After making his Real Sociedad first-team debut during the 2004–05 season, he achieved notoriety as a result of a lawsuit in which his first club prevented him from playing for Athletic Bilbao for 14 months, due to an alleged contractual dispute in his transfer between the two Basque sides.
[3] Real insisted that Athletic pay the entire amount, with the player not being allowed to play professional football during the subsequent legal battle; SCD Durango, a regional club, requested to field him but were denied permission.
[4] Fifteen months after the lawsuit began, a judge ruled that Athletic had to pay Real Sociedad €5 million,[5] and were granted permission to field Zubiaurre for the 2006–07 campaign.
[8] After almost two years on the sidelines, he left in order to gain more playing time, joining Segunda División side Elche CF on a season-long loan.
[9] Returning to Athletic for the 2009–10 campaign, Zubiaurre's season input consisted of 15 minutes against FK Austria Wien (3–0 win at home) in the UEFA Europa League group stage.