Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea was never supposed to become a byword for elite coaching. Yet a neighbourhood club in San Sebastian, founded in 1982, helped shape Mikel, Xabi Alonso and Iraola, three coaches now sitting behind Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool. They were eight years old when they shared Antiguoko's gravel pitch, and the club says there were only seven months between Alonso, the oldest, and Iraola, the youngest.
The pitch and the age group
Antiguoko started on concrete pitches before later moving to a high-quality artificial surface. That is the backdrop, but the more interesting part is how ordinary the setup was. Roberto Montiel, the club's vice-president and sporting director, described it as a neighbourhood club that happened to catch a historic generation. Gorka Azpeitia, the general manager and goalkeeping coach, said Antiguoko made up for a significant resource gap with passion and by competing head-to-head with top teams at youth level.
The age overlap mattered too. The club says Alonso, Arteta and Iraola all played together in several tournaments because players born after August 1981 could play with those born in 1982. That meant the same group could stay together long enough for differences in personality and football IQ to show up properly.
Different traits, same schooling
Montiel's description of the trio is neat because it matches the careers that followed. Iraola was a very shy child with exceptional talent. Arteta was already a leader. Alonso was quiet, but on the field he was an excellent playmaker.
Those labels are not just nostalgic club talk. They point to a youth environment that asked players to understand the game early, adapt quickly and develop their own strengths rather than be funnelled into one template. Arteta has said Basque football is shaped by passion, food, education and belief in players, while Alonso has described his career as deeply tied to his roots around Real Sociedad. Iraola, meanwhile, has said he worried when moving to Bilbao because he thought he might not have the level, before quickly realising he could play at that standard, even if it came late.
Antiguoko's record also shows this was not a one-off. The club says more than 40 of its alumni have gone on to the top flight, and its Under-19s finished above Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Alaves last season. For a club working from the sort of pitches Montiel describes, that is a serious production line.
The wider point is hard to miss. Arsenal sit top of the Premier League with 85 points from 38 matches, Liverpool are fifth with 60 points from 38 matches and Chelsea are 10th with 52 points from 38 matches. Those numbers belong to very different seasons, but they also show how far three boys from the same San Sebastian club have carried their football schooling.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →