Top facts about Aritz Aduriz, the legendary striker

Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia, born February 11, 1981, is a former Spanish competitive soccer forward.

Aritz Aduriz age

is 40. Here you can find out about the most important facts about Aritz Aduriz, the legendary Spanish forward.

Aduriz currently plays was a striker for the La Liga club

besides his regular participation for the Spanish national football.

He earned praises from football pundits for his amazing perfection of first-touch and aerial ball control. Aduriz started his football journey while playing for his native club Antiguoko during his childhood.

Aduriz scored more than 100 goals for Bilbao. Besides, he also earned prominence during his time in Mallorca and Valencia.

Aduriz was a frequent striker for the Basque national team in addition to competing for Spain. At the age of 35, he made his debut for the former at Euro 2016.

Top facts about Aritz Aduriz:

The first

fact about Aritz Aduriz

is that he spent the most of his time at Athletic Bilbao, netting 172 goals for the club in all tournaments during 3 stints with the club. He also scored more than a century of goals (104) in La Liga, where he also played for Mallorca and

.

Aritz Aduriz early life

Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia was born on February 11, 1981, in San Sabastian, Spain. His father worked as a truck driver, while his mother worked in an office.

Aritz Aduriz parents

did not encourage him to play football as a kid since they were not football enthusiasts and believed it would not be a suitable career option for him.

An important fact about

Aritz Aduriz childhood

is that he began playing football with his local buddies on the sand at La Concha beach when he was a kid.

Aduriz then joined Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea's youth academy programme in 1994, when he was only 13 years old. In the academy, he played with some of the best players in the world, like

and

. In 1999, Aduriz was moved to CD Aurrerá de Vitoria's youth system.

Aritz Aduriz personal life

A notable fact about Aritz Aduriz is that he prefers to keep his personal life hidden from the public eye. He is currently married to Ainhoa Aduriz, his long-time lover. Aduriz, a renowned player who is 36 years old, has disclosed very little about his personal life.

He is married, although his wife has only been spotted with him in public on a few occasions. Despite the fact that he is active on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, he has not shared any pictures with his wife. According to other reports, the couple does not have any children.

Aritz Aduriz professional career

Aritz Aduriz started his professional football journey while playing for Aurrera Vitoria in the 1999-2000 season. He then joined Athletic Bilbao where he spent most of his senior career.

Besides, he played for several clubs such as Valladolid,

, and Valencia. He also played for the Spanish football team since 2010 and participated in the UEFA Euro 2016 at the age of 35. Besides Spain, he played friendly matches for the Basque national side.

Aritz Aduriz club career

An important

fact about Aritz Aduriz

is that in 1999 he joined the Aurrerá de Vitoria of Second Division B. Aritz signed for the Alava team because he wanted to start IVEF University studies in Vitoria, although he was finally unable to access by a few tenths. In his only season with Vitoria he scored eight goals, two of them at the Bilbao on the final day.

Lezama and debut with Athletic Club

In 2000, Aduriz joined Bilbao for the 2000-01 season. In his first campaign in Lezama he scored seven goals, being the team's top scorer, although he did not consolidate as a starter until the second round. In the 2001-02 season, with Carlos Terrazas as coach, he started 35 games, scoring eight goals.

On this occasion, he was behind Arriaga (15 goals) in the scorers' table. His good work allowed him to travel twice with the first team, although he did not get to enter the final squad.

He was selected to do the preseason with the first team in the summer of 2002. On September 11 he made his official debut with Athletic Club, coached by Jupp Heynckes, in a Cup match against Amurrio.

On September 14 he made his debut in the First Division, against

, by replacing Santi Ezquerro in minute 77. He went to several more calls from the first team when there was some loss in the attack, however, he only played two more league games corresponding to matchday 23 and 24.

A notable fact about Aritz Aduriz is that he played most of the season in the subsidiary, with which he played the promotion phase to the Second Division, under the orders of Ernesto Valverde. On March 23, he suffered a strain in the ligaments in his right knee that kept him out for a little over a month.

This injury, added to his absences from being with the first team, influenced him to only score five goals with the subsidiary, including one against Burgos CF in the promotion promotion, with Azkorra (14 goals) being the top scorer.

After finishing the season without achieving promotion, the club negotiated the renewal with the forward to seek a loan. The player wanted to play in a Second Division team, something that he saw difficult to achieve if it was on loan, so no agreement was reached.

