Sendoa Agirre

Sendoa Agirre Basterretxea (born 31 December 1975 in Bilbao, Biscay), known simply as Sendoa, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.

Sendoa
Sendoa (right) warming up with Hércules in 2009
Personal information
Full name Sendoa Agirre Basterretxea
Date of birth (1975-12-31) 31 December 1975
Place of birth Bilbao, Spain
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Romo
Athletic Bilbao
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1994–2001 Bilbao Athletic 56 (18)
1994–1995 → Sondika (loan)
1995–1996 → Balmaseda (loan)
1996–1997 → Zorroza (loan)
1997–1998 → Gernika (loan) 37 (13)
2000–2001 → Eibar (loan) 17 (1)
2001–2002 Barakaldo 42 (18)
2002–2006 Alicante 150 (60)
2006–2011 Hércules 165 (28)
2011–2013 Alavés 69 (17)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Football career

After finishing his football formation at Basque giants Athletic Bilbao, Sendoa spent several years competing at amateur level in the region, on loan. He returned to the first team in 1998, but only appeared for them during pre-season games under Luis Fernández, going on to exclusively represent the reserves during two seasons.

Aged nearly 25, Sendoa had his first taste of professional football, playing one season with SD Eibar in the second division, but he moved immediately after to the third with neighbouring Barakaldo CF. In the following four years he represented division three club Alicante CF,[1] finishing twice in the top-three but never promoting in the playoffs.

Sendoa signed with second division side Hércules CF for the 2006–07 campaign, being an undisputed starter from early on and contributing with three goals in 39 games (almost 3,000 minutes) in his fourth year as the Valencians returned to La Liga after a 13-year absence.

On 28 August 2010, Sendoa appeared in the 2010–11 opener, a 0–1 home loss against Athletic Bilbao, thus becoming the oldest rookie in the history of the Spanish first division (aged 34 years, 8 months).[2] On 7 May of the following year, he scored his first goal in the competition as Hércules fell 2–3 at home to Racing de Santander and were finally relegated;[3] he added a brace in the following fixture, a 2–2 home draw against RCD Mallorca, which certified the team's fate.[4] He finished his playing career with a two-year spell at Deportivo Alavés, helping the club to achieve promotion from the third tier in 2012–13.

In July 2019, Sendoa was named as Athletic Bilbao's first team match delegate, an administrative role which he had performed for the previous four seasons at Alavés; he replaced Andoni Imaz at Athletic.[5]

References
  1. Sendoa apunta al 'pichichi' (Sendoa aims for 'pichichi'); Mundo Deportivo, 20 May 2005 (in Spanish)
  2. Sendoa, un novato de largo recorrido (Sendoa, a long-distance rookie); El País, 11 September 2010 (in Spanish)
  3. Giovani bags double; ESPN Soccernet, 7 May 2011
  4. Hercules down after draw; ESPN Soccernet, 11 May 2011
  5. "New delegate in the first men's team". Athletic Bilbao. 1 July 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2019.
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