Archive September 27, 2025

The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation’s favourite sport.

We’ll talk about defining moments, career highs, and personal reflections, as well as motivation and mindset. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

Andoni Iraola is now one of the most popular properties in football after taking over as manager of Bournemouth in June 2023.

Iraola started his football education at renowned Basque club Antiguoko alongside Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta – now managers of Real Madrid and Arsenal respectively.

He reached two Copa del Rey finals, a Europa League final, and qualified for the Champions League during his four seasons as Athletic Club captain.

After moving into management, he worked at AEK Larnaca, Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano before moving to England and guiding Bournemouth to their highest Premier League points tally in a season.

In recent months, the 43-year-old has been linked with Real Madrid, Tottenham, and Manchester United, which highlights how much his stock has grown.

Andoni Iraola: Football was my hobby and it has become now a professional thing. Although I still adore the game, I believe a small amount of it changes once you start working. You see football like an ideal world when you are out of the game and you would love to work there, and when it becomes your everyday work, it’s just a workhorse.

Kelly, do you still adore it?

Andoni: Yes .

What is your earliest football-related memory, Kelly?

Andoni: I think probably my best memories are on the beach in San Sebastian. We used to play there alongside our classmates. I don’t know if we started five, six or seven years old, and you can play every two weeks]because of the tide]. Because there isn’t a beach nearby, you can’t play on one weekend. And the next one there is the beach, and you can. We used to play there every time. It’s lovely memories.

Kelly, do you recall the first team you played for?

Andoni: I started with the school team and then the first proper team was a neighbourhood team. I then moved to Athletic Club when I was 16 to prevent my parents from believing that I would play football. It came quite late. Evidently, I was decent. I was good, but until I was 16, I didn’t really realise that this can be a little bit more than just your hobby and maybe I have a chance.

Kelly, do you recall the time you said, “Yes, I can have a chance”?

Andoni: Yes . It’s incredible because I played with Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta when we were seven, eight, and nine. We are more or less the same age, playing sometimes against each other because I was in a school and they were in other schools when we were playing on the beach. Then, almost 40 years later, after we played together in a small club in Antiguoko, we are still able to see each other on the same fields of play.

Kelly: Are there any managers in particular that have had a big impact on your career?

Andoni: Yes, Ernesto Valverde is especially important in my situation because he was the one who brought me to Athletic Club when I was 16 years old. In the under-18s he was the manager, and he was also my manager when I was in the second team at Athletic Club. He was the first to offer me the opportunity to make my debut. Even after that, he was my manager when I left the club around 13 years later – he came back after managing other clubs and has been really influential in my career and today still is our manager. My team, Athletic Club, is one of which has had the biggest impact on my career.

Kelly: You’ve mentioned Valverde. Who else would I ask for three if I could?

Andoni: I’ve had very good managers. I’ve had Marcelo Bielsa for two seasons, and a lot of people have gotten in touch with him right now. He is someone that watches the game in a different way, and I think it’s very useful when you are going to transition to the managerial career. Although I’ve never had the experience of Carlo Ancelotti as a manager, I’ve always enjoyed it. For someone who has been so brilliant, has won so many things in big clubs, he is very normal when you speak with him, when you face him. I’ve always felt good about this person.

Kelly: You’ve managed and played in a number of different countries, but which one would you say had the biggest impact on you as a manager?

Andoni: I’ve been taking the train to San Sebastian alone since I was 10 or 11 years old. After school, I took a bus to training, and after I finished training my father came to take me. My parents have always been working, both of them. I am used to moving myself since I was young, which has been good for my independence. I was 16 when I moved, and I had to relocate. I was living alone which is not the easiest thing. But I believe it has helped me.

Kelly: Did you have any brothers or sisters?

Andoni: No .

Kelly: Who did you play football with growing up?

Andoni: When you attend school, you have breakfast, lunch, and then have two hours of free time in Spain. Some people go home, and then they come for the afternoon and evening classes, so it was two halves of the day. Between, I used to play football constantly. I couldn’t go back home so I stayed there playing football.

What would you have done if you hadn’t played football professionally or managed one?

Andoni: I started two careers. I’m not finished yet! I started engineering – too ambitious because I was already playing football. I completed my career, but I didn’t get to the end.

Kelly: How do you escape football?

Andoni: It’s quite simple for me. I have my wife and two kids and they are not much into football. When I leave my job, I return home, where we occasionally discuss football. It’s very good for me. My wife makes many plans when I take a day off!

Kelly: Your family have travelled around with you. Do they matter if you have them with you?

