The Navarrese goalkeeper will leave a legacy at Athletic difficult to overcome, after staying at the club for 15 seasons

Ainhoa Tirapu (04-09-1984) announced last April that he would leave the red-white ranks at the end of this campaign. Although, given the situation caused by COVID-19, the farewell will not be on the pitches of Lezama. Thus, the international captain will leave Athletic at club level with 15 seasons in her pocket, 358 games played and two leagues (2006-07 and 2015-16); in terms of the Spanish national team, 46 matches played, playing euro 2013 and the 2015 World Cup.

Tirapu was formed at S.D. Lagunak in Barañain, his hometown. He passed through Puebla de Badajoz before going to Athletic Club in the 2005–06 season. The lioness reached a winning Athletic, the club had already won three Super league titles; but his debut soon arrived. It was on 9 August 2005 in a match against Glasgow in the UEFA Wome's Champions League, aged just 20 years.

The following season, already settled in the First Division, Tirapu won her first league title. That season was where she was awarded the goal, and was able to celebrate on the lawn of San Mamés what was the fourth regularity trophy for the lionesses. Thanks to her good performance that season, she was called to debut with the Spanish national team, with which she would later play the Euro 2013 and the 2015 World Cup.

The second league title for Ainhoa Tirapu came a decade later, in the 2015–16 season. With Barañain's playing it all, the team only scored 15 goals in the 30 days; a praiseworthy feat. The Navarrese goalkeeper only had to lift the Queen's Cup, but the coronavirus has stood in the way to glory. In addition, to round off, the captain is one of the players with the most Queen's Cup matches played in the history of the women's team (28).

The figure of Ainhoa Tirapu is not only limited to the football field, it has been more than just an Athletic player. It has been committed to various causes both of the entity and external. In his own autobiography "Bizitza Eskukadaka", he tells first-person how it has been a journey that is now coming to an end. In addition, she has been one of the great standard-bearers and spokesperson in the fight for the first convention for women's football, which was signed last February. Undoubtedly, a porter who was, is and will be, much loved among the athleticzale hobby.