Imanol Arregui is a unique case in futsal and in world sport. A professional with 15 years as a player and 22 as a coach at Xota, 37 in total, in a humble club that he has led to the highest level at the national level. “Next season I will not be the coach of my club. I need air, to breathe, because, if not, it will end up taking its toll on me”, Arregui indicated at a press conference, who has had the support of the president, his brother Tatono Arregui, as well as his staff, family and friends to communicate the news that no Xota fan wanted to arrive.
The Osasuna Magna Xota coach pointed out that The decision to leave the position was made months ago and it happened because the team did not go down to the silver category. “It is a very hard decision, they have been hard months. Here absolutely everything is personal, I don’t know how to do it any other way, ”she highlights. “Next season I will be like a ‘hooligan’ in the stands. Surely I’ll have a worse time than below, because I can’t do things upstairs. I really need it, those next to me know what I’m talking about. They have been three very hard years, but we have managed them thanks to the spectacular costumes I have”, stressed the man from Irurzun.
After starting at Xota as a goalkeeper at the age of 15, Arregui continued playing until he was 30, moment in which he decided to retire to take over the reins of his town’s team in the 2001-02 season. He has been one of the great architects of the club’s growth during these more than 20 years, in which he touched glory in 2010 with the league runner-up.
“I have suffered a lot, but I have had a great time”, he recalled about the “good and, above all, bad moments”. The 52-year-old from Navarre has asked for “more support” for the club, because “we really are playing with fire.” “I think there are more important things than money in this life. I have had many offers, but I have never said from whom, because I don’t care and because I have always said no. Most of me decided on the first call and I have never regretted it, I thought it was what I had and what I wanted to do ”, he recalled about the countless calls from other clubs received during these years.
The locker room did not know his decision until yesterday: “Nobody else knew it than Roberto Martil (captain). There was absolute silence, in the end I’ve been here my whole life and they don’t understand this without me, but the important thing is the shield, not the name behind the shirts”. The coach will take a few months off to later participate in various clinics in Spain and abroad. Training the lower categories of the entity is one of the options when he puts on the work overalls again.