Andoni: My family is very important. They make a lot of sacrifices. I am going from country to country to the best clubs I have the opportunity to go, and they have to come with me. I am very clear that they couldn’t help me accomplish this. If they tell me one day ‘ I want to go back home’, I am leaving. We’ll return to our homes. I know there will be a moment in my career when I will have to not be the protagonist, when my kids are older and I won’t be the boss any more. I’ll be content and we’ll return home, and I’ll be the back-up man. I know this moment will arrive.

What would you do for yourself if your wife didn’t make plans for your day off? Kelly

Andoni: I live in a place for nature and walks – Bournemouth is one of the best places in the country.

Kelly, I’ve read you enjoy reading a lot. Is that a way you escape?

Kelly: What are you most proud of?

Andoni: Probably related to how well-educated I am right now in all the clubs I’ve attended. As a player, as a manager, if I go back to every club it would be a lovely moment to see good people. I’ve had a good fortune. The most important thing when I come to a new club is this. I hope everyone has positive things to say about me when I leave. When I come back 10 years later, I still have relationships with people inside the clubs. I hope this will continue in all the clubs where I’ve been.

Kelly: You want to be known as a good manager, but a good person first?

Andoni: Yes, you won’t always succeed. Even in places that it’s not going to work, I hope I leave with good relationships.

Kelly, tell me something about yourself that will surprise me.

Andoni: This is the most difficult one. I engage in fairly routine activities. People get surprised with how I go on holiday, for example. We rent a car and travel in the city whenever we go on vacation, but occasionally we don’t know where to stay. We go day to day, with my wife and the kids. I like traveling to these places with less of a fixed plan and a little more open mind.

Kelly: So you like living a normal life?

Andoni: Quite a bit normal.

Kelly: If you could only achieve one more thing in your career, what would it be?

Andoni: Football-wise?

Kelly: Whatever… go where you want with it.

The Football Interview is a new series in which the biggest names in sport and entertainment join host Kelly Somers for bold and in-depth conversations about the nation’s favourite sport.

We’ll talk about defining moments, career highs, and personal reflections, as well as motivation and mindset. The Football Interview brings you the person behind the player.

Andoni Iraola is now one of the most popular properties in football after taking over as manager of Bournemouth in June 2023.

Iraola started his football education at renowned Basque club Antiguoko alongside Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta – now managers of Real Madrid and Arsenal respectively.

He reached two Copa del Rey finals, a Europa League final, and qualified for the Champions League during his four seasons as Athletic Club captain.

After moving into management, he worked at AEK Larnaca, Mirandes and Rayo Vallecano before moving to England and guiding Bournemouth to their highest Premier League points tally in a season.

In recent months, the 43-year-old has been linked with Real Madrid, Tottenham, and Manchester United, which highlights how much his stock has grown.

Andoni Iraola: Football was my hobby and it has become now a professional thing. Although I still adore the game, I believe a small amount of it changes once you start working. You see football like an ideal world when you are out of the game and you would love to work there, and when it becomes your everyday work, it’s just a workhorse.

Kelly, do you still adore it?

Andoni: Yes .

What is your earliest football-related memory, Kelly?

Andoni: I think probably my best memories are on the beach in San Sebastian. We used to play there alongside our classmates. I don’t know if we started five, six or seven years old, and you can play every two weeks]because of the tide]. Because there isn’t a beach nearby, you can’t play on one weekend. And the next one there is the beach, and you can. We used to play there every time. It’s lovely memories.

Kelly, do you recall the first team you played for?

Andoni: I started with the school team and then the first proper team was a neighbourhood team. I then moved to Athletic Club when I was 16 to prevent my parents from believing that I would play football. It came quite late. Evidently, I was decent. I was good, but until I was 16, I didn’t really realise that this can be a little bit more than just your hobby and maybe I have a chance.

Kelly, do you recall the time you said, “Yes, I can have a chance”?

Andoni: Yes . It’s incredible because I played with Xabi Alonso and Mikel Arteta when we were seven, eight, and nine. We are more or less the same age, playing sometimes against each other because I was in a school and they were in other schools when we were playing on the beach. Then, almost 40 years later, after we played together in a small club in Antiguoko, we are still able to see each other on the same fields of play.

Kelly: Are there any managers in particular that have had a big impact on your career?

Andoni: Yes, Ernesto Valverde is especially important in my situation because he was the one who brought me to Athletic Club when I was 16 years old. In the under-18s he was the manager, and he was also my manager when I was in the second team at Athletic Club. He was the first to offer me the opportunity to make my debut. Even after that, he was my manager when I left the club around 13 years later – he came back after managing other clubs and has been really influential in my career and today still is our manager. My team, Athletic Club, is one of which has had the biggest impact on my career.

Kelly: You’ve mentioned Valverde. Who else would I ask for three if I could?

