Aitor "Txiki"Begiristain Mujika (born 12 August 1964) is a Spanish former professionalfootballer who played as aleft winger orforward. He is currentlydirector of football atPremier League clubManchester City.

Txiki Begiristain

Begiristain in 2016
Personal information
Full name	Aitor Begiristain Mujika[1]
Date of birth	(1964-08-12)12 August 1964 (age 60)[1]
Place of birth	Olaberria, Spain
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Position(s)	Winger,forward
Youth career
	Segura
	Easo
1980–1982	Real Sociedad
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1982	San Sebastián	9	(2)
1982–1988	Real Sociedad	187	(23)
1988–1995	Barcelona	223	(63)
1995–1997	Deportivo La Coruña	43	(4)
1997–1999	Urawa Red Diamonds	61	(16)
Total		523	(108)
International career
1984–1988	Spain U21	19	(4)
1988	Spain U23	1	(0)
1988–1994	Spain	22	(6)
Medal record Men'sfootball Representing Spain UEFA European Under-21 Championship Winner 1986
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

He was best known for his spells atReal Sociedad andBarcelona, winning eight major titles with the latter, including fourLa Liga championships and the1992 European Cup.

Begiristain represented theSpain national team in oneWorld Cup and oneEuropean Championship. He worked as a director of football after retiring, including with Barcelona and also at Manchester City.

Born inOlaberria,Gipuzkoa,Basque Country,^[2] Begiristain began his professional career withReal Sociedad in 1982 at the age of 18, being immediately cast into the first-team's setup. After 16La Liga games in hisfirst season, he became an essential member of the side that was coached byJohn Toshack, also includingLuis Arconada,Roberto López Ufarte,José Mari Bakero andLuis López Rekarte; the highlights of his career at Real included scoring the second goal in the 1987Copa del Rey final againstAtlético Madrid, which was eventually won onpenalties after the 2–2 draw.^[3]

In the1987–88 campaign, Begiristain helped his team to finish runners-up in both league and cup, withReal Madrid winning the former andBarcelona claiming the latter. Within a month he, along with Bakero and López Rekarte, signed for theCatalan club.^[4]

Begiristain scored in his league debut for Barcelona, a 2–0 home win overEspanyol,^[5] and finishedhis first year at theCamp Nou with 38 games and 12 goals, adding two in nine matches in thevictorious campaign in theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Alongside fellowBasque players Bakero,Andoni Zubizarreta,Julio Salinas andIon Andoni Goikoetxea, he was part of the side dubbedDream Team, winning numerous honours.^[2]

During seven seasons at the club, Begiristain played more than 300 official matches and scored 63 goals in the league, with a career-best 15 in1992–93 as Barça won the third of four successive titles. Among his best moments werehat-tricks againstReal Valladolid in 1991^[6] andReal Zaragoza two years later.^[7]

In 1995, after gradually losing his importance with Barcelona (although he still registered 44 games and 13 goals over the last two seasons), Begiristain signed forDeportivo de La Coruña, where he linked up with two past acquaintances, Toshack and López Rekarte. He helped his new team win theSupercopa de España, scoring in the away leg for a 2–1 win against Real Madrid at theSantiago Bernabéu Stadium.^[8]

Duringthe last season inGalicia, Begiristain only appeared ten times, but scored againstExtremadura in the final round, grantingDepor a third-place finish with the 1–0 win.^[9] By this time, he had played more than 600 competitive matches in his country and surpassed the 100-goal mark.

Begiristain closed out his career in 1999 at 35, after three years with theUrawa Red Diamonds in the JapaneseJ1 League.^[10]

Begiristain earned 22caps with six goals forSpain,^[11] making his debut in a 2–1 defeat toCzechoslovakia on 24 February 1988 in afriendly held inMálaga.^[12] He represented the nation atUEFA Euro 1988 and the1994 FIFA World Cup, playing his last game in the latter competition, a 3–0round-of-16 win overSwitzerland where he closed the score from apenalty.^[13]

After retiring as a player, Begiristain worked as a commentator forTelevisió de Catalunya before becomingdirector of football at former club Barcelona in 2003.^[14][15] On 28 June 2010, he declared that, with presidentJoan Laporta leaving, it was the right time for him to part ways with the organisation as well.^[16]

Begiristain joinedManchester City of thePremier League on 28 October 2012 in the same capacity.^[17] During his tenure, the team won the national championship seven times – and thetreble in the2022–23 season – and several of his compatriots were also brought in as well as former teammatePep Guardiola as manager.^{[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]}

In October 2024, Begiristain announced he would be leaving City the following June after 12 years, being replaced bySporting CP'sHugo Viana.^[26]

Scores and results list Spain's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Begiristain goal.

Real Sociedad

• Copa del Rey:1986–87; runner-up1987–88
• Supercopa de España:1982

Barcelona

• La Liga:1990–91,1991–92,1992–93,1993–94
• Copa del Rey:1989–90
• Supercopa de España:1991,1992,1994; runner-up1988,1990,1993
• European Cup:1991–92
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup:1988–89
• UEFA Super Cup:1992

Deportivo La Coruña

• Supercopa de España:1995

Spain U21

• UEFA European Under-21 Championship:1986^[30]

• List of FC Barcelona players (100+ appearances)
• List of La Liga players (400+ appearances)

• Txiki Begiristain at BDFutbol
• Txiki Begiristain atJ.League (archive)(in Japanese) 
• Txiki Begiristain at National-Football-Teams.com
• Txiki Begiristain –FIFA competition record (archived)