It is not a case of football anthropology, but of statistical challenge. Bournemouth announced yesterday the hiring of Andoni Iraola as coach of the team, militant in the Premier and excellent launching pad for the careers of young technicians. Eddie Howe is a recent case. He manages Newcastle, carpeted by Saudi Arabia's petrodollars, after achieving considerable notoriety at the small club in southwest England. Iraola is added to a copious list of Spanish coaches in the most important league in the world, with a particularity: except Guardiola, all the others are from Gipuzkoa.
We are delighted to announce the appointment of Andoni Iraola as the club's new head coach.
Welcome to #afcb, Andoni 🤝
— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) June 19, 2023
Mikel Arteta (Arsenal), Unai Emery (Aston Villa), Julen Lopetegui (Wolverhampton) and Andoni Iraola are originally from Spain's smallest province. Gipuzkoa has an area of 2,000 square kilometres and a population of 726,000 inhabitants, which represents 1.52% of the Spanish population. Although its tradition in sports is more than accredited, Gipuzkoa has transcended as a heavyweight in football. Real Sociedad and Real Unión de Irún participated in the creation of the League in 1928, after excelling in the previous two decades. And the adventure of Eibar, a team from a town of 27,000 inhabitants where there is hardly any space for a football field, is a phenomenon as unlikely as it is fascinating.
The data face the reality of a territory that, neither by extension nor orography, should produce the accumulation of talents that has procured Spanish football. Since the dawn of time, dozens of Gipuzkoan players have passed through the selection, some of them legendary. The contribution in the field of coaches is also impressive. From Benito Díaz, supplier in the 40s and 50s of sophisticated French ideas, until today, Gipuzkoa has seeded technicians throughout the geography of our football.
To the four that appear in the Premier, Xabi Alonso is added in Germany. Alonso joined Bayer Leverkusen last year amid the team's acute crisis in the Bundesliga. He finished the season in seventh position and reached the semifinals of the Europa League. In similar circumstances landed Emery at Aston Villa and Lopetegui at Wolves. Arteta's case is unique. Most of his magnificent playing career was spent at Everton and Arsenal. He returned to the London Gunners as manager and has returned him to the position he deserves because of his history. Second this season, after leading the championship for months, Arsenal are among the favourites for the title next season.
If Gipuzkoa is a case as unique as it is admirable in football, Andoni Iraola adds an even more surprising particularity. Right back of Athletic, of which he was captain and flag, magnificent driver of Mirandés and Rayo, the root of Iraola is in the Antiguoko, historic neighborhood team in San Sebastian. Before leaving for new directions, Iraola, Arteta, Xabi Alonso and Aritz Aduriz coincided in the Antiguoko, unforgettable players, seasoned in beach football, all dominated by competitive obsession.
Not so long ago, Spain's prestige in football was consolidated in its massive export of players to the English League. From that time, which coincided with the success of the selection in the 2010 World Cup and the European Championships of 2008 and 2012, it has passed to a period of decline. Spain exports fewer players to the Premier League, but the percentage of coaches has skyrocketed. From grass to slate, a wave of technicians has settled in England. The fact that 80% of them come from small Gipuzkoa may violate the laws of statistics, but it makes that mystery more attractive.
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