Crossing the BASQUE DERBY divide

The BASQUE DERBY is always a particularly special occasion for Real Sociedad goalkeeper Álex Remiro. The 29-year-old is the most high-profile player to recently make the switch from Athletic Club to Real Sociedad and he’ll face his old team again this Sunday.  

Remiro, who grew up in the region of Navarre just to the south of the Basque Country, came through Athletic Club’s famed Lezama academy but never made an appearance for the first team. It seemed as if he would get his chance in 2019, following the departure of Kepa Arrizabalaga to Chelsea and an injury to the new number one Iago Herrerín but complications in the negotiation of a new contract left him on the sidelines. 

As Eduardo Berizzo, Athletic Club’s coach at the time, said: “It’s a club decision. For as long as his situation isn’t resolved with calmness and harmony, we’ve decided that he won’t be in the squads.” Josu Urrutia, the president of Athletic Club at the time, also had his say on the matter: “We have invested a lot in his development and have played a part in making him who he is. He has an opportunity to start, but I don’t think his situation has changed.”

No new contract was ever signed, and he became a free agent in the summer 2019, at which point Remiro decided to make the short move up to the coast to sign with Los Leones’ big rivals, Real Sociedad. Since that day he has established himself as firm first choice between the sticks, quickly displacing previous incumbent Miguel Ángel Moyá in the process. 

Crossing the BASQUE DERBY divide 

This may be one of LALIGA’s most friendly derbies off the pitch but it’s not often that players move between the two clubs. One other high-profile transfer in recent times was that of Spain international Iñigo Martínez, who moved from San Sebastián to Bilbao after Athletic Club activated his release clause in 2018. Even though he has since moved on to FC Barcelona, Martínez remains a rather unpopular figure around the Reale Arena whenever he returns. 

Others to have played for both sides include defender Gorka Elustondo, who moved from Real Sociedad to Athletic Club in 2015, and Iñigo Diaz de Cerio and Xabier Castillo, who moved in the same direction back in 2009. And of course, there’s the case of Athletic Club legend Joseba Etxeberria, who made his LALIGA debut for Real Sociedad before moving to Bilbao in a controversial move back in 1995. 

Another curious case is that of Álex Petxarroman, who is now at RC Deportivo. Back in the summer of 2021, he signed for Athletic Club's first team, but without ever having made his first team debut for La Real after three seasons at the Zubieta academy. And his first game in the red and white jersey was precisely... in the BASQUE DERBY played at the Reale Arena in 2021/22! Such cases are few and far between, so when they do arise it only serves to make this derby even more fascinating than it already is.