Joseba Etxeberría

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Joseba Andoni Etxeberría Lizardi (born 5 September, 1977, in Elgoíbar) is a Basque football (soccer) winger, who currently plays for Athletic Bilbao in Spain's La Liga.

Etxeberría began his career with Real Sociedad in 1994, but after playing in only seven games for the first team, moved to Athletic, in a very controversial transfer that cost Athletic Bilbao over 3 million euros. At the time this was the highest transfer fee paid for an under-18 player in both Basque and Spanish football. He has been there since, and he has become the second captain of the team.

At Bilbao he is known by the nickname El Gallo (meaning "The Rooster") because of his strong on field personality.

After leading the 1995 World Youth Championship scoring charts, Etxeberría moved up to the full Spanish national team. He has been capped over 50 times, scoring 12 goals (as of 2005). Etxeberría played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, and Euro 2004.

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