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Spanish League Footballer Joseba Etxeberria To Play Next Season For Free

by Jon Azpiri | October 2, 2008 at 09:49 am

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Athletic Bilbao forward Joseba Etxeberria has signed a one-year contract extension that will see him play the final season of his career for free. The 31-year-old forward refused to accept a salary for the 2009-10 season as a gesture of good will and to ensure that he will retire with the same team that he has played for since 1995.

Club President Fernando García Macua referred to the new contract as a "unique case in the world of football", although Exteberria preferred to downplay the new deal.

"I wanted to do this gesture but never, in any moment, did I want to set a precedent," said Etxeberria, who hopes to reach 500 games played when he retires after a 15-year career at San Mames. "It's an idea I've had for years."

Etxeberria, known to Athletic fans as "El Gallo" (The Rooster) because of his on-field aggressiveness, will retire from football as one of the Basque side's greatest players. Etxberria signed with Bilbao at the age of 17. He has gone on to play in 416 games and scored 87 goals for Athletic. He also has 53 caps and scored 12 goals for the Spanish national team.

Etxeberria's unique gesture is a sign of loyalty towards his team. Long a symbol of Basque pride, Athletic Bilbao has stayed in Spain's Liga Primera for more than 80 years, fielding players exclusively from the Basque region in Spain and France. While other teams in La Liga fill their rosters with top talent from around the world, Athletic has managed to stay relatively competitive using local players. While some see their "locals only" policy as antiquated, it has also earned them a tremdous amount of loyalty from Bilbao fans, not to mention players like Etxeberria.

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altrugon

at 14:12 on October 2nd, 2008

Is he going to donate all that money, or he is just going to play for free?

It would be a really good gesture to see all that money as a donation.

Jon Azpiri

at 15:01 on October 2nd, 2008

Good point, altrugon. To my knowledge, Etxeberria is not taking any payment. He's doing it as a way to thank the team and its fans for their support over the years. Etxeberria signed with the team back in 1995 when he was just 17 and the signing was a bit controversial at the time. The team paid a staggering 3 million euro transfer fee to get him. At the time, it was the most any team had ever paid for an under-18 player. Many fans posit that Etxeberria is not asking the team for money in his final season, in part, to pay back the team for the huge fee they had to pay to get him.

Athletic Bilbao is an unusual team in that it is community owned rather than privately owned, so in theory the money saved by the team will not go into the hands of a millionaire owner. Still, it would have been nice if Etxeberria or the team set up some kind of charitable foundation.

dave2008 (not verified)

at 04:21 on October 6th, 2008

Athletic Bilbao is not an "unusual team" in Spain; lots of clubs in Spain are "community owned" (ie, are "owned" by their dues-paying membership), Real Madrid and FC Barcelona are also not owned by private owners. AFAIK that's the way most clubs in Spain are operated.