Germán Etxebarria

Germán Echevarría Usaola (1 December 1896 – 2 January 1984), also known as Maneras, was a Spanish footballer who played as a forward for Athletic Club. He spent all 13 seasons of his playing career with Athletic Bilbao, thus being a historical member of the club in the 1910s and part of the so-called one-club men group. Naturally, he was also the second player in the history of the club to reach one hundred official matches for them, the first being Domingo Acedo. He played a pivotal role in helping the Basque club reach six Copa del Rey finals and winning five of them, including three back-to-back titles between 1914 and 1916.

Club career Born in Bilbao, Echevarría began his career at his hometown club Athletic Club during the 1913–14 season, and he quickly became one of the club's benchmarks at the time, netting twice on his debut against Club Deportivo Bilbao on 23 November 1913. and he also started in the 1916 final where he helped his side to a 4–0 win over Real Madrid CF (then known as Madrid FC).

Echevarría also played a pivotal role in helping Athletic reach a further three Copa del Rey finals in 1920, 1921 and 1923, winning the latter two. He captained Athletic in the 1920 final against FC Barcelona, and as such, he was the one who stepped up to take a penalty awarded to his team, which he coolly converted, but the referee Enrique Bertrán annulled the goal alleging that Echevarría had shot before he gave the order to do it, and as a result, they lost 0–2.

He stayed loyal to the club until his retirement in 1926, playing over one hundred official matches (107), which was a remarkable achievement in a time when not as many games were played. He was only the second player in the history of the club after Domingo Acedo to reach one hundred official matches for Athletic. In the decisive game against a Castile/Madrid XI, Echevarría helped Basque grab a 1–1 draw that proved enough for the Basques to win the cup for the first (and only) time in their history. Almost inexplicably, Echevarría never earned an international cap for the Spanish national team.

Honours Club Athletic Club Copa del Rey: Champions (5): 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1923 Runner-up: 1920. North/Biscay Regional Championship (8): 1913–14, 1914–15, 1915–16, 1919–20, 1920–21, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1925–26

International Basque Country Prince of Asturias Cup: Champions (1) 1915