Meet Aiara Agirrezabala, Real Sociedad’s successful project

The name of Aiara Agirrezabala has appeared strongly in the elite of Spanish football after her great breakthrough in Liga F. The young Real Sociedad academy player broke the ceiling of the elite and made her debut in the 25/26 season with a brace in less than 45 minutes on his first matchday league against Madrid CFF. In addition, this made Aiara the youngest player to score a brace in the history of the competition at the age of 16 years and 133 days.

Aiara started playing in Berástegi, a little town in the Basque Country, in the north of Spain. In this town, children played football or Basque Pelota, a traditional sport of the Basque Country. She opted for football, although she only thought about enjoying herself, not being a superstar. When Real Sociedad called her, she was at his grandmother’s home, and this call was a shock for her.

Finally, Aiara made his debut in Liga F on April 27 (2024) in the 24/25 season, accumulating minutes in the final matches of this season. This year, Aiara is the team’s starting full-back in the defence and she has the full confidence of Arturo Ruíz, the head coach. The coach changed the system when he arrived at the club at the start of the 25/26 season, betting on three centre-backs and two wing-backs, among which Aiara stands out. As if that were not enough, Agirrezabala renewed with Real Sociedad until 2029, signing a long-term contract with his former club.

The figure of Aiara Agirrezabala goes beyond of a simple player of the club. He has managed to represent the idea of Real Sociedad in the elite, growing up in the youth academy and going through the different teams until he settled in the first team. She is a bet of the club that maker both the fans and club feel proud. Like other players, Aiara Agirrezabala continues to combine her studies with her football career. In the future she would like to pursue a career in nursing to be able to specialize in midwifery.

Record breaker

She stands out for being a full-back with offensive ability, which has led her to be the team’s third highest scorer as a defender. She has scored six goals so far in three games and is behind her teammates Nerea Eizagirre (8) -who is Real Sociedad’s captain- and Edna Imade (11), who returned to Bayern München in the winter transfer window.

Make the debut with the Spanish national team and break a record 40 years later

Aiara continues to reap its rewards. Her great season and her high level led the Real Sociedad player to make her debut with the senior national team on April 18 in the match against Ukraine (5-0). In addition, the Aiara made her debut at the age of 17 years and 198 days, becoming the youngest debutant with the senior team for more than forty years.

Before going out on the field, Sonia Bermúdez, Spanish national team’s coach, was with her near the bench and told her to enjoy herself. In addition, the national coach confessed that, if all goes well, she is a player who has a great career ahead of her. Aiara came on the field in the 78th minute nervously, because he did not know how the game was going to go. When the match ended, her teammates did not hesitate to congratulate her.

Among them, Irene Paredes was one of the players that hugged her the most, with whom she has a similar start of his career. The FC Barcelona centre-back also started at Real Sociedad and made her debut in the First Division in the Basque Team at the age of 17.