Grown through the ranks of Athletic Bilbao, he would never make it past the reserves, his sole first-team appearance being as a late substitute in a UEFA Cup win away to Sampdoria in 1997.
He finally settled at Eibar in the Segunda División – his second spell – and, in the 2004–05 season, as captain, led the side to a fourth place in the league, with chances of a historic La Liga promotion until the last matchday.
[3] Garitano made his first top-flight appearances with Real Sociedad at the age of 30,[4][5] his debut coming on 27 August 2005 in a 3–0 away defeat in the Basque derby.
After a stint in charge of the reserves he was appointed first-team manager for the 2012–13 campaign,[8] which included the elimination of Athletic Bilbao – the previous year's finalists – from the Copa del Rey,[9] and ended with promotion.
[12] In 2014–15, the team collected 27 points from the first 19 games but, after only eight in the following 19, was finally relegated back in spite of a 3–0 home win over Córdoba in the last matchday (they would later be reinstated at the expense of Elche).
[19] He remained in that position until 4 December 2018, when it became his turn to be handed the senior role after Eduardo Berizzo, who had followed on from Ziganda's one-year stint, was also relieved of his duties after an even shorter spell.
[26] On 7 June 2021, Garitano returned to Eibar on a two-year deal with the option of a third; José Luis Mendilibar had stepped down following the side's relegation to division two.