Athletic Club

Athletic Bilbao is a Spanish football club in Bilbao, Biscay in the Basque Country. Alongside winning numerous championships in the national league and domestic cups since their inception at the beginning at the turn of 20th-century The club is most famous for their strict policy of signing players with a connection to their homeland as well as being among the three clubs that have played during every single league game without having to be relegated in spite of the restrictions of the rule.

The sport of football was brought in Bilbao from two groups that had British connection: British workers and Basque students who returned from school in Britain. In the latter half of the nineteenth century Bilbao was one of the most important cities in industrial city that attracted a lot of migrants, including miners from the north-east region of England along with shipyard personnel who came from Southampton, Portsmouth and Sunderland. They also brought with them football and joined forces to form Bilbao Football Club. In the meantime, children of Basque class that were educated, like Jose Astorquia traveled to Britain to finish their studies and began to develop an passion for football, and when they returned , they began to organize match-days together with British workers. In the year 1898, Juan Astorquia and 6 other students from the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the Athletic Club, using the English spelling. Luis Marquez become the club's first president in the year 1900.

In 1901, a gathering which was held in Cafe Garcia created the formal regulations and rules. In 1902, the founding participant Juan Astorquia was elected president, and ruled from 1902 to 1903. As president, Bilbao FC and Athletic created a team, referred to by the name of Club Bizcaya, which was established to play at the Copa de la Coronacion (forerunner of the Copa del Rey which officially started a year later) and then they were rewarded with the trophy following their win over Joan Gamper's FC Barcelona 2-1 in the final. On March 24, 1903, under the leadership of Juan Astorquia, Bilbao FC and its affiliates were finally and officially accepted into Athletic Club. The same year, Basque students also founded an associated team Athletic Club Madrid which later developed to Atletico Madrid, following Athletic's incredible victory at the 1903 Copa del Rey Final. The club's website lists the year 1898 as the date of its founding.

The club played a prominent role in the early Copas del Rey. Following their success in the Copa de la Coronacion by Club Bizcaya The newly-formed Athletic Bilbao won the very first Copas del Rey in 1903 and again in the hands of Juan Astorquia who was President and Captain. It was in 1904 they were declared winners when their opponents were not able to show to the game. In 1907 they reactivated their nickname Club Vizcaya after having a combined team with Union Vizcaino. After a brief hiatus and a rematch the following year in 1910 and having Luis Astorquia as their team captain, and Luis Astorquia as the goalkeeper. In 1911, the former captain of the team Alejandro de La Sota was elected President of Athletic's 7th year. In addition, he was the main driver behind the creation of the San Mames Stadium that opened in 1913. The stadium soon became one of the emblems of Athletic's dominance during the 1910s. The team won the Copa del Rey three times in succession during 1914 until 1915. The most notable player of the team was Pichichi who was a prolific goal scorer who scored the first goal at San Mames on 21 August 1913, and also the triple rout during 1915 in the 1915 championship prior to his death at only 29 on 1922. The La Liga top-scorer is declared the Pichichi in honor of his.

Alongside fellow Basque clubs like Real Union, Arenas Club de Getxo and Real Sociedad, Athletic was the first member of La Liga in 1928 and by 1930 , they became part of CD Alaves; five of the ten clubs of the Primera Division were from the Basque Country. The phrase " Con cantera y passion, there is no need for importacion" that translates as "With the homegrown teams and the support, there's no need to import" was a good one in the early days of.

A brand new English manager, Fred Pentland came in In 1923, he guided Athletic towards victory at Copa del Rey. Pentland changed the method in which Athletic played, focusing on the short-passing style of play. The year 1927 saw Pentland quit Athletic however he returned to the club in 1929, and helped lead the team to La Liga/Copa Del Rey doubles between 1929 and 1930. Athletic was crowned in the Copa del Rey four times between 1930 between 1930 and 1933. They had also been La Liga runners-up in 1932 and 1933. The year 1931 saw Athletic defeat Barcelona 12-1 in the most humiliating defeat ever to Barcelona.

