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Aitor López Rekarte
Personal information
Full name	Aitor López Rekarte
Date of birth	18 August 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth	Mondragón, Spain
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Right-back
Youth career
1989–1994	Real Sociedad
Senior career*
Years	Team
1994–1997	Real Sociedad B
1997–2007	Real Sociedad
2007–2008	Almería
2009	Eibar
Total
International career
1991	Spain U16
1993	Spain U17
1994	Spain U18
1997–1998	Spain U21
1997	Spain U23
2004	Spain
2000–2007	Basque Country
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

His professional career was closely connected to Real Sociedad, where he spent 13 of 15 total seasons, appearing in 338 competitive games.

Club career

Born in Mondragón, Basque Country, López Rekarte played a decade with 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 starter, his worst output consisting of 26 games in his second professional season.

López Rekarte featured mostly at left-back in that campaign as Real finished third, as habitual starter Agustín Aranzábal suffered a long injury lay-off. Eventually, he also became team captain,^[2] only missing one La Liga match in 2002–03 for the runners-up.

In July 2007, López Rekarte switched to newly promoted UD Almería, but appeared scarcely throughout the season as the Andalusians overachieved, being subsequently released.^[3] On 18 March 2009, he joined Segunda División side SD Eibar in a deal until the end of the campaign.^[4] After the latter's relegation, he chose to retire from football at nearly 34.^[5]

International career

López Rekarte earned one cap for Spain, in a friendly against Scotland on 3 September 2004 (1–1, in Valencia).^[6] Previously, he helped the nation's under-21s to 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.^[7]^[8] His niece, Maitane López, was also involved in the sport.^[9]

Honours

Spain U21

UEFA European Under-21 Championship: 1998^[10]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Aitor LÓPEZ REKARTE". El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ "Rekarte: "Es muy difícil jugar tantos partidos con la Real Sociedad, tiene el ADN del compromiso"" [Rekarte: "It's very hard to play this many matches with Real Sociedad, their DNA is commitment"]. El Diario Vasco (in Spanish). 12 April 2018. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ Folqué, J. (27 August 2008). "López Rekarte se desvincula del Almería" [López Rekarte cuts ties with Almería]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 March 2015.
^ "El Eibar ficha a López Rekarte" [Eibar sign López Rekarte]. Marca (in Spanish). 18 March 2009. Retrieved 19 March 2009.
^ U. Lasagabaster, Amaia (3 June 2009). "Una regeneración completa, o casi, para una nueva etapa" [Complete regeneration, or nearly, for a new spell]. Gara (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 February 2018.
^ Ramírez Orsikowsky, Jorge (4 September 2004). "Apagón y caos en el España-Escocia" [Blackout and chaos in Spain-Scotland]. El Mundo (in Spanish). Retrieved 14 January 2016.
^ Viñarás de Blas, Vidal (1 February 2017). "Hermanos de Primera" [Top-class brothers] (in Spanish). Cuadernos de Fútbol. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
^ Zabala, Jon (22 September 2017). "Mondragón, una 'fábrica' de defensas txuriurdines" [Mondragón, a 'factory' of txuriurdin defenders]. Marca (in Spanish). Retrieved 19 October 2017.
^ Griñán, Marta (27 January 2021). "Maitane, otra 'López Rekarte' que triunfa en la Real Sociedad" [Maitane, another 'López Rekarte' making it big at Real Sociedad]. Diario AS (in Spanish). Retrieved 5 September 2021.
^ "Príncipes" [Princes]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). 1 June 1998. Retrieved 12 May 2023.