Andoni: I’ve had very good managers. I’ve had Marcelo Bielsa for two seasons, and a lot of people have gotten in touch with him right now. He is someone that watches the game in a different way, and I think it’s very useful when you are going to transition to the managerial career. Although I’ve never had the experience of Carlo Ancelotti as a manager, I’ve always enjoyed it. For someone who has been so brilliant, has won so many things in big clubs, he is very normal when you speak with him, when you face him. I’ve always felt good about this person.

Kelly: You’ve managed and played in a number of different countries, but which one would you say had the biggest impact on you as a manager?

Andoni: I’ve been taking the train to San Sebastian alone since I was 10 or 11 years old. After school, I took a bus to training, and after I finished training my father came to take me. My parents have always been working, both of them. I am used to moving myself since I was young, which has been good for my independence. I was 16 when I moved, and I had to relocate. I was living alone which is not the easiest thing. But I believe it has helped me.

Kelly: Did you have any brothers or sisters?

Andoni: No .

Kelly: Who did you play football with growing up?

Andoni: When you attend school, you have breakfast, lunch, and then have two hours of free time in Spain. Some people go home, and then they come for the afternoon and evening classes, so it was two halves of the day. Between, I used to play football constantly. I couldn’t go back home so I stayed there playing football.

What would you have done if you hadn’t played football professionally or managed one?

Andoni: I started two careers. I’m not finished yet! I started engineering – too ambitious because I was already playing football. I completed my career, but I didn’t get to the end.

Kelly: How do you escape football?

Andoni: It’s quite simple for me. I have my wife and two kids and they are not much into football. When I leave my job, I return home, where we occasionally discuss football. It’s very good for me. My wife makes many plans when I take a day off!

Kelly: Your family have travelled around with you. Do they matter if you have them with you?

Andoni: My family is very important. They make a lot of sacrifices. I am going from country to country to the best clubs I have the opportunity to go, and they have to come with me. I am very clear that they couldn’t help me accomplish this. If they tell me one day ‘ I want to go back home’, I am leaving. We’ll return to our homes. I know there will be a moment in my career when I will have to not be the protagonist, when my kids are older and I won’t be the boss any more. I’ll be content and we’ll return home, and I’ll be the back-up man. I know this moment will arrive.

What would you do for yourself if your wife didn’t make plans for your day off? Kelly

Andoni: I live in a place for nature and walks – Bournemouth is one of the best places in the country.

Kelly, I’ve read you enjoy reading a lot. Is that a way you escape?

Kelly: What are you most proud of?

Andoni: Probably related to how well-educated I am right now in all the clubs I’ve attended. As a player, as a manager, if I go back to every club it would be a lovely moment to see good people. I’ve had a good fortune. The most important thing when I come to a new club is this. I hope everyone has positive things to say about me when I leave. When I come back 10 years later, I still have relationships with people inside the clubs. I hope this will continue in all the clubs where I’ve been.

Kelly: You want to be known as a good manager, but a good person first?

Andoni: Yes, you won’t always succeed. Even in places that it’s not going to work, I hope I leave with good relationships.

Kelly, tell me something about yourself that will surprise me.

Andoni: This is the most difficult one. I engage in fairly routine activities. People get surprised with how I go on holiday, for example. We rent a car and travel in the city whenever we go on vacation, but occasionally we don’t know where to stay. We go day to day, with my wife and the kids. I like traveling to these places with less of a fixed plan and a little more open mind.

Kelly: So you like living a normal life?

Andoni: Quite a bit normal.

Kelly: If you could only achieve one more thing in your career, what would it be?

Andoni: Football-wise?

Kelly: Whatever… go where you want with it.

Compared to the two world records, one is better. The best team of the month versus the best team of the year. The apparent heirs and the emerging pretenders.

Add in a record 82, 000 people, some from the past, including England’s most recent world title against Canada in 2014, and two centuries of interconnected history, and Saturday’s Rugby World Cup final has the weight of a small moon.

There is, however, a second, even more crucial dimension for some.

The game is also a showdown between pride and glory for them, not just silverware.

With millions of pounds in play and the future of women’s test rugby in danger, it also concerns the vindication of an idea.

It makes a significant claim to an already significant match. The situation is this.

The world’s best-funded women’s rugby team is England. 32 players are working on full-time contracts. Their highest-earning members of the squad reportedly receive nearly £50, 000 annually, with top bonuses for victories and titles, as well as cutting-edge analysis, preparation, and coaching at England’s high performance center to aid in their success.

They always come across that success. The Red Roses have won 73 of their 75 matches since signing full-time contracts in 2019.

The best league in the world is also in England.