The success of Athletic during the time of English coaches continued under William Garbutt. The first season he played of playing in Spain was a huge success , as he was able to take home his first Liga in the year. He was the inheritor of a highly skilled team which also included forwards Guillermo Gorostiza and Bata.

Garbutt promoted younger angel Zubieta to the first team. A player who, aged 17 years old, age, went into becoming the youngest player ever to be a part of the Spanish national team in the early days of. In the final match of the season the title was decisively decided by the fact that Athletic defeated Oviedo by 2-0 at home on 19 April 1936. winning the title only two points in front over Real Madrid. On July 26, 1936, the football was suspended due to the outbreak in the Spanish Civil War. The league didn't resume after the 1939-40 seasons. Athletic Club did not win the title before the year 1943 and at that point Garbutt was in exile.

In 1941 it changed the name of its club and changed its name to Atletico Bilbao, following a decree signed by Franco. In the same year, Telmo Zarra made his debut. Zarra scored 294 goals across every competition for Athletic. The 38 goals he scored in the 1950-51 campaign were the record for 60 years.

The club in 1943 secured an extra double and was awarded the Copa in 1944 as well as 1945. In the early 1950s, the club had famous forward lines consisting of Zarra, Panizo, Rafa Iriondo Venancio as well as Agustin Gainza. They played a key role in helping the team to win yet another Copa del Generalisimo in 1950. Head coach Ferdinand Daucik led the team to another double win in 1956, as well as to additional Copa wins in the years the years 1955 and 1958. In 1956 , the team also played their first game with the European Cup.

The 1960s were the decade of Real Madrid, and Atletico did not win a single Copa del Rey victory in 1969. However, the decade witnessed the rise of a legend at the club, Jose Angel Iribar.

The 1970s were far better, and there was only a one Copa del Rey win in 1973. In December 1976, in the midst of the game against Real Sociedad, Iribar and Sociedad captain Inaxio Kortabarria carried out the Ikurrina The Basque Flag, then then placed it on the centre-circle ceremonially It marked the first flag-raising ceremony in public since the passing of Francisco Franco. The club was in 1977 when it made it to in the semi-finals of UEFA Cup, only losing in the away goal to Juventus. In the meantime, the Franco regime was also over and the club returned to being known as Athletic.

The year was 1981 when Javier Clemente became manager. He managed an impressive team ever in the history of the club. In 1983, the team was crowned La Liga, and in 1984, they won the Copa del Rey/La Liga double. In 1985 and 1986, Clemente's Athletic placed fourth and third respectively. Clemente's Athletic acquired notoriety for its ferocious style of play. The team has not been able to claim a award following the glory days of the. A succession of coaches which comprised Jose Angel Iribar, Howard Kendall, Jupp Heynckes and Javier Irureta and even a returning Clemente did not replicate the success of his predecessors.

In 1998 the manager Luis Fernandez led the club to second place in La Liga and UEFA Champions League qualification. Fernandez gained from the club's less rigid approach towards the cantera. As of 1995, Athletic has signed Joseba Etxeberria from rivals in the region Real Sociedad, causing considerable tension among the clubs. Etxeberria was a key player of the squad from 1997-98 alongside Rafael Alkorta and Julen Guerrero.

The club was able to avoid losing the league in both the year 2005/06 as well as the the 2006-07 seasons, with the latter being the most difficult in their history. At their final game of the season, the Copa del Rey they made it to its first ever final after over 24 consecutive years. They lost defeating 4-1 by Barcelona.

In the season 2011-12 the new Athletic president and ex-player Josu Urrutia was brought in coach Marcelo Bielsa. Athletic reached the debut European Final since the year 1977. They ended up but lost the final 3-0 in the final to Spanish opponents Atletico Madrid on the 9th of May during their 2011 UEFA Europa League Final at the Arena Nationala in Bucharest.[16] They also made it to their 2012 Copa del Rey Final, but lost to Barcelona.

