Koldo, the most wanted man: "Rugby can help you solve all kinds of problems."

Zabala, a working-class neighborhood in Bilbao, saw the rise of the García-Izagirre family in the 1970s. Five of its six members played simultaneously on the Trápaga rugby team, a now-defunct Biscayan club that regularly competed in the regional league. It happened in the mid-1990s. Two of them were front rows (pilieres), two others played in the three-quarters (centers), and the missing one, the eldest of the dynasty , played as a number 8 in the scrum (back row). His name is Koldo , and for various reasons, always linked to sordid episodes of corruption , his name appears day in and day out on the front pages of newspapers. "I can say that I've been lucky in life because I've achieved all the goals I set for myself," he states bluntly.

Koldo, the man who holds the dubious honor of being arguably the most wanted man in Spain, agrees to speak with El Confidencial. The agreement with the protagonist is not to mention his legal situation. Despite this, and perhaps unintentionally, during the conversation he draws certain parallels between sports and the shady events in which he has been implicated and which have cast doubt on most of his professional career. Hence his constant references to being fully aware that when one makes decisions in life, there is always the possibility that "sometimes you might make mistakes."

He is equally blunt when it comes to assessing his short- and medium-term future, which doesn't seem very promising. "Time will show whether there were mistakes or whether the right thing was done, despite the occasional minor problem ," he emphasizes vehemently.

At 55, Koldo has been away from Bilbao for a long time. However, he still shows up around the neighborhood when his busy work life allows. It was there that he started playing sports at the Zabala public school. Even as a child, people saw that he could be a handsome young man, so he tried basketball. “I liked it, but my passion was always rugby ,” he says. Sharing a locker room with his four other brothers was a long time coming. Before that, he got involved in activities related to martial arts and self-defense. Until the age of 17, he discovered boxing, “which taught me to be a person and to sacrifice myself.” Benito Canal, a Galician boxer living in the Basque Country who became a Spanish heavyweight champion, was his mentor. That didn't last long. A couple of amateur bouts, and nothing more. “ My father wouldn't let me turn professional , and since I was underage…” he laments.

The eldest García-Izagirre brother abandoned his studies at an early age to work for companies dedicated to the private security sector. This activity took him away from the Basque Country for a long time. It was during this time that he met his other four brothers at the Trápaga Rugby Club. The only girl never took to playing the oval ball sport. The younger members of the family had already been at the club for some time, staining their shirts with the mud that formed on the sand field where they played matches. "It's not that they convinced me to play with them, it's that they were forced to leave me because of my insistence ," he recalls. Koldo was determined to take up a sport that had always "really" caught his attention.

It would be quite another thing to see the mother's face when her five children returned home, unpacked their sports bags, and, to top it all off, were all very hungry. Koldo's life was quite stressful back then. Not surprisingly, he had to act as an escort for Nicolás Redondo during his time as leader of the Basque Socialists. The "years of lead" of ETA violence had given way to a period where any public official in a constitutionalist party automatically became a target for the terrorist organization. The Ertzaintza (Basque Nationalist Force) couldn't keep up, so private security companies had to play the same role as the regional police officers, albeit with much less training. Despite everything, Koldo still made time to go to matches "and to train as much as he could, always with the intention of helping them." The presence of members of the García-Izagirre family at the club was so overwhelming that they accounted for a third of the starting lineup (five out of fifteen).

The eldest of the family only lasted a year due to work-related reasons. The rest of the brothers gradually left Trápaga for other teams. Joseba, who is also being investigated by the National Court in the same case as his brother, spent a season playing for Getxo Rugby Taldea's second team. His height of over 190 centimeters reveals him as a typical rock-solid forward. Some remember him arriving at training in a "fancy car" and wearing a tie. "He was a very good person to be around," says a former teammate.

Many knew he was the bodyguard of a prominent politician. In this case, for former PP deputy Marisa Arrue, who also lived in Getxo. To underscore the difficult task entrusted to Joseba at that time , the words of Ricardo Andrade, a PP councilor in the Biscayan town, spoken a few weeks ago at the town hall before the EH Bildu councilors now sound thunderous. ETA committed 19 murders there. This figure means that, including injuries, kidnappings, and sabotage, Getxo was one of the municipalities hardest hit by ETA violence.

