 Urrutia in 2014 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Josu Urrutia Tellería[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1968-04-10)10 April 1968 (age 56) | ||
| Place of birth | Bilbao, Spain[1] | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft9+1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Defensive 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) |
| Total | 457 | (23) | |
| International career | |||
| 1990–2001 | Basque Country | 6 | (2) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Josu Urrutia Tellería (born 10 April 1968) is a Spanish formerfootballer who played as adefensive midfielder.
His 17-year senior career was solely connected withAthletic Bilbao for which he appeared in 348La Liga matches over 16 seasons, scoring ten goals.[2] He later served a seven-year term as president of the club.
Urrutia was born inBilbao,Biscay, and was a product of theyouth academy ofAthletic Bilbao based atLezama. He made his first appearance with the club'sB side on 9 September 1984, aged only 16, due to astrike by the professional players, and lasted 67 minutes in a 3–1 home win overUD Salamanca in thesecond division.[3]
Urrutia appeared once for the first team during the1987–88 season, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 home draw againstSporting de Gijón,[4] then played a further fiveLa Liga games inthe next while also experiencing arelegation followed by a promotion with the reserves. He began1989–90 still registered with the latter but eventually broke into the former, scoring his first goal for them on 1 April 1990 to help to a 2–2 home draw withReal Valladolid which was played at neighbouringReal Sociedad's ground,Atotxa Stadium.[5]
From the1990–91 campaign onwards, Urrutia became a very important first-team member, being a valuable midfield element with tackling and stamina skills and a perfect complement for the more attackingJulen Guerrero.[6] He appeared in 30 matches during1997–98 as theBasques qualified for theUEFA Champions League, as runners-up.
After just 25 total appearances from 2001 to 2003 – he only played oneCopa del Rey game inthe latter season – Urrutia retired at the age of 35 due to recurrent problems in his rightknee, having taken part in 401 official matches.[7]
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On 7 July 2011, Urrutia won thepresidential elections at his only club (54,36% of the votes), becoming only the fourth former player to be chosen for the post.[8] He promised to bring inMarcelo Bielsa as head coach if he was elected, and this eventually came to fruition.[9][10]
In March 2015, Urrutia was re-elected to serve another four-year term after being the only candidate to stand.[11] In the early days of his tenure he had appointed former teammateJosé Ángel Ziganda to become the coach of the reserves,[12] and six years later, still under the former's presidency, the latter was promoted to first-team duties;[13] he replaced another playing colleague of both men,Ernesto Valverde.[14]
In November 2018, Urrutia confirmed he would stand down as the president of Athletic Bilbao. During a spell heading an 'interim board' until his successor was elected, one of his final acts was to dismiss head coachEduardo Berizzo – only appointed a few months earlier in place of Ziganda – due to poor results (again it was the reserve coach, this timeGaizka Garitano, who was invited to step into the role).[15] On 27 December, new presidential elections were held, in whichAitor Elizegi won.[16]