Quick Facts
Biography
Aritz Aduriz Zubeldia (born 11 February 1981) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays for Athletic Bilbao as a striker.
Known for his aerial ability and first touch, he spent most of his career with Athletic Bilbao, scoring over 100 goals across all competitions for the team. He also surpassed a century of goals in La Liga, in which he additionally represented Mallorca and Valencia.
In addition to playing for Spain, Aduriz was a regular goalscorer for the Basque national side. He appeared for the former at Euro 2016, at the age of 35.
Club career
Athletic Bilbao
Born in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Aduriz was brought through the ranks of the famed Lezama youth system at Athletic Bilbao, although he was already 19 when he arrived from amateurs CD Aurrerá de Vitoria. He made his first-team debut on 14 September 2002 against FC Barcelona in a 0–2 home loss, and went on to spend almost three seasons (one in Burgos CF, one and-a-half in Real Valladolid) in the second division before returning to Athletic in December 2005.
Aduriz showed continuous progress ever since, attested by his nine La Liga goals in 34 games in 2006–07, including a hat-trick against Real Zaragoza on 19 May 2007, albeit in a 3–4 defeat. In the following campaign he was overshadowed by Fernando Llorente, but still managed to net seven times in 33 league appearances.
Mallorca
On 4 August 2008, Aduriz became the first player to score at the Colchester Community Stadium, in a friendly match with Colchester United. On the 23rd he was sold to RCD Mallorca, signing a four-year contract.
On 26 October 2008, Aduriz scored a brace for his new club in a 3–0 home success over RCD Espanyol, and finished his first year as team top scorer, for a final ninth position. He repeated the individual feat in 2009–10 – improving to 12– as the Balearic Islands side ranked fifth, with qualification to the UEFA Europa League.
Valencia
Aged 29, Aduriz moved to Valencia CF on 14 July 2010, for about €4 million. He scored on his official debut on 28 August, opening the scoresheet at Málaga CF in an eventual 3–1 win.
From January 2011, after the arrival of Brazilian Jonas in the winter transfer window, and due to the fact manager Unai Emery often only played with one pure striker – Roberto Soldado – Aduriz found himself on the bench more often than not. He still managed to finish his first season as a Che with 14 competitive goals, including two in their campaign in the UEFA Champions League, one in each of the games against Bursaspor.
Return to Athletic
On 27 June 2012, Aduriz rejoined first professional club Athletic Bilbao for a fee in the region of €2.5 million, signing for three years. On 23 August he scored his first goals in his second spell, netting a brace in a 6–0 home win against HJK Helsinki for the Europa League playoff round (9–3 on aggregate); on 20 October he returned to the Mestalla Stadium to face his previous team and netted twice, albeit in a 2–3 loss.
Aduriz continued with his form on 4 November 2012, scoring two goals in a 2–1 away win over Granada CF. He quickly profitted from Llorente's shaky contractual situation to become first-choice, and finished his first season in his second spell with 18 official goals, 14 in the league.
Llorente left for Juventus F.C. in the 2013 summer, and Aduriz was made the starter by new manager Ernesto Valverde. On 28 February of the following year, he scored three of his team's goals to help the hosts defeat Granada CF 4–0.
On 8 February 2015, Aduriz scored in a 2–5 home loss to Barcelona to complete a century of goals in Spain's top flight. In the last match of the campaign on 23 May, he netted twice in a 4–0 home victory over Villarreal CF to clinch the Zarra Trophy by surpassing Rayo Vallecano's Alberto Bueno, whilst also qualifying Athletic to the Europa League. In the 24th minute, he ceded a penalty kick to Andoni Iraola who was leaving the club after 16 years, but his teammate declined, so he converted it instead.
Aduriz scored a hat-trick as Athletic won 4–0 against Barcelona in the first leg of the Supercopa de España, on 14 August 2015, and equalised in a 1–1 draw in the return match to hand his team the trophy, the first of his career. On 16 October, after starting the season strongly with 11 goals in 14 matches in all competitions, the 34-year-old agreed to a contract extension until 2017.
Aduriz again proved influential for his team on 5 November, scoring one goal and assisting a further two in a 5–1 defeat of FK Partizan in the Europa League group stage – in the process, he reached the 100-goal mark with the club. On 24 January 2016, he netted through a bicycle kick to help his team come back from a 0–1 deficit to win 5–2 over neighbouring SD Eibar. On 18 February, in the Europa League's round-of-32 tie at Olympique de Marseille, he scored what was described as a "wonderful" and "incredible" goal, the only one at the Stade Vélodrome.
