Athletic Bilbao corner

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Athletic Bilbao




Athletic Club is a Basque football club from Bilbao in Biscay, Basque Country. The club has played in the Primera División of La Liga since its start in 1928. They have won La Liga on eight occasions.
They are known as the Rojiblancos or Zurigorri because of their red and white striped shirts and as Los Leones because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés (Saint Mammes). Mammes was an early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. The lions refused to eat Mames and he was later made a saint. The San Mamés Stadium is hence nicknamed "the football cathedral".
The club is known for its cantera policy of bringing young Basque players through the ranks, as well as recruiting top Basque players from other clubs (like Joseba Etxeberria or Javi Martínez). Athletic only signs professional players native to one of the seven Basque provinces: Biscay, Guipúzcoa, Álava and Navarre; and Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre in France. This has gained Athletic both admirers and critics. The club has been praised for promoting home grown players and club loyalty.




Athletic are one of the few clubs who do not have the logo of an official sponsor emblazoned on their kit. However in the UEFA cup and the Copa del Rey of 2004-2005, the shirt sported the word "Euskadi" in green in exchange for hundreds of thousands of euros from the Basque Government^[2] (red, white and green are the Basque colours). This policy will be changed for the three seasons starting on 2008, where Athletic will play with the logo of the Biscay-based Petronor oil company^[3] in exchange for over 2 million euros.


Basque nationalism

The club's success gave the Basques something to be proud of and supporting the club became a legal way of expressing Basque nationalism during the Franco years. Some prominent members of the EAJ-PNV were also Athletic members. Jose Antonio Aguirre, a distinguished player with the club in the 1920s and an EAJ-PNV member, became the first elected Basque president in 1936.
On 5 December 1975 (15 days after the death of Franco), Athletic's Iribar and Real Sociedad's Kortabarria entered the ground of the Real vs Athletic local derby carrying the still illegal Basque flag^[4].
The goalkeeper Iribar was later a founding member of the independentist coalition Herri Batasuna^[4], and Endika Guarrotxenea entered the national board of the coalition after the arrest of the previous board^[4].

Ironically one of the main beneficiaries of the cantera policy has been Spain. In the early 1920s the Basque Country was a breeding ground of great Spanish players. The influx of immigrants from all over Spain resulted in the region producing hundreds of quality players. In 1920 Spain entered a team in the Olympic Games. Of the 21 players in the squad, 14 were Basques. Athletic has provided more players for the national team then any other club, including Real Madrid




Honours


[edit] Men’s Football

National titles:

• Liga titles: 8 (1930, 1931, 1934, 1936, 1943, 1956, 1983, 1984).

• Copa del Rey: 23 (24*) (1902*, 1903, 1904, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1950, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1969, 1973, 1984).
  • The number of Copa wins Athletic Club have been credited with is disputed. The 1902 competition was won by Club Vizcaya, a team made up of players from Athletic Club and Bilbao FC. In 1903 these two clubs merged as Athletic Club. The 1902 cup is on display in the Athletic museum [2] and the club includes it in its own honours list.[3]. However LFP and RFEF official statistics do not include this as an Athletic win.

• Spanish SuperCup: 1 (1985).

• Northern Championship: 3 (1914, 1915, 1916).

• Bizkaia Championship: 13 (1920, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1940)

• Basque Cup: 1 (1935)

International titles:

• UEFA Cup championship: (1977)

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José Ramón Alexanko Rafael Alkorta Bata José María Belauste Dani Joseba Etxeberría Carlos Ruiz "Piru" Gainza Andoni Goikoetxea Jon Andoni Goikoetxea Guillermo Gorostiza Julen Guerrero José Ángel Iribar Javier Irureta Aitor Karanka Raimundo Lezama Aitor Larrazabal Santiago Urquiaga Genaro Andrinua Patxi Salinas Íñigo Liceranzu Agustín Guisasola Txema Noriega Miguel De Andrés Luis De la Fuente Estanislao Argote

José María "Chato" Núñez José Ramón Gallego Ismael Urtubi Manuel Anatol Justo Ruiz Bixente Lizarazu Vicente Biurrun Higinio Ortúzar Gerardo Bilbao Ignacio Larrauri Andoni Zubizarreta José Panizo Pichichi Rafael Iriondo Julio Salinas Victorio Unamuno Fidel Uriarte Ismael Urzaiz Telmo Zarra Ángel María Villar Jose Ángel Rojo José Francisco Rojo Manuel Sarabia

see also Cat:Athletic Bilbao footballers

[edit] Selected coaches

• Fred Pentland: 1921-1927, 1929-1933
• "Fernando" Daučík: 1954-1957
• Agustín Gaínza: 1964-1968
• Ronnie Allen: 1968-1972
• Milorad "Michel" Pavić: 1972-1974
• Juan Urquizu
• Javier Clemente: 1981-1986,1991-1992,2005-2006
• José Ángel Iribar: 1986-1987
• Howard Kendall: 1987-1989
• Jupp Heynckes: 1992-1994, 2001-2003
• Javier Irureta: 1994-1995
• Luis Fernández: 1996-2000
• Ernesto Valverde: 2003-2005

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