How Arteta, Alonso and Iraola started at the same boyhood club

Asked in 2024 why so many Basque managers end up in the Premier League, Arteta replied: “Go to San Sebastian, come back and then ask me the question.”

“It’s probably the passion, the food and the education we all had. It is probably about opportunities, and someone has to believe in you,” he added.

Iraola also explained that they played against each other for their schools and on the beach in San Sebastian but then crafted their passion at a pitch in Berio, home to Antiguoko, where he, Arteta and Alonso eventually lined up together.

“We’re just a neighbourhood club; we’ve been lucky enough to coincide with a generation of players that is historic,” Roberto Montiel, vice-president and sporting director, told BBC Sport.

“When Arteta, Iraola and Alonso were children, we played on a gravel pitch. For a club like ours, it is a source of pride to see how these players, whom we have seen grow up as footballers, have triumphed as players and now as coaches.

“At that time, players born after August 1981 could play with those born in 1982, so Xabi Alonso, Andoni Iraola and Mikel Arteta all played together in several tournaments.

“Andoni Iraola was a very shy child with exceptional talent. Mikel Arteta was a leader then, just as he is today. Xabi Alonso was very quiet, but on the field he was an excellent playmaker.”

Arteta is described as someone who always stood out – a match-winning attacker at the time. Alonso, the son of Spain international Periko Alonso, was always expected to make it in football.

In a BBC Sport interview in 2019 while managing Sociedad’s B team, he said: “It’s my roots. I was born 15 minutes from here – I live close by so all my childhood has been around Real Sociedad.

“My father was a player, later he was manager so I always have had a very strong link to the club. I used to go to the stadium but later I was lucky enough to play for the first team and that was a dream come true at that moment.”

However, Iraola was not an obvious star and spoke of his surprise at making it in the first team to BBC Sport earlier last season.

“I was worried when moving to Bilbao,” he admitted. “It’s one hour from my home, that I wouldn’t have the level to play with these guys and I was changing schools but I quickly saw I could play at that level but it came quite late.”

His former coaches say he executed the fundamentals excellently and simply adapted whenever asked to play at a higher level, eventually becoming regarded as one of Athletic Club’s greatest-ever players.

Antiguoko were founded in 1982, just before the World Cup in Spain. Basque giants Real Sociedad and Athletic Club in Bilbao were dominating Spanish football, both winning back-to-back titles between 1981 and 1984.

That success partly inspired the launch of Antiguoko, in the densely populated San Sebastian, sandwiched between hills on one side and La Concha beach on the other.

The basic conditions were no barrier to success, with the club producing more than 40 alumni who have gone on to play in the top flight, including Athletic Club’s legendary striker Aritz Aduriz – also part of that team with the trio of future Premier League managers.

“We compensate for that significant gap with enormous passion for the work we do, and we continue to compete head-to-head with top teams at all youth levels,” general manager and goalkeeping coach Gorka Azpeitia added.

Antiguoko’s highlights include scoring five goals against local professional side Real Sociedad at youth level and beating a Real Madrid team featuring goalkeeper Iker Casillas 4-2 with Alonso and Iraola in the team in 1999.

They have also eliminated La Liga clubs Valencia and Celta Vigo in youth cup competitions.

Last season, Antiguoko’s Under-19s finished above Real Sociedad, Osasuna and Alaves in their league, following their rise to semi-professional status and the transformation of their concrete pitch into a high-quality artificial surface.

Although Antiguoko receive some payments for development costs when players achieve success in the professional game, it is getting harder to compete with the bigger clubs.

Azpeitia added: “It was a very special generation, yes. At that time, professional clubs didn’t recruit players as early as they do now.

“That allowed them to stay together at the club for so many years. Today we continue to recruit and develop very good players, but it’s more difficult for them to stay at the club for as long as they did.

“I hope I’m wrong, because it’s certainly not for a lack of effort, but it will be difficult to replicate a generation like that one.”