The King of San Mamés
Aritz Aduriz is one of Spanish football's great cult heroes - a striker who only got better with age, and who wrote his name into Athletic Bilbao's history with his goals, his loyalty and his unique style. Throughout a career that spanned almost two decades in La Liga, Aduriz was highly respected throughout Spain for his professionalism and his performances. He is perhaps best known for his iconic status at Athletic Club, but his path to that position also included important stints at Mallorca and Valencia. Here's the story of Aritz Aduriz, and why he will forever be remembered as a cult hero in Spanish football.
The road to the top: early years in the Basque Country
Born in San Sebastián, Basque Country, in 1981, Aduriz played for local club Antiguoko as a youngster – a team known for producing stars. At the age of 19, Aduriz got his chance at Athletic Bilbao, where he made his debut for the reserves in 2000 and for the first team in 2002. His very first match for Athletic was actually against Barcelona at the legendary San Mamés in 2002 – a fitting start for a man who would later terrorise Barcelona on several occasions.
However, there was no straight path to stardom. The young Aduriz failed to establish himself as a regular at Athletic straight away, and was loaned out to Burgos and later sold to Real Valladolid in the Segunda División. There he gained valuable match-making and began to find his scoring form. In 2005, Athletic Bilbao brought him back to San Mamés, and Aduriz later stated that having to leave Athletic the first time had irritated him – he wanted to prove that he belonged there. From 2006 onwards, Aduriz played for Athletic again and showed fine form, scoring 22 goals in 82 La Liga games over three seasons. However, he left the club once again in 2008, against his will, when Athletic decided to sell him on.
Goalkeeper in Mallorca and Valencia
In the summer of 2008, the journey continued to the archipelago – Aduriz signed for Mallorca, where he really began to make his mark as a goal-stealer. Already in his first season at Mallorca, he became the team's top scorer. He scored two goals, among others, in a 3–0 win over Espanyol and ended the 2008/09 season with double-digit goals, which helped Mallorca finish in a respectable 9th place in La Liga. The following year, Aduriz repeated the feat – he again became Mallorca's top scorer, this time with 12 league goals, and the club surprised by capturing 5th place, which gave them participation in the Europa League. It was during these seasons at Mallorca that Aduriz really showed his potential as a reliable striker with a nose for goal.
His performances at Mallorca earned him a well-deserved move to Valencia in 2010. There, Aduriz got to try out for one of Spain's top clubs, and he immediately made his mark by scoring on his league debut for Valencia in the autumn of 2010. In the first half of the 2010/11 season, he scored several goals, but gradually the competition for the striker position became tougher when the club brought in Brazilian Jonas and invested in Roberto Soldado as first choice. Aduriz had to accept a super substitute role for much of the spring. Despite less playing time, he still managed to finish his first Valencia season with a solid 14 goals in total – including two goals in the Champions League. Although he got fewer chances in his second season at Valencia, Aduriz had already proven that he maintained a high level. When the opportunity arose to return home to Athletic Club in 2012, the 31-year-old Aduriz was more than ready – he longed to return to the club in his heart and wanted to "make up for the lost years" in Bilbao.
Back in Athletic: the late heyday
In the summer of 2012, Aduriz returned to Athletic Bilbao for the third time in his career – a move that would mark the start of his golden era. The transfer fee was a modest €2.5 million, and in retrospect it appears to be a bargain for Athletic. Aduriz settled in quickly; already in August 2012, he scored his first goals in his comeback with two goals in a 6–0 win in the Europa League qualifiers. When Athletic's then star striker Fernando Llorente fell out with the club and eventually left for Juventus in 2013, Aduriz was ready to take over the striker's position permanently. He delivered the goods immediately: in the 2012/13 season he finished with 14 league goals and 18 goals in total, cementing himself as Athletic Club's new number 9.
In the following years, Aduriz would only get better and better – despite being in his 30s. In 2014/15, he scored 18 league goals and won the Zarra Trophy as La Liga’s top scorer that season. That same season, he reached 100 goals in Spain’s top division, a milestone he reached in a match against Barcelona in February 2015. But the real reward came in the autumn of 2015, when Athletic Bilbao were to face Barcelona over two legs in the Supercopa de España (the Spanish Super Cup). In the first leg of the final at San Mamés, Aduriz put in a performance for the history books – he scored a hat-trick against a star-studded Barça and guided Athletic to a sensational 4–0 victory. Three days later, at the Camp Nou, he scored again (from the penalty spot) in a 1–1 draw, and Athletic won the Super Cup 5–1 on aggregate. It was Athletic Club's first title in over 30 years, and for Aduriz personally, it was the very first trophy of his career. The triumph sparked wild scenes of celebration in Bilbao – the Super Cup was celebrated as a major trophy, as the club had finally broken its trophy drought. Aduriz had truly secured hero status.
Throughout the 2015/16 season, Aduriz's form was on the rise. He poured in goals both at home and away in Europe. In the Europa League that autumn, he recorded an almost incredible performance: in November 2015, Aduriz scored all five goals for Athletic in a 5–3 win over Genk – something no one else had done in the tournament's history. He became the top scorer in the 2015/16 Europa League with 10 goals in total, and in all competitions he scored a total of 36 goals that season. Only two players (Athletic's legendary Telmo Zarra and Bata) had surpassed such a goal haul in the same season in the club's history. It's no wonder that the Spanish national team manager took note of the veteran: Aduriz made his sensational comeback to the national team in 2016 at the age of 35 and was selected for the European Championship that summer. He also scored his first international goal in a friendly against Italy in March 2016, aged 35 – making him Spain's oldest goalscorer of all time at the time.
Aduriz continued to perform at a high level for Athletic Bilbao year after year. Even as he grew older, he maintained an impressive level. In the 2017/18 season, he became the top scorer in the Europa League at the age of 37. In January 2018, he won the La Liga Player of the Month award – largely thanks to both his goals and an example of fair play: In a match against Eibar, Aduriz fell in the box, but instead of trying to get a penalty, he immediately signaled to the referee that there was nothing punishable. This professional attitude and respect for the game made an impression on many. He became one of the most respected veterans in La Liga.
In 2019, at the age of 38, he scored his last goal in La Liga – and it was perhaps his most beautiful. In the opening game of the season against Barcelona, he was substituted late on and fired home a stunning winner with his first touch of the ball. A true Aduriz moment. Shortly afterwards, a hip injury ended his career. He never got to play in the much-anticipated 2020 cup final against Real Sociedad, but for the fans, the legend was already complete.
Aritz Aduriz never became the superstar in the headlines, but he became a role model, a goal machine and a cult hero for generations of Athletic fans. He personified the will to work his way up, improve with age and finish in style. A true icon of Spanish football.