Burgos CF and Valladolid

Finally, he signed for Burgos CF, Second Division B, coached by Carlos Terrazas. His season was outstanding, always starting and scoring 16 goals, including a hat-trick against Fuenlabrada.

Looking ahead to the 2004-05 season, he decided to accept the offer from

in the Second Division.  In their first three games he scored six goals, including a hat-trick against Alaves (2-4).

A notable fact about Aritz Aduriz is that on January 25, 2005, in the Copa del Rey quarterfinal tie against Athletic Club, he scored his first goal in San Mamés (3-2), a penalty in the 87th minute 32 33 On March 27, suffered a muscle injury in his right leg, which took almost two months out. He ended the season being the top scorer for the Pucelano team with 14 goals, however, he scored twelve of them in the first round.

His good start to the 2005-06 season made his old club, Athletic Club, who was looking for a striker in their desperate fight to avoid relegation at the time, notice him. 35 Finally, the Bilbao club paid 3 million euros for the forward, who was presented on December 18 as a new rojiblanco player.

Athletic Club

Since his arrival, he took over the starting position, making his debut in the defeat (0-1) against Real Madrid on January 3. His first two goals came on January 22, 2006, in the derby against

(3-3). On February 26 he scored his first goal in San Mamés, in a 1-1 draw against Villarreal.

An important fact about Aritz Aduriz is that onn April 2, he sprained his right knee, which kept him out for three games. On his return he relapsed again. The team of Javier Clemente managed the permanence and Aritz was the top scorer of the team with six goals, ahead of players like Urzaiz, Llorente and Etxeberria.

He started the 2006-07 season as a starter. Mané once again placed him as a starter to which the forward responded with goals, scoring a double, against Getafe, in February (2-0) and the tying goal, in March, against Celta (1-1).

The 2007-2008 season began, with Joaquín Caparrós as coach. At the end of August, the club received an offer for the player from Mallorca. President Macua did not consider him a strategic or essential player, so he decided to accept the offer.

Joaquin Caparros described the handover as a step forward to keep other players. His transfer, in the last week of the market, caused a great controversy since it was not understood by his teammates or by the fans. In fact, the player acknowledged that he was forced to leave.

RCD Mallorca

On September 14, in his first game as a starter, he scored his first goal with the vermilion jersey in a 1-1 draw against

. Without getting close to Güiza's figures, he finished the season as the top scorer for the team led by Gregorio Manzano with eleven goals.

He started his second season with five goals in the first seven days of the League. In addition, he signed a goal in each league match against Athletic Club.

Mallorca was virtually qualified for the Champions League on the final day, but a goal by Sevilla 's Rodri snatched fourth place. Finally, the team obtained a place for the Europa League, by being in 5th place, after being overtaken by Sevilla.

The forward was once again the team's top scorer, with thirteen goals. Due to the serious financial difficulties of the club, they could not cope with the cost of the signing of the San Sebastian striker.  It was not until November 3, 2017 when Robert Sarver, the new owner of the vermilion club, paid the money owed for his signing.

Valencia CF (2010-2012)

The bad economic situation of the Balearic club forced to seek a transfer to raise money. On July 14, 2010, after rejecting Fenerbahçe's offer, his transfer to Valencia for 4 million euros was announced. The player signed for the club managed by

until June 30, 2013.

A notable

fact about Aritz Aduriz

is that his first goals in Mestalla were against Atletico Madrid and Athletic Club, in the days 4 and 6. Also at his debut in Champions League, he scored one of the goals that would give victory to the Valencia 0-4 against Bursaspor.

Also, in his first match in the Copa del Rey with Valencia, he signed the first two goals. In the last two months of competition, he was relegated to the bench, in large part, due to the irruption of Jonas. He finished as the team's second top scorer, with 14 goals.

In the 2011-12 season he started from the bench, up to 28 times, due to the good momentum of Soldado and Jonas. He scored transcendental goals, which helped the team to finish in third position, such as the tying goal against Villarreal or the doubles against Racing de Santander and Osasuna.

Back to Athletic Club

On June 28, 2012, Aduriz returned to Athletic Club at the age of 31, thus beginning his third stage at the Bilbao club. Athletic paid a transfer of 2.5 million euros, while the Gipuzkoan player signed a contract for three seasons. On 23 August he made his debut for the Rojiblanco in the UEFA Europa League, against HJK Helsinki, scoring a double. On October 20, on his return to Mestalla, he scored a double (3-2).

