further two managers until the end of the campaign, which ended in relegation.^[8]

Garitano returned to Zaragoza for 2008–09, now as a youth coach.^[4] However, in late 2009, he moved to the reserves following José Aurelio Gay's promotion to the main squad.^[9]

Personal life

Garitano was the younger brother of Angel Garitano (also known as 'Ondarru') who served for many years as assistant to Mané at managerial appointments including Deportivo Alavés and Athletic Bilbao,^[10][11] and the uncle of another footballer (and midfielder), Gaizka Garitano whom, after unsuccessfully graduating from Athletic's academy, went on to represent, among others, neighbours SD Eibar, Real Sociedad and Alavés.^[12][11] They were distantly related to Juan Urquizu who also served Athletic as player and manager.^[10] However, the Basque player and manager Asier Garitano is no relation.^[13]

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		Cup		Europe		Other[14]		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Bilbao Athletic	1985–86	4	0	?	?	-	-	-	-	4	0
	1986–87	34	4	?	?	-	-	-	-	34	4
	1987–88	27	9	?	?	-	-	-	-	27	9
	1988–89	2	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	2
	Total	67	15	0	0	-	-	-	-	67	15
Athletic Bilbao	1987–88	2	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	2	0
	1988–89	23	4	4	0	2	0	-	-	29	4
	1989–90	36	5	4	2	-	-	-	-	40	7
	1990–91	30	4	5	2	-	-	-	-	35	6
	1991–92	29	7	7	3	-	-	-	-	36	10
	1992–93	27	3	2	0	-	-	-	-	29	3
	1993–94	26	6	3	0	-	-	-	-	29	6
	1994–95	35	4	3	0	6	0	-	-	44	4
	1995–96	26	2	5	0	-	-	-	-	31	2
	Total	234	35	33	7	8	0	-	-	275	42
Zaragoza	1996–97	37	3	3	0	-	-	-	-	40	3
	1997–98	18	7	5	3	-	-	-	-	23	10
	1998–99	19	1	1	0	-	-	-	-	20	1
	1999–00	30	4	5	1	-	-	-	-	35	5
	2000–01	19	0	7	0	2	0	-	-	28	0
	2001–02	24	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	28	0
	Total	147	15	22	4	5	0	0	0	174	19
Career totals		448	65	55	11	13	0	0	0	516	76

Honours

Zaragoza

• Copa del Rey: 2000–01^[2]

References

1. Alcaide, Jesús (13 March 1988). "Este "merengue" es de hierro..." [Iron ("Hierro" in English, pun on player's name) "merengue"...]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2018.
2. Ortego, Enrique (1 July 2001). "Zaragoza, no hay quinta Copa mala" [Zaragoza, no such thing as a bad fifth Cup]. ABC (in Spanish). Retrieved 7 July 2014.
3. Martín, Javi (7 September 2015). "Asier Villalibre: segundo goleador más jóven de la historia del Bilbao Athletic en 2ª División" [Asier Villalibre: second-youngest goalscorer of Bilbao Athletic's history in 2nd Division] (in Spanish). La Cantera de Lezama. Retrieved 23 June 2017.
4. Lahoz, Raúl (17 July 2008). "Garitano vuelve como entrenador del juvenil" [Garitano returns as juvenil manager]. Heraldo de Aragón (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
5. "Garitano succeeds Fernández at Zaragoza". ESPN Soccernet. 14 January 2008. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
6. Quixano, Jordi (17 January 2008). "Colsa reparte y Tchité liquida" [Colsa provides and Tchité finishes]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 11 March 2018.
7. "Garitano quits as Zaragoza coach after a week". ESPN Soccernet. 22 January 2008. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2008.
8. Suárez, Orfeo (19 May 2008). "El Zaragoza y el principio de autoridad" [Zaragoza and the principle of authority]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 August 2022.
9. "Gay fue presentado a la plantilla y realizó dos sesiones de trabajo" [Gay was introduced to squad and held two work sessions]. El Periódico de Aragón (in Spanish). 16 December 2009. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
10. Fernández, José M. (11 June 2016). "Alma de versolari, corazón de futbolista" [Soul of a wordsmith, heart of a footballer]. La Voz de Galicia (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 December 2017.
11. Encinas, Mikel (25 January 2007). "Una familia con el corazón partido" [A family with a broken heart]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 December 2017.
12. "El sobrino de Ander es el capitán del mejor Éibar" [Ander's nephew captains best Éibar]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 12 April 2005. Retrieved 31 March 2010.
13. Bosch, Josep (22 September 2016). "El gran duelo de los Garitano" [The great battle of the Garitanos]. Sport (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 December 2017.
14. Includes other competitive competitions, including the Supercopa de España, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup.

External links

• Ander Garitano at BDFutbol
• Ander Garitano manager profile at BDFutbol
• Ander Garitano at Athletic Bilbao