His career was associated primarily with Athletic Bilbao, winning the national championship twice as a player in the 1980s and later serving as the club's director of football and the co-ordinator of its youth system.
Towards the end of his third season featuring regularly for the reserves, he made his debut for the Athletic senior team on 16 March 1980, a 1–0 win away to Atlético Madrid in La Liga.
[4] Noriega began the 1987–88 season with Athletic but did not play any competitive fixtures and soon moved on, dropping down to the second level to join newly promoted CD Tenerife on the eve of his 29th birthday.
Injuries again hampered his progress during two seasons in the Canary Islands,[5] but in the latter campaign he contributed 22 regular league appearances plus one in the playoffs as the club defeated Real Betis and returned to the top tier after a 28-year absence.
He later expressed his disappointment that his efforts to add a winning mentality to the youth coaching at the club – by appointing experienced personnel such as former teammates Luis de la Fuente and Patxi Salinas – were derided as cronyism.