Aduriz was the La Liga Player of the Month for March 2016 after scoring three goals, becoming the first Athletic player to win the award since its introduction in 2013. In that month, he also struck to eliminate former team Valencia from the last 16 in Europe. Even though the team was eliminated in the following round by eventual winners Sevilla FC, he finished as the competition's top scorer with ten successful strikes, totalling 36 overall and only trailing Telmo Zarra (47) and Bata (37) for goals during a single season with the club.
On 3 November 2016, in a Europa League group stage home fixture to K.R.C. Genk, Aduriz scored all five of his team's goals (including three penalties) in a 5–3 victory, becoming the first player to accomplish this feat in the competition in the process.
International career
Spain
After an impressive start to his Valencia career, 29-year-old Aduriz earned a first call-up to the Spanish national team, being picked for two UEFA Euro 2012 qualifiers in October 2010. He made his debut on the 8th, replacing Llorente for the last 15 minutes of a 3–1 home win against Lithuania.
Six years later, at the age of 35, Aduriz was recalled by manager Vicente del Bosque for friendlies with Italy and Romania. He started and scored in the first match, a 1–1 draw at the Stadio Friuli, and was selected for UEFA Euro 2016 in France. He made two substitute appearances in the group stage, always replacing Juventus' Álvaro Morata in the second half; on 27 June, in the round-of-16 clash against Italy at the Stade de France, he came out for Nolito at the start of the second half, but had to leave the pitch injured in an eventual 0–2 loss.
On 12 November 2016, after contributing to a 4–0 win over Macedonia for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying phase in Granada, Aduriz became Spain's oldest ever goal scorer at the age of 35 years and 275 days.
Euskadi XI
Aduriz made his debut for the Basque representative team on 8 October 2006, opening a 2–2 draw at the Camp Nou against Catalonia. He also scored braces in victories over FIFA members Estonia, Bolivia and Peru.
Career statistics
Club
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Europe | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Aurrerá | 1999–2000 | 25 | 8 | – | – | 25 | 8 | ||
| Total | 25 | 8 | – | – | 25 | 8 | |||
| Bilbao Athletic | 2000–01 | 33 | 8 | – | – | 33 | 8 | ||
| 2001–02 | 35 | 7 | – | – | 35 | 7 | |||
| 2002–03 | 22 | 3 | – | – | 22 | 3 | |||
| Total | 90 | 18 | – | – | 90 | 18 | |||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2002–03 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | |
| Burgos | 2003–04 | 36 | 16 | 2 | 0 | – | 38 | 16 | |
| Total | 36 | 16 | 2 | 0 | – | 38 | 16 | ||
| Valladolid | 2004–05 | 32 | 14 | 6 | 2 | – | 38 | 16 | |
| 2005–06 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | – | 14 | 6 | ||
| Total | 46 | 20 | 6 | 2 | – | 52 | 22 | ||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2005–06 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | – | 17 | 6 | |
| 2006–07 | 34 | 9 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 9 | ||
| 2007–08 | 33 | 7 | 5 | 1 | – | 38 | 8 | ||
| Mallorca | 2008–09 | 35 | 11 | 5 | 0 | – | 40 | 11 | |
| 2009–10 | 34 | 12 | 4 | 1 | – | 38 | 13 | ||
| Total | 69 | 23 | 9 | 1 | – | 78 | 24 | ||
| Valencia | 2010–11 | 29 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 39 | 14 |
| 2011–12 | 29 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 45 | 9 | |
| Total | 58 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 3 | 84 | 23 | |
| Athletic Bilbao | 2012–13 | 36 | 14 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 44 | 18 |
| 2013–14 | 31 | 16 | 5 | 2 | – | 36 | 18 | ||
| 2014–15 | 31 | 18 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 48 | 26 | |
| 2015–16 | 34 | 20 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 55 | 36 | |
| 2016–17 | 31 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 41 | 24 | |
| Athletic Bilbao total | 248 | 106 | 36 | 16 | 34 | 23 | 318 | 145 | |
| Career total | 572 | 208 | 61 | 22 | 52 | 26 | 685 | 256 | |
International
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain | 2010 | 1 | 0 |
| 2016 | 10 | 2 | |
| Total | 11 | 2 | |
International goals
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 24 March 2016 | Friuli, Udine, Italy |  Italy | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly |
| 2. | 12 November 2016 | Nuevo Los Cármenes, Granada, Spain |  Macedonia | 4–0 | 4–0 | 2018 World Cup qualification |
Honours
Club
- Supercopa de España: 2015
- Copa del Rey: Runner-up 2014–15
Individual
- Zarra Trophy: 2014–15, 2015–16
- UEFA Europa League: Top Scorer / Squad of the Season 2015–16