Irune Murua, numbers for history

One of the great historical references of the Athletic Club Women, Irune Murua, celebrates her 34th birthday today, 23 April, so that we take advantage of the event to review some facts about one of our most remembered lionesses.

Irune had football in her blood as she is the daughter of the lion Andoni Murua and niece of Edorta, lion and ex-coach of the youth academy. Born in Barakaldo, Irune started as a footballer in the Retuerto, the club that was closer to her home, and where she could not imagine what football was going to bring her years later until she became one of the historical players of Athletic Club. The striker retired in May 2017, along with Eli Ibarra and Iraia Iturregi, with spectacular individual records, in addition to the four league titles won. Murua played 314 official matches and scored 106 goals. These figures make Irune the sixth player in the history of the red-and-white club with more matches played and the fourth top scorer.

The skilful striker arrived at Lezama in 2003, just one year after the women’s team was created and had already won a league title. She made her debut at the age of 17 in the 2-0 win over Neulengbach in Gernika on August 21, 2003. A month later she scored her first goal as a lioness against Oviedo Moderno in her league debut in Lezama. It was precisely against Oviedo Moderno that she tore her anterior cruciate ligament in 2014. In January 2017, Irune joined the “club of the tricentenary”, led by Eli Ibarra (413 matches), Iraia (402) and Erika (390). Since then, only Ainhoa Tirapu (358 matches) and Nekane (332) have overtaken Irune.

Her best season at high level was the 2010-2011, in which she scored 16 goals. She scored a total of 98 goals in league, 5 in Copa and 3 in European competition. Currently, she is with the club’s veterans in Lezama.