José Antonio Pikabea
Personal information
Full name José Antonio Pikabea Larrarte
Date of birth (1970-09-26) 26 September 1970
Place of birth Hondarribia, Spain
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Centre-back
Youth career
Hondarribia FT
1987–1988 Real Sociedad
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1992 San Sebastián 88 (4)
1992–2003 Real Sociedad 292 (10)
Total 380 (14)
International career
1993–1999 Basque Country 7 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

José Antonio Pikabea Larrarte (born 26 September 1970), also known as Kote, is a Spanish Basque former footballer who played as a central defender.

Club career

Born in Hondarribia, Basque Country, Pikabea joined Real Sociedad's youth system at the age of 17, going on to spend four seasons with their reserves. On 8 March 1992 he made his La Liga debut, playing 21 minutes in a 2–1 away win against Valencia CF; his first appearance was handed by John Toshack.[1]

Still under the Welsh manager, Pikabea became an undisputed starter for the Gipuzkoa side from the 1992–93 campaign onwards.[2] In 1997–98, he only missed two league games and totalled 3,214 minutes of action as the team finished in third position, thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

During most of his spell, Pikabea often partnered another Real Sociedad youth graduate, Loren. A continuous loss of form made him appear in just six matches in his penultimate season (again with Toshack, who was having his third stint as head coach), and none whatsoever in his last, with French Raynald Denoueix on the bench.[2] He retired in June 2003 at nearly 33, having taken part in 313 competitive games for his only club.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Urrutia, Luis (9 March 1992). "La Real sorprende al Valencia" [Real surprise Valencia]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  2. 1 2 Vázquez de Balmaseda, Ignacio (26 April 2016). "Leyendas de la Real: Pikabea" [Real legends: Pikabea] (in Spanish). Vavel. Retrieved 7 March 2021.
  3. ↑ López, Ángel (27 May 2003). "Eskerrik asko, Kote" [Thank you, Kote]. Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 March 2020.
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