Star Interview: Iraia Iturregi Sustatxa

In the past 3 years Spanish football has grown in stature around the world. The technical ability and formations used by the national team have also reflected the growing game within Spain. The female clubs are no different with a number of them making their mark on the Champions league this season and the success of the U17 team at the World Championships in Trinidad and Tobago.

The seeds of success though were planted when Spain won the U19 Uefa championships in 2004 They played with style and flair overcoming the more successful footballgirl nations and we took time to have a special talk with Iraia Iturregi Sustatxa the captain of the team that day and now Athletic Bilbao.

by Anja Moller

 

Anja Moller: It is a pleasure to interview you for footballgirl.com We have been wondering who the young Spanish player is on our office wall. Do you remember much from that Uefa U19 championship win?

Iraia: Yeah, it was one of the best moments in my football career, so I will always remember that Championship in Helsinki. The city, the hotel, the games (especially the semi-final against Italy and the final versus Germany), the stadium where we won the title, the 3 weeks of training camp we did in Spain before the championship… I have a lot of good memories of it.

 

It looks like that generation has started to make progress internationally (Veronica Boquete, Laura del Rio) and at club level (with good performances from Rayo Vallecano in this season's champions league).

Iraia: Laura´s generation was runner-up in 2002 Under-19 Championship, and then we won the 2004 championship with Boquete in our team. At that time these results were very surprising for us. Now a days is normal to see Spanish national youth teams (U-19 and U-17) having success in European and World championships, so that means that our country´s level has significantly improved. The full national team is also having better results (the same as the club teams in Champions League), but here we still need to work a lot to be able to reach the level of countries like Germany, Sweden, England, Holland…

 

Back to you.. You made the jump to Superliga football at 17 scoring 10 goals in your first season. Did you find the transition easy playing against older players?

Iraia: I began playing with boys, and after it I always played with older girls, so when I made the jump to the Superliga I was already use to playing with and against women 10-15 years older than me. The same way, I was already playing internationally with the National U-19 team since I was 16, so all these things made the jump kind of easy for me.

 

Anja Moller: How was life with Bilbao those first few season's. How long did it take for you to become a leader within the dressing room?

Iraia: Our first year in Superliga we won the championship. That was crazy. We had a mix between veteran players that were great leaders and young but brave players. There were teams with better players, but we were physically and mentally stronger than any of them. We won 3 Superligas in a row. At 20 years of age I was already one of the 4 captains of the team, and for the past 3 years ago I´m the first one.

 

Anja Moller: Then you suddenly left Sapin for Florida State University. How did that come about and why did you choose Florida?

Iraia: The 4th season in Athletic a new president came to the club, made big changes in the women´s team and we had some problems. At the same time I got two offers from United States, so I decided to live a new experience. Studying and playing in an American University with a full scholarship was a good opportunity to do it, so I went to Florida.

Why FSU? Because they had one of the best soccer programs in the US and because coach Mark Krikorian (who saw me play in the U-19 World Championship while he was the US national team´s coach) insisted a lot.

 

Anja Moller: So during that one season. What differences are there between 'soccer' and football in Europe?

Iraia: American soccer is much more physical. They are fast, strong and resistant, and mentally tough, they never give up. They are also so competitive. In training the intensity was so high; they hate to lose even in the practice. But European football is more technical and tactical.

 

Anja Moller: It has been 3 seasons since Athletic Bilbao have played in Europe. How important is European football to the club and your career as a footballgirl?

Iraia: Playing in Europe is important because you improve a lot as a player. You have the opportunity to play against the best teams from other countries and that´s give you high level experience. Teams from the Superliga have improved a lot, and our team is not as strong as some years ago, so we have had to settle for being 3rd in the last 3 years.

Our club team has a special and unique philosophy: we just play with players from the Basque Country (a small nation in the north of Spain), even the men´s professional team playing in the 1st Division, so our transfer market is very limited and we depend entirely on the pool of young players born here. It is difficult to compete against teams that sign up players from all over Spain, and even some foreign countries.

 

Anja Moller: It looks like Barcelona will invest in their female team and with Rayo Vallecano's recent run in the Champions league is this a 'speacial' period for our game in Spain?

Iraia: Barcelona doesn´t invest a lot in their female team. A club like that could do much more to promote women´s football. Athletic, Rayo Vallecano and Espanyol are the professional clubs that invest the most in their female teams and Real Madrid doesn´t even want to create a women´s team.

 

Part 2 aqui/here/ici

 

all photos from the wonderful

www.iraiaiturregi.com

 

 

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