A notable fact about Aritz Aduriz is that in his first season his goals were key to keep the team away from relegation (they never exceeded 12th place). Of the fourteen goals in the 2012-13 League, eleven were in the first round.

He was the team's only scorer in five close victories (Osasuna, Granada, Celta, Mallorca and, again,

), he opened the scoring in another two victories (Valladolid and Mallorca) and tied two games (Espanyol and Betis). The season ended with 18 goals between the League, Cup and Europa League.

For the 2013-14 season, Ernesto Valverde arrived as coach. After a hesitant start of seven games without scoring, in the middle of the fight for fourth place, he scored in the victory against Villarreal (2-1). That goal, scored on October 21, 2013, was his first goal at the recently inaugurated San Mamés Stadium.

On February 28 he scored a hat-trick against Granada (4-0). In the next two days he scored the equalizer against Valencia and Villarreal at home. In April he scored twice in the victories against Levante (1-2) and

(3-0). He finished the season with 18 goals, between the League and the Cup, having scored 10 goals in his last 10 games.

The 2014-15 season began with a stellar tie, in the qualifying phase of the Champions League, against

. After the 1-1 draw in the first leg and the momentary 0-1 in the second half, two goals from the Basque forward allowed the tie to turn around and enter the group stage of the top continental competition. The first goal in the group stage came from the striker, in the loss to BATE Borisov (2-1).

Finally, the team was eliminated and participated in the Europa League round of 32 being eliminated by Torino. His goals in the Cup were decisive to overcome rounds such as his double, against

, in the first leg of the Cup round of 16. In the quarter-final round, he scored the goal that made it possible to eliminate Málaga CF.

An important fact about Aritz Aduriz is that on March 7, three days after the second leg of the semifinals, he scored a masterful header against Real Madrid, which served to obtain the 1-0 victory. On May 30 he played the Cup final against FC Barcelona, ​​which ended in defeat (3-1).

He finished the season with 26 goals, having scored 18 of them since January, and winning his first Zarra Trophy thanks to his 18 league goals. His goals in the domestic competition were decisive to obtain the seventh position, after a poor first round with only 19 points. In fact, his goals served to open the scoring in 13 games (9 wins, 3 draws and a loss) and equalize a match, against Valencia.

The 2015-16 season began with the conquest of the Spanish Super Cup against FC Barcelona, being the most outstanding player, scoring a hat-trick in the first leg played in San Mamés, in which Athletic won by a surprising 4-0 to the Catalan team.

In the second leg, at the Camp Nou, Barça took the lead by means of a goal by

at the end of the break, but the San Sebastian striker managed to score the tying goal in the 75th minute.

In the Cup, the team was eliminated by FC Barcelona in the quarterfinals. He was the top scorer in the 2015-16 UEFA Europa League with 10 goals, becoming the oldest scorer in the competition's history beating Alan Shearer.

His six goals in the group stage helped the team reach the top of the group. On February 18, after turning 35, he scored one of the best goals of his career. It was in the first leg of the round of 32 (0-1), played at the Stade Vélodrome, against Olympique de Marseille, where he scored with a volley of more than 35 meters that beat Steve Mandanda.

He made a great first round in the league by scoring 11 goals including a hat-trick against Rayo Vallecano. On January 24, he scored a spectacular double, with a scissor goal and a volley goal, against Eibar.

On March 2, he scored his second hat-trick of the season, in Stipe Pletikosa's debut with Deportivo de la Coruña. This hat-trick allowed him to become one of the four players to score three goals with 35 years in the league, after Di Stéfano, Puskás and Mundo.

On the last day he scored two goals against Sevilla, thus conquering the fifth place that gave direct access to the 2016-17 UEFA Europa League, helping Carlos Gurpegui have a good farewell on the day of his retirement. Thanks to this double, he was able to recapture the Zarra Trophy, with 20 league goals, being the only player alongside Ferenc Puskás to score 20 or more goals at the age of 35.

A notable fact about Aritz Aduriz is that he concluded the season with 36 goals in total, a scoring record only surpassed by Telmo Zarra and Gown at the club. Nationally great strikers like Raul, Villa or Torres could never reach that figure. As a reward for his great season, he was summoned by Vicente del Bosque to play Euro 2016 with the Spanish soccer team.

