Ander Barrenetxea Muguruza

Ander Barrenetxea Muguruza (born 27 December 2001), commonly known mononymously as Barrene, is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a forward or left winger for Real Sociedad and the Spain national team.

Club career Early career Born in San Sebastián, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, Barrenetxea is a product of Real Sociedad's youth setup. He joined the club from Antiguoko in 2013 alongside Martín Zubimendi.

First team debut On 22 December 2018, Barrenetxea made his professional and La Liga debut as a late substitute for Real Sociedad in a 1–0 home loss against Deportivo Alavés. By doing so, he became the first footballer born in the 21st century to appear in the competition, 26th youngest debutant in the division overall, and club's youngest since the Spanish Civil War; the latter behind only 15-year-old Pedro Irastorza in 1934. Coincidentally, the footballer who left the field – Juanmi – was even younger upon debuting the competition eight years earlier. Two days after his breakthrough, he returned to play Real Sociedad C.

Barrenetxea made his debut for Sanse on 6 January 2019, scoring on his debut in the third tier during a 3–0 home victory against Izarra. On 12 May, he scored his first professional goal for the first team in a 3–1 home victory over Real Madrid.

Promoting to the first team On 9 June 2019, Barrenetxea was definitely promoted to the main squad of the Txuri-urdin. He played in the 2020 Copa del Rey final, starting in the earlier rounds with three goals and coming off the bench in the quarter-final victory against Real Madrid at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu. The final was delayed for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, with Barrenetxea coming out as a late substitute in the 1–0 Basque derby victory against Athletic Bilbao. but recovered successfully after an operation by surgeon Lasse Lempainen in Turku, Finland. By February 2023, at the age of 21, he had reached the milestone of 100 appearances for the club. At the end of that season, Real Sociedad qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in one decade.

On 18 April 2026, during the 2026 Copa del Rey final against Atlético Madrid, Barrenetxea set a Guinness World Record for the fastest goal scored in a Copa del Rey final, after scoring 14 seconds into the match.

International career Youth Barrenetxea was called up for the Spain Under-16 team in 2016 and 2017, and appeared for the Under-18 in November 2018. He also featured for the regional Basque Country in the same age groups.

Barrenetxea was selected for the 20-man Spain squad for the 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship, and came on as an 80th-minute substitute as Spain beat Portugal 2–0 in the final to be crowned winners of the competition.

Barrenetxea received call-up to Under-21 team for the 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and was taking part in the tournament as Spain awarded as runner-ups after England defeated Spain by 1–0 in the final.

Senior On 31 March 2026, Barrenetxea made his senior debut for Spain in a goalless friendly draw against Egypt.

Career statistics Club

International

Honours Real Sociedad Copa del Rey: 2019–20, 2025–26

Spain U21 UEFA European Under-21 Championship runner-up: 2023