Inaxio Kortabarria

Inaxio Kortabarria Abarrategi (born 31 July 1950) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central defender.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Kortabarria and the second or maternal family name is Abarrategi.
Inaxio Kortabarria
Kortabarria in 1981
Personal information
Full name Inaxio Kortabarria Abarrategi
Date of birth (1950-07-31) 31 July 1950
Place of birth Mondragón, Spain
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Youth career
Real Sociedad
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1968–1971 San Sebastián 77 (1)
1971–1985 Real Sociedad 355 (16)
Total 432 (17)
International career
1974–1976 Spain amateur 4 (0)
1976–1977 Spain 4 (0)
1979 Basque Country 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Kortabarria was born in Mondragón, Gipuzkoa. During his career he played solely for Real Sociedad, making his first-team – and La Liga – debut on 19 September 1971 against Deportivo de La Coruña[1] and finishing his first season with 14 appearances.

From there onwards, Kortabarria rarely missed a game, contributing 30 and 31 matches respectively as the Basques won back-to-back leagues (whilst adding five and six goals, his career-bests) with him as captain. In the last round of the 1980–81 campaign, he opened the scoring through an early penalty as Real drew 2–2 at Sporting de Gijón to eventually edge Real Madrid on goal difference.[2][3]

After losing his place to younger Agustín Gajate, Alberto Górriz and Juan Antonio Larrañaga, all brought up in the club's youth academy, Kortabarria chose to retire at the end of 1984–85 aged 35. He made 442 appearances in all competitions, eighth all-time for Real Sociedad.[4]

International career

Kortabarria earned four caps for Spain, in less than one year. His debut came on 22 May 1976, in a 2–0 loss in West Germany for the UEFA Euro 1976's qualifying stages.[4]

Political views

On 5 December 1976, before a game against Athletic Bilbao, Kortabarria and the opposing captain, José Ángel Iribar, carried out the Ikurriña, the Basque flag, and placed it ceremonially on the centre-circle.[5] This was the first public display of the flag since the death of Francisco Franco, but it was still illegal.

Honours

See also

References
  1. 1–0: A cinco minutos del final, Loureda dio la victoria al Coruña (1–0: Five minutes from time, Loureda gave win to Coruña); Mundo Deportivo, 20 September 1971 (in Spanish)
  2. ¡Vaya epílogo! (What a finish!); Mundo Deportivo, 27 April 1981 (in Spanish)
  3. 2–2: La Real no podía fallar (2–2: Real could not fail); Mundo Deportivo, 27 April 1981 (in Spanish)
  4. Leyendas de la Real: Inaxio Kortabarria (Real legends: Inaxio Kortabarria); Vavel, 15 March 2016 (in Spanish)
  5. Aquel histórico 5 de diciembre de 1976 (That historic 5 December 1976); El Correo, 3 December 2010 (in Spanish)
  6. Atotxa empujó al equipo para lograr la primera Supercopa (Atotxa pushed team to get the first Supercup); Noticias de Gipuzkoa, 27 December 2020 (in Spanish)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.