Inaxio Kortabarria Abarrategi (born 31 July 1950) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central defender.
Kortabarria was born in Mondragón, Gipuzkoa. During his career he played solely for Real Sociedad, making his first-team â and La Liga â debut on 19 September 1971 against Deportivo de La Coruña and finishing his first season with 14 appearances.
From there onwards, Kortabarria rarely missed a game, contributing 30 and 31 matches respectively as the Basques won back-to-back leagues (whilst adding five and six goals, his career-bests) with him as captain. In the last round of the 1980âÂÂ81 campaign, he opened the scoring through an early penalty as Real drew 2âÂÂ2 at Sporting de Gijón to eventually edge Real Madrid on goal difference.
After losing his place to younger AgustÃÂn Gajate, Alberto Górriz and Juan Antonio Larrañaga, all brought up in the club's youth academy, Kortabarria chose to retire at the end of 1984âÂÂ85 aged 35. He made 442 appearances in all competitions, eighth all-time for Real Sociedad.
Kortabarria earned four caps for Spain in ten months. His debut came on 22 May 1976, in a 2âÂÂ0 loss in West Germany for the UEFA Euro 1976's qualifying stages.
On 5 December 1976, before a game against Athletic Bilbao, Kortabarria and the opposing captain, José ÃÂngel Iribar, carried out the Ikurriña, the Basque flag, and placed it ceremonially on the centre-circle. This was the first public display of the flag since the death of Francisco Franco, but it was still illegal.