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Aitor Karanka de la Hoz (Basque and ; born 18 September 1973) is a Spanish football manager and former player.
Save for a brief spell in the United States at age 32, Karanka played solely in Spain for Athletic Bilbao and Real Madrid, appearing in 275 La Liga matches over 13 seasons and winning six honours with the latter. He earned one cap for Spain, in 1995.
Karanka started his managerial career in the late 2000s, working as assistant manager at Real Madrid during José Mourinho's tenure as manager from 2010 to 2013. He was appointed manager of EFL Championship club Middlesbrough in 2013, guiding them to promotion to the Premier League in 2016 before being dismissed the following year. He then managed Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City in the Championship, before brief top-flight spells at Granada CF in Spain and Maccabi Tel Aviv in the Israeli Premier League.
Karanka was promoted to the main squad by Jupp Heynckes in 1993 following the departure of Rafael Alkorta. He made his La Liga debut on 7 November in a 1–1 away draw against Celta Vigo (90 minutes played), going on to feature in exactly 100 league matches in his three full seasons before joining the German coach at Real Madrid in 1997 (replacing Alkorta, who had just rejoined Athletic Bilbao).
Karanka was used mostly as a backup with the Madrid-based team but appeared in 33 UEFA Champions League matches for them, including the final of the 1999–2000 edition against Valencia CF (3–0 win). He missed the vast majority of the 1998–99 campaign due to a heart condition.
In 2006, Karanka joined Major League Soccer (MLS) club Colorado Rapids in the United States. In his only season in MLS, he helped Colorado to the Western Conference play-off final, despite having his attempt saved by Darío Sala in the penalty shootout victory over FC Dallas in the semi-finals.
Karanka also represented the nation in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, playing in four matches in an eventual quarter-final exit.
In June 2010, Karanka was appointed assistant manager at former side Real Madrid by newly appointed manager José Mourinho. Karanka had been recommended to Mourinho by his former Real Madrid teammates Luís Figo, Clarence Seedorf and Predrag Mijatović. During their time at Madrid, the club won the 2010–11 Copa del Rey, the 2011–12 La Liga and the 2012 Supercopa de España.
In July 2013, Karanka left the club following the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti, who brought his own coaching staff after succeeding Mourinho. Mourinho offered him the opportunity to follow him to Chelsea to act as his assistant manager once again; Karanka declined his offer in order to fulfil his ambition to pursue his own venture in management.
On 25 April 2015, in the club's penultimate game of the season away to Fulham, Karanka sent goalkeeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos forward for an added-time corner kick with the score 3–3. With the goalkeeper out of position, the opponents scored a winner through Ross McCormack, which sent Watford into the Premier League and jeopardised Middlesbrough's own chances of promotion. He did qualify his team to the play-off final after a 5–1 aggregate win over Brentford, but they lost the decisive match 0–2 to Norwich City at Wembley Stadium.
On 7 August 2015, Karanka signed a new four-year contract. Boro were consistently in high positions during the campaign, but on 11 March 2016 he unexpectedly left the training ground after an argument and considered his future at the club. Responsibilities for the subsequent match, at Charlton Athletic, were handed to his assistant Steve Agnew, but the Spaniard returned to lead the team to the top division after a seven-year absence, as league runners-up.
In 2016–17, Karanka led Middlesbrough to the last eight of the FA Cup, where they were eliminated by Manchester City. He was sacked on 16 March 2017 with the team three points from top-flight safety and without a league win in the new year (while their defence was the fifth best in the division, their attack was the worst with just 19 goals from 27 matches, and he had disagreements with players, fans and the board). Club and manager parted ways by mutual consent, as the latter believed he could take the team no further.
During his first summer transfer window in charge, prior to his first full season as manager, Forest signed João Carvalho from Benfica for £13.2 million, the club's most expensive transfer acquisition. Forest began the season very well, which originally saw them establish a five-match undefeated run. They continued their positive form up until December, where they only won one out of six matches during the final month of the year, which would ultimately cost Karanka his position. On 11 January 2019, he departed the City Ground after requesting to be released from his contract. He left the team in seventh position, four points behind the play-off places. A key reason behind Karanka's departure was the breakdown in relationship between him and Forest's Chief Executive, Ioannis Vrentzos. Forest's ambitious board were dissatisfied with Forest's play-off challenge and felt that the club should have been challenging for the automatic promotion places.
Karanka was confirmed as the club's head coach for the coming season, but was sacked on 8 November 2022, after one win in five matches.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Athletic Club B | 1993–94 | Segunda División | 2 |
| 1993–94 | 0 | ||
| Athletic Bilbao | 1993–94 | La Liga | 0 |
| 1994–95 | 1 | ||
| 1995–96 | 0 | ||
| 1996–97 | 1 | ||
| Real Madrid | 1997–98 | La Liga | 0 |
| 1998–99 | 0 | ||
| 1999–2000 | 0 | ||
| 2000–01 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 0 | ||
| Athletic Bilbao | 2002–03 | La Liga | 2 |
| 2003–04 | 0 | ||
| 2004–05 | 0 | ||
| 2005–06 | 0 | ||
| Colorado Rapids | 2006For MLS: For U.S. Open Cup: | Major League Soccer | 0 |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |||
| Spain | 1995 | 1 | 0 |
| + Managerial record by team and tenure | |||
| Middlesbrough | 13 November 2013 | 16 March 2017 | |
| Nottingham Forest | 8 January 2018 | 11 January 2019 | |
| Birmingham City | 31 July 2020 | 16 March 2021 | |
| Granada CF | 18 April 2022 | 8 November 2022 | |
| Maccabi Tel Aviv | 4 January 2023 | 25 June 2023 | |
Spain U21
Individual
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