7 brilliant players you had no idea are Basque
Some of football’s biggest stars and most talented players hail from the beautiful region of the Basque Country – perhaps even some you weren’t aware of.
An autonomous community located in northern Spain and southern France, the Basque Country has gifted us a plethora of magnificent footballers and provided significantly to the history and culture of the game, with Basque players always extremely passionate about their heritage and their community.
Comprised of 11 autonomous communities in Spain and three provinces across the border in France, we’ve pulled together a list of seven brilliant active footballers who you probably might not have known were Basque.
Nico Williams
Those who only became aware of Williams thanks to his scintillating EURO 2024 campaign as Spain lifted the trophy might be in the dark as to why Barcelona are struggling to get him to join the club and reunite with Lamine Yamal.
Finances is one issue (obviously) but the other is that Williams is very much Basque and proud. Born in Pamplona in the region of Navarre – the same region as Cesar Azpilicueta and Fernando Llorente – Williams joined the Athletic Club academy when he was around 11 years old and has been at the club ever since.
A full circle moment and the dream for any Basque footballer was realised in 2024 when he made an assist and was awarded Player of the Match as Athletic Club won the Copa del Rey against Mallorca – their first major trophy in 40 years. You can’t buy that level of emotion.
Mikel Oyarzabal
Captain of Real Sociedad, it’s easy to forget that players representing La Real are often Basque, like Oyarzabal himself.
Unlike their rivals Athletic Club, Sociedad don’t enforce a ‘Basque only’ rule with regards to who is allowed to play for the club, having let that go when signing Irishman John Aldridge in 1989.
Oyarzabal was born in the region of Gipuzkoa, the same birthplace as Xabi Alonso, and has spent his entire career so far with La Real, apart from a loan to Eibar at youth level. He’s been capped 37 times for Spain and is still only 25, making him an attractive player for top clubs everywhere, but it seems passion is his priority. Good on him.
Ander Herrera
A few years after he tore them a new one in the Europa League, Manchester United were determined to sign Ander Herrera, but it proved immensely difficult to pry the midfielder away from Athletic Club – his hometown side.
The Red Devils eventually got their Basque maestro in 2014, but the saga took a strange turn a year earlier when three mystery men pretending to be lawyers representing United turned up in Bilbao and tried to broker a deal for both parties – a deal that eventually fell apart for a year as a result.
“I know my lawyers and I know my agent. It is the same agent as when I was 18,” He explained on the UTD Podcast in 2022: “They [hoaxers] were trying to make easy money – I don’t know how.”
Thankfully for Herrera and United, a deal was struck a year later and he moved to Manchester, where he became a cult hero.
Lucia Garcia
Another former United player, Garcia is perhaps the crown jewel of Barakaldo, but had to start in Oviedo with Oviedo Moderno in order to get her break into the professional game, before returning to the Basque Country with Athletic Club in 2016.
Quickly emerging as one of the most promising young wingers in the game, United moved fast to secure her signature in 2022 and enjoyed two seasons of her tearing it up on either flank, famously scoring an injury-time winner in May 2023 to secure United’s first ever league win over Manchester City.
She signed off her spell with the Red Devils with a brace and a Player of the Match performance in the FA Cup final against Tottenham, firing the club to their first major honour before leaving for Mexican side Monterrey this summer. Representing the Basque Country around the world.
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Aymeric Laporte
Born in France, playing for Les Bleus 19 times at senior level before switching to represent Spain and now playing his club football in Saudi Arabia, it’s fair to say Laporte is a globalised man.
Laporte was born in raised in Agen, a commune in southwestern France, not quite in the Basque Country but instead bordering the region. However, his family lineage is Basque and he grew up playing football in Bayonne – a Basque region within France – before moving to Athletic Club.
Considering he spent the bulk of his career with Athletic Club before signing for Manchester City, we’re pretty confident in claiming that Laporte will feel more Basque than anything else.
Irene Paredes
Captain of the Spain Women’s national team with over 100 caps to her name, Paredes is the definition of a leader, walking away in solidarity with the team and using her influence to fight for change within the federation before coming back and being a part of the squad that won the 2023 World Cup.
She’s also Basque and proud, coming from Gipuzkoa just like Oyarzabal and Alonso. Paredes has played four times for the Basque Country national team and has rather controversially played for both Real Sociedad and Athletic Club, but these days plays for Barcelona.
Martin Zubimendi
Liverpool were desperate to kick off the Arne Slot with a statement signing and Zubimendi was identified as the man to breathe new life into their midfield under the Dutch coach.
A £51million release clause in his Real Sociedad contract made a move seem straightforward – or so they thought. The longer negotiations went on, the less likely the move became and when La Real tabled a new contract offer to their Basque midfielder, also born and raised in Gipuzkoa, talk of a transfer completely fell away.
The Reds are going to have to try again next summer if they wish to write another chapter similar to the Xabi Alonso story all those years ago, because for the time being, the 25-year-old is more than happy to stay at home around his people.