When Garbiñe Etxeberria joined the sports structure of Real Sociedad, the team she had been a member of since childhood, the club did not have a women’s team. “It was unthinkable 22 years ago,” recalls the former footballer, who made history by becoming the first coach of the txuri urdin women’s team, with which she achieved promotion to Liga F in 2007. Now, Etxeberria is the general director of the club’s women’s section and acknowledges the growth in this area. “We have felt that sensitivity to believe in women’s sports and they have made everything available to us to continue growing.” The commitment has materialized in new state-of-the-art facilities located in the Zubieta sports city, the great factory of the San Sebastián youth academy, which has contributed 24 players to the men’s and women’s first teams.
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At the beginning of the season, Real inaugurated the Izan building (meaning “to be” in Basque), which unified the headquarters of women’s football. It is a three-story block with a total area of 4,500 square meters equipped with innovative training technologies. At its feet, the club has built a football field with a capacity for 4,000 spectators, called z7, which has become the home of the women’s team. With excellent results in its first season: in 13 home games, they have only seen two defeats.
Inside the Izan building
Izan is a cutting-edge three-story building with an area of 4,500 m2
The facilities are designed so that the women’s team can train and compete at the same headquarters
It has a professional football field suitable for LALIGA HYPERMOTION and Liga F matches
The stadium capacity is 4,000 spectators
One of the great innovations is Kubik, a state-of-the-art underground training track
Izan is equipped with three locker rooms, offices, gym, medical rooms, physiotherapy, video and press rooms, and dining areas
“We want the players to feel at home so they can continue growing,” says Jokin Aperribay, president of Real Sociedad
The secret is told by one of the protagonists of the good work on the pitch, central defender Nahia Aparicio. “Many rivals have told us that the new stadium is crazy. It intimidates them,” admits the player, one of the pillars of the women’s team’s good season. Thanks to the new facilities, the players have found a routine that allows them to focus purely on sports.
“Before, for example, we had to share the gym with the youth teams, and now we have one for ourselves,” she values. Now, “no one gets in the way,” she jokes, and they can train daily on the same pitch where they play on Sundays, which allows them to better adapt and know its conditions. “We are privileged to be able to work every day like this. That the commitment to the women’s team is increasingly greater is a real luxury.”
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For Etxeberria, a veteran of women’s football who began her career in the late 1980s, this is the fundamental difference compared to her time. “Having an environment where you can grow with all the facilities, tools…” she maintains. Therefore, as supervisor of the entire women’s section, which also includes three more youth teams, one of her main tasks is “to make the girls realize where they are and what they have.” “I don’t like to talk to them about the past because it seems a bit boring, but I talk to them about the reality they are living and the value it has. That way they will be able to continue growing,” she says.
The Izan-Anoeta connection
Behind the biggest boost that Real has given to the women’s team to date is the club president, Jokin Aperribay. “In our philosophy, women’s sports is key. We do it from the heart, not out of obligation,” summarizes the executive, who was already in office when the women’s team won the first title in its history, the 2019 Copa de la Reina. “Since then, the results are there and what the players are doing is very important for our club. The goal now is for them to play and feel at home, because that way they will feel they have all the possibilities to continue growing.”
The satisfaction that the San Sebastián president feels for the new building is total. Aperribay explains that Izan is built of wood to fit the aesthetic of the forest where Zubieta is located. The facilities represent, in his opinion, the “climatic” spirit of the sports city, without forgetting the cutting-edge tools that have been incorporated. “It is a place where technology is breathed, something that will give us a lot in the training of future generations. It is an excellent project.”
To carry it out, Aperribay turned to the architect Izaskun Larzabal’s studio, the same one that remodeled the Anoeta stadium in 2019. Larzabal, a member and shareholder of Real, considers Izan the “culmination of the transformation.” The professional details its virtues: “In this building we have sought many objectives, not only football-related: integrating architecture and design with the landscape, the use of wood as a fundamental element, the goal of zero emissions… all this, without giving up high-performance sports training,” she details.
Zubieta, four decades forming ‘cracks’
Photo: Real Sociedad
Foundation: 1980
Football fields: 7 (4 natural grass)
Area: 70,000 m²
Budget invested in renovation: 120 million euros
Teams: Real Sociedad, Real Sociedad ‘B’, Real Sociedad women and youth academies
The distinctive feature of Izan, according to Larzabal, is that the girls can train and compete in the same place, since from the gym they can see the field where they play. “That visual link has to do with applied psychology. Both those who play and those who are injured perceive that their competition place is close, and I think it is a success. There are few facilities like this.” And she knows what she is talking about: as inspiration to conceive the project, Larzabal visited a large number of sports cities across Europe, in addition to seeking references in the “minimalist but integrative” architecture of the Nordic countries.
The ‘txuri urdin’ youth players
60% and 42% of the first teams come from Zubieta
Real Sociedad men
Of the 25 players in the squad, 15 (60%) come from Zubieta
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Forwards
Real Sociedad women
Of the 21 players in the squad, 11 (52%) come from Zubieta
Goalkeepers
Defenders
Midfielders
Forwards
Like Aperribay, Larzabal is satisfied with the results of her work. “It is an architectural exercise at the service of the Gipuzkoan society, which largely identifies with the colors of Real Sociedad.”
An office so no club is left behind
Like Real Sociedad, LALIGA clubs are undergoing a transformation of their infrastructures with the aim of generating more revenue streams from fan experience. To support them in this evolution, the organization that manages professional Spanish football created the Clubs Office. Its director, Jaime Blanco, explains its mission. “We are a strategic partner that offers each entity our experience and market knowledge to help them identify opportunities, prioritize projects, and accelerate their execution, so that no club is left behind in this transformation.”
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Filed Under
- Football
- LaLiga EA Sports
- Real Sociedad
- Women’s football
