Andoni Iraola was born in the small Basque town of Usurbil. Like Dagestan’s presence in the UFC, Basque punches well above its weight when it comes to football, and specifically, coaches.
Iraola began a law degree while he was breaking into La Liga, so he dropped out in the three year mark to focus on his football. He never looked back.
The most distinctive club culture in European football
Athletic Club’s cantera policy means only players born in or trained across the greater Basque Country can represent the club. No other major professional club in Europe operates this way, and it shows. The culture is tightly knit with a great collective identity that outranks individual ambition. If you think about it, a lot of commercial sacrifice is made with this decision as they cannot recruit elsewhere, even when lacking in certain positions.
The identity is all about pressing hard and working without the ball. It’s not a coaching instruction but a value absorbed over years of formation. After all, they accepted Bielsa in to be a manager.
Iraola joined the Lezama academy in 1999 and his earlier youth club (Antiguoko) had already produced Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta and Aritz Aduriz. Before he’d made a single first-team appearance, he was already in a mighty football environment where intensity and identity were the same thing – we can see that in Arteta’s character, his close childhood friend. Athletic have never been relegated from La Liga since its founding in 1929 which is a record shared only by Real Madrid and Barcelona.
What 510 appearances at Athletic Club taught him
Twelve seasons with 510 competitive appearances. Thirty-eight goals across all competitions too, which isn’t bad for a right-back.
The real defining stretch of his playing career was under Marcelo Bielsa (2011 to 2013). Iraola was turning 30 with one eye on managing, so he was living and breathing Bielsa’s influence as a regular starter and club captain.
The hybrid press Bielsa developed which was zonal until a specific passing trigger, then aggressively man-to-man, certainly left an impact on him. This was fairly ahead its time, with many clubs like Manchester United struggling to know how to deal with it when playing them in Europe.
Three Copa del Rey finals (2009, 2012, 2015, all against Barcelona) and the 2012 Europa League final. He never won any of them but he competed repeatedly at the highest level. And sometimes, these failures at the final hurdle teach you the most.
The Copa del Rey miracle that put him on the map
His first head coaching job was at AEK Larnaca in Cyprus. He won the Cypriot Super Cup and was sacked six months later. A humbling start, and worth acknowledging.
So he came back to Spain in July 2019 where he took charge of Mirandés, a newly promoted Segunda División club with a modest budget and basically no profile. In the 2019–20 Copa del Rey, Mirandés eliminated Celta Vigo, Sevilla and Villarreal. Three top La Liga staples. He reached the semi-finals, only the second time in the club’s 92-year history. While they were beaten by Real Sociedad (another Basque club and the eventual champions), who had Alexander Isak up top, they had made a big impact. And stories like this travel.
It would be a little bit like Plymouth taking out Spurs, Everton and Aston Villa in the FA Cup to reach the semi-final. The sports betting markets gave him no chance before, but soon adjusted to this miracle worker.
Rayo Vallecano and the art of building from scratch
August 2020: Iraola arrives at Rayo Vallecano.
First season: La Liga promotion via the playoffs.
Second season: back in the top flight, Rayo beat Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla in the same La Liga campaign. Copa del Rey semi-final, too (second time only in the club’s history).
This kind of project is what really impressed, as it’s a proper, lasting development from top to bottom. Fran García developed into a Real Madrid first-choice left-back and Spain international under Iraola. His assistant, Íñigo Pérez, went on to be Rayo’s own head coach, so even those around him were being developed.
Bournemouth, and what comes next at Anfield
Three seasons at Bournemouth. Twelfth. Ninth. Then sixth. Most of all, European football for the first time in the club’s history. He ended the season on a mighty unbeaten run – one of Europe’s best.
Liverpool is a different world entirely, but it feels like the time is right. While we may feel he has progressed quickly, it’s clear to see that close friends Arteta and Alonso also take on big jobs quickly.
At Anfield, of course, every team selection can get more scrutiny, with many more eyes on him. Bigger egos to deal with. But that’s exactly where Iroala’s Basque identity can come in handy, to temper these, like Klopp did, and ground them into a hard working, cohesive unit.
The same qualities formed in Usurbil and Lezama, with collective identity above ego and tactical intelligence absorbed from the inside. Liverpool supporters are extremely excited to find out exactly who Andoni Iraola is.
