Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Club is a Basque Football club from Bilbao in Biscay, Basque Country. The club has played in First Division 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 The Lions 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 St.. The San Mamés Stadium is hence nicknamed "the football cathedral".
The club is known for its quarry policy of bringing young basque players through the ranks, as well as recruiting top Basque players from other clubs (like Joseba Etxeberria or Javi martinez). Athletic only signs professional players native to one of the seven Basque provinces: Biscay, Guipúzcoa, alava and Navarre, And Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre in France. This has earned Athletic both admirers and critics. The club has been praised for promoting home grown players and club loyalty.
Athletic has 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 colors). 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 franc years. Some prominent members of the EAJ-PNV were also Athletic members. Jose Antonio Aguirre, and the 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 Real vs Athletic local derby carrying the still illegal Basque flag[4].
The goalkeeper Iribar was later a founding member of the independent 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 resulting 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 than any other club, including Real Madrid
Honors
[edit] Men's Football
National titles:
Athletic Club is a Basque Football club from Bilbao in Biscay, Basque Country. The club has played in First Division 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 The Lions 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 St.. The San Mamés Stadium is hence nicknamed "the football cathedral".
The club is known for its quarry policy of bringing young basque players through the ranks, as well as recruiting top Basque players from other clubs (like Joseba Etxeberria or Javi martinez). Athletic only signs professional players native to one of the seven Basque provinces: Biscay, Guipúzcoa, alava and Navarre, And Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre in France. This has earned Athletic both admirers and critics. The club has been praised for promoting home grown players and club loyalty.
Athletic has 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 colors). 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 franc years. Some prominent members of the EAJ-PNV were also Athletic members. Jose Antonio Aguirre, and the 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 Real vs Athletic local derby carrying the still illegal Basque flag[4].
The goalkeeper Iribar was later a founding member of the independent 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 resulting 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 than any other club, including Real Madrid
Honors
[edit] Men's Football
National titles:
- League 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, .
- The number of Copa wins Athletic Club have been credited with is disputed. The 1902 competition was won by Club Vizcaya, and a team 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 honors 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)
- UEFA Cup Championship: (4)
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