Aitor López Rekarte


Aitor López Rekarte 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 played 13 of 15 total seasons, appearing in 338 competitive games.

Club career

Born in Mondragón, Basque Country, López Rekarte played a decade for 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 undisputed starter, with his worst output consisting of 26 games in his second professional season.
In that first campaign, as Real finished third, Rekarte featured mostly at left back, as habitual starter Agustín Aranzábal suffered a long injury lay-off. Eventually, he also became team captain, only missing one La Liga match in 2002–03 for a final runner-up place.
In July 2007, López Rekarte switched to newly promoted UD Almería, but appeared scarcely throughout the season as the Andalusia team overachieved, being subsequently released. On 18 March 2009, he joined second division side SD Eibar in a deal until the end of the campaign; after the latter's relegation, he chose to retire from football at nearly 34.

International career

López Rekarte earned one cap for Spain, in a friendly against Scotland on 3 September 2004. Previously, he helped the nation's under-21s 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.

Honours

Spain U21