On 17 August, he scored two of the three goals in the comeback against Panathinaikos, in the qualifying round of the 2017-18 UEFA Europa League. The team lost 2-0 in the 67th minute, and in the 74th minute they were already leading by 2-3.

On November 2, he scored the only goal of the game against Östersunds FK. With that goal he became, with 20 goals, the second highest scorer in the UEFA Europa League, after Radamel Falcao, and the eighth player to reach 25 goals.

On 23 November he scored a double in a 3-2 victory against Hertha BSC, both from penalties. On December 7, he opened the scoring, for the fourth consecutive day, against Zorya Luhansk at the Lviv Arena (0-2), which allowed the Basque club to finish first in the group. On December 10, 2017, he became the oldest footballer in Athletic Club history to score a goal, in a 1-2 victory over Levante.

On January 7, 2018, with his penalty goal against Alavés, he became the third player to score against 35 different teams in the First Division, equaling Raúl and Leo Messi.

On February 15 he scored a double against

(1-3), in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 played at the Otkrytie Arena. At the end of the campaign, he finished as the top scorer in the Europa League with eight goals, for the second time in his career.

On November 28, 2018 he scored a double, in the 4-0 win against SD Huesca in the first leg of the Copa del Rey round of 32, thus helping to achieve the team's first victory after more three months without doing it. On December 6, he scored a new double, in Gaizka Garitano's debut as a rojiblanco coach, in the second leg at El Alcoraz (0-4).

On December 10, he gave victory to the rojiblanco team in the 91st minute, with a Panenka-style penalty, against Girona FC after thirteen games without winning in the league. On December 22 he scored the last goal of the year for the rojiblanco team against Real Valladolid.

On January 10, 2019, he suffered a serious injury to his right knee, after an impact from Sevillista Amadou, who had him out for about three months. Four days after the end of the season, his renewal was announced until June 2020, which would make him the oldest footballer in the League.

On August 9, 2019, he announced, at a press conference, his retirement at the end of the season. On August 16, in the first game of the 2019-20 season, he scored the winning goal against FC Barcelona (1-0) the minute after entering the pitch thanks to a scissor shot in the 89th minute of the game.

The season was interrupted in mid-March by the coronavirus disease pandemic. On May 20, before the season could be resumed, he announced his retirement due to hip problems, for which he was unable to play in the Copa del Rey final against Real Sociedad. In his last campaign as a professional he played 17 games.

Aritz Aduriz international career

On October 4, 2010 he entered the call-up of the Spanish team for the first time, led by Vicente del Bosque. On October 9, 2010 he had his debut against Lithuania. On March 18, 2016, thanks to his good performances at Athletic, he was called up by Del Bosque to play two friendly matches against Italy and Romania.

An important fact about Aritz Aduriz is that on March 24, in a match played in Udine, he became the oldest footballer to make his debut for the national team and also scored his first international goal against

in a match that ended in a 1-1 draw.

On June 1, he entered the final list for Euro 2016. In this competition he played three gamesː against the Czech Republic (1-0 win), Croatia (2-1 loss) and Italy (2-0 defeat), coming off the bench in two cases and falling injured in the last of them.

On November 12, 2016, in a qualifying match for the 2018 World Cup, he became the oldest scorer in the history of the Spanish team, aged 35 years and 275 days, when he finished off with his right foot a cross by David Silva and score the final 4-0 against Macedonia.

Aritz Aduriz social media

Regarding

Aritz Aduriz social media

, it should be mentioned that he has an Instagram page (

) with 116k followers. In the page we can see various pictures of him during the matches and having fun with his friends.

He also has a Twitter account (

) with 40.3 followers. He often posts new stuff on his Twitter page in support of his former club, Bilbao.

Aritz Aduriz body measurements

Speaking about

Aritz Aduriz body measurements

, it should be mentioned that the retired spanisg star is 6 ft 0 in (182 cm) and weighs 165 lbs (75 kg).

Aritz Aduriz net worth and salary

After decades of devotion to his football profession, Aritz Aduriz is a rich man.

Aritz Aduriz net worth

, including and earnings and all his assets, is $7 million. His annual salary from Athletic Bilbao was approximately £1.5 million. Moreover, he earned his wealth via numerous endorsement and sponsorship agreements in addition to his football earnings.

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