Two other brothers (twins Andoni and Edorta) started out on the youth team of Universitario XV, a club that years later merged with Bilbao Rugby Club to form the current UBR. “They were the kind of slow-moving props who, at 17, already weighed over 120 kilos,” says a former teammate. Perhaps that's where their nickname "the flying twins" comes from. Some tell stories about them that seem a bit exaggerated, but being from Bilbao, they acquire more credibility. For example, at the txosna (barbecue grill) that Universitario XV set up years ago for the Deusto neighborhood festival, “the two of them ate a casserole with over three kilos of chorizo ​​as if it were a bag of sunflower seeds.” With these facts, it's easy to guess that, in terms of physical appearance, they resembled Koldo. Also due to other life circumstances. And, following family tradition, they both worked for several years as doormen at several nightclubs near the Bilbao bullring.

Former ministerial advisor José Luis Ábalos constantly follows rugby news. It distracts him from the dark clouds looming over his complicated legal situation. He trains for ninety minutes daily on an elliptical trainer due to an injury to his left foot "that makes it impossible for me to do other types of exercises like running or jumping." He uses this time to watch a rugby match "every day." "I mainly follow the Spanish national team, as it should be," he says. Internationally, he favors Scotland, while also supporting the legendary New Zealand All Blacks. And what does rugby have in common for Koldo? "It's a sport that should be more highly valued in Spain," he concludes.

And not only that. It also has its advantages: "It can fulfill you in many ways and even help you solve problems of all kinds," he adds. He is seen as someone convinced of his philosophy and values ​​because "they always allow you to pull on a teammate to push and pull forward." His passion for rugby is such that he has three balls tattooed in a "secret" place on his voluminous body . For Koldo, getting tattoos is a "personal" thing that one adopts for whatever meaning they may have, "and then those who want to show them off, and those who don't want to, don't."

His last sport-related activity dates back to herri kirolak (rural sport), specifically to his time in Navarre as an aizkolari (log chopper with an axe). "I was always last, but I was a member of the federation." That didn't stop him from being photographed in 2015 during the Rose Day celebrations in Pamplona alongside Pedro Sánchez. Having closed the curtain on his sporting career, he now enjoys watching any game on television. And being from Bilbao, of course, those of Athletic Bilbao. Both his father, who passed away two years ago and who earned his living as a wrist varnisher, and his mother, who currently lives in the Alicante town of Benidorm because the Mediterranean climate helps her better cope with health problems in her legs, are die-hard fans of the Basque team. In fact, whenever she can, she accompanies him to watch a game together at his house.

As life would have it, on the very day this interview was being conducted , thieves had broken into her mother's house to steal 50 euros and a ring, and Judge Leopoldo Puente had ordered the imprisonment of her former friend Santos Cerdán . Even so, she kept the commitment she had made two days earlier: "I have a habit of always trying to please people, but I admit I'm a little tired." Nothing better than returning to the subject of Athletic Club. "Loyalty to the club is something that can't be discussed in the family," she emphasizes. What attracts her most to the red-and-white team are its traditions "and the fact that we always play with Spaniards, which inspires a lot of respect from our opponents and is positive in terms of encouraging more Spaniards to play for other teams."

As expected, the thorny issue of Nico Williams' possible signing by Barcelona has also been a topic of discussion within the family. Koldo is clear on this point. "We have to respect everyone's opinions and, above all, put ourselves in their shoes to understand what they do and why they do it," he maintains. The former advisor to José Luis Ábalos believes the Williams youngster is an "admirable" and "extraordinary" player . He even defends his silent attitude because he believes that, in the end, "he's going to do what's best for him," even though to this day there's still no certainty that Barça can meet the financial fair play requirements of the Professional Football League (LPF) to register him. "Whether he might be wrong or not is another matter, but no one can know that for sure right now," he clarifies.

As a fan of martial arts and self-defense sports, Koldo can't help but mention the controversial victory of Spaniard Ilia Tupuria over Brazilian Charles Oliveira after hitting him twice in a row with a closed fist to the face while his opponent was already on the ground. "The way he treats his opponents is like a true gentleman and a true lord," he concludes. He praises the competitive spirit the Spanish fighter demonstrates in all his fights. However, what he admires most is that he is a "very" well-prepared athlete, both physically and mentally , "who knows what his goals are and how to achieve them."