Talent is gathered from all over the world for the nine-team PWR, which results in a rugby production line for the upcoming Red Roses and unmatched quality and quantity.

In its most recent annual report, the Rugby Football Union gave its national teams, both men and women, a total of £28.7 million. At £4.5 million, rugby Canada’s equivalent figure was less than a sixth of that.

In comparison to England, where there is only a university scene and numerous clubs spread across the country, Canada’s domestic rugby scene is unimportant.

Only 41,202 registered players in Canadian rugby, including players, coaches, and officials, make up Allianz Stadium.

The federation’s finances were used to fund the team’s World Cup preparation plans, which were mostly more time spent together in a centralized camp.

To cover the costs, Rugby Canada’s $2.6 million (£1.4 million) funding was needed to be matched by a $1.6 million Mission: Win Rugby World Cup fundraising drive.

Big backers, former players, new supporters, and community rugby clubs have all donated. Through the sale of a limited T-shirt, The Tragically Hip, a renowned Canadian alt-rock legend, raised C $30, 000 (£16, 000).

It’s encouraging for the underdogs. However, there is still a significant funding gap.

No other Rugby World Cup team, Red Roses or otherwise, has ever reached such heights as Canada did in the semi-final bombardment of New Zealand. In the final eight, Australia was not far behind either with a score of 46-5.

They are playing with flair and tempo, recycling ball quickly, and puncturing defenses, either with the pace of Florence Symonds, Sophie de Goede, Justine Pelletier, and Karen Paquin, or with quick darts around the edges from them.

In the final ten minutes of their semi-final, Canada was four points clear of England at the previous Rugby World Cup.

In their final meeting, which took place at WXV in October, Canada held a five-minute lead.

On neither occasion were they successful in bringing a promising performance home. But they’re more than ever to do it on Saturday.

Canada may have a sizable amount of money behind them, but they have cheated and deceived themselves.

Eighteen of their 32-member players, including Alex Tessier and De Goede, the latter’s captain and world player of the year, play for PWR clubs, giving them crucial high-quality game time.

Ealing Trailfinders, Gloucester-Hartpury, and Leicester are also represented by a group of eight players at Saracens, six more at Exeter, and six more at Exeter.

As an assistant coach, Canada has also hired Saracens’ director of women’s rugby Alex Austerberry to compile the knowledge the players have acquired at club level before adding his own.

Canada played four warm-up games, twice the number that England did, as part of their longer preparations. As part of a mutually beneficial arrangement, the two unions came away with a quickly improving South Africa.

Is there a template emerging after New Zealand heavily invested late in the previous cycle to turn around a struggling Black Ferns side and win the trophy?

How many cash-strapped unions will invest in full-time women’s professionalism if Canada wins, instead pointing to a record that suggests nimble, clever, targeted preparation, along with drawing on England’s investment, can produce comparable outcomes on a smaller budget?

However, to ignore what their own players and coaches are saying would be to take those lessons from a win for Canada. and what the figures indicate.

Canada’s women’s team has made a significant investment. Their only flaw is that they have relatively few pockets.

Few, if any, other unions around the world can claim that Rugby Canada provides equal funding for its men’s and women’s teams.

The rest of their philosophy was provided with a caveat by head coach Kevin Rouet.

We make an effort to be that creative because we must be creative with our preparation when we don’t have any money,” he said.

“I believe it gives us the freedom to do a lot of things that we wouldn’t be able to do with the same amount of money.”

Although it’s crazy to say that, it occasionally allows us to try to be efficient with everything and find the best of everything.

If that wasn’t clear, I would like more money, though!

Pamphinette Buisa, who was chosen for Rouet’s squad but withdrew after suffering a broken leg in their final warm-up match against Ireland, describes similar things.

In a social media post, she wrote, “We want the resources, we want the support.”

A victory would not demonstrate the importance of professionalism. This team’s dedication to providing the systems it deserves would be demonstrated.

On Saturday, Canada has a good chance. They would have a great chance if they had more money and the increased depth, cohesion, and conditioning that followed.

Stalling on cycle-wide spending will only make that goal less likely if Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, the United States, France, or Ireland want to be England’s primary rival in a growing game.

It also seems foolish to reduce England’s return on investment to the number of attractive pots in the cabinet.

A triumph in the Rugby World Cup would be significant in accelerating the sport’s development.

However, a match’s success or failure of a policy can’t be entirely determined by a ball’s bounce or, as in the previous Rugby World Cup final, a head-to-head clash in the first half.

A dominant, excellent English team has been produced that draws players, sponsors, sponsors, and fans like no other.

One of the, if not the, favorites will be The Red Roses, who will win the next World Cup in Australia in 2029.

England has thousands of fans emotionally invested while the Rugby Football Union has made financial investments.