Following the departure of star midfielder Javi Martinez left for FC Bayern Munich, Athletic were exiled of their 2012-13 Europa League group stage, and were subsequently eliminated from the Copa del Rey by Basque club Eibar from the third tier. The possibility of relegation loomed for the remainder of the season as well as the final game of the league played at San Mames, The "old" San Mames ended with a loss. Athletic will soon relocate to a new stadium however, it was only partially finished condition. Bielsa promoted young defender Aymeric Laporte into the side, while striker Fernando Llorente completed a free transfer to title="Juventus F.C. ">Juventus.

Following Bielsa, Ernesto Valverde returned to serve a second time as manager. He recruited or signed numerous new players. Athletic was 4th at the top of their league which equates to that they would be in the UEFA Champions League campaign. Ander Herrera was signed by Manchester United for EUR36 million deal at the conclusion of the season.

Athletic experienced a triumphant debut full-seater match in the brand new San Mames as they beat Napoli to advance to their place in the Champions League group stage, however , they could only finish third in the group. Athletic qualified for finals in the final of the 2015 Copa del Rey Final and was defeated by Barcelona 3-1.

In the first match of the 2015 Supercopa de Espana at San Mames, Athletic defeated Barcelona 4-1 and Aritz Aduriz scoring with a triple. In the second leg, which took place of the match at Camp Nou, Athletic held on to the draw and won their first trophy since 1984. Aduriz scored 36 goals across all tournaments. Athletic made it to the quarterfinals of the Europa League where they were defeated only with penalties by the holders, and eventually the winning again Sevilla FC.

Valverde quit his post at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season , after four years. It was revealed that his replacement will be the former star Jose Angel Ziganda who was promoted to Bilbao Athletic. On November 29, the club was stung by a shocking defeat against the SD Formentera during the domestic cup. Following an unsatisfactory season in general, Ziganda was dismissed and Eduardo Berizzo was named. But his tenure was less successful, and in December of 2018, only winning two of his 15 matches as the head coach and the team being in the zone of relegation, Berizzo was dismissed. Coach of the second team Gaizka Garitano was appointed charge and led the team to a rise in performance and the team was far from danger and just a hair short of an Europa League spot on the final day.

The start of 2019-20 season brought more regular outcomes. After the opening five games, they Lions were on top, which was their most successful start in the last 26 years. The form they had achieved could not be maintained and by the midway point they were slipping to the middle of the table following a series of draws. But they did win the Copa del Rey the team fought through two penalty shootouts with second-tier opponents , and eventually beat Barcelona to make it to the semi-finals. The club later defeated Granada CF in the semi-final with away goals, and then faced their local opponents Real Sociedad in the final that was later postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic that was sweeping Spain the two clubs content to wait in hope that supporters will be capable of attending the historic Basque derby match. It didn't come to be as in the end, the match took place in a stadium with no seats the 3rd April of 2021 with Real Sociedad emerging winners by an 1-0 score. In the meantime, Aduriz had finally retired from football, Garitano had been replaced as coach by Marcelino the previous year, as well. The 2021 Supercopa de Espana originally meant to be played in conjunction with this delayed final contestable, Athletic defeated Real Madrid then Barcelona to win the trophy. They also beat Levante in the semi-finals in the 2020-21 Copa del Rey to get to the final on April 17th, 2021. They were the only team to participate in the main event twice over the course of a few weeks. However, Athletic lost that final also, losing to Barcelona by a score of 4-0. In the month of October, 2021, an analysis by CIES International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) showed that Athletic Bilbao and Desna Chernihiv (Ukraine) were the only teams to participate in European continental tournaments that did not have foreign players.

Athletic began playing in an improvised white kit, but in the 1902–03 season, the club's first official strip became half-blue, half-white shirts similar to those worn by Blackburn Rovers, which were donated by Juan Moser. Later, a young student from Bilbao named Juan Elorduy, who was spending Christmas 1909 in London, was charged by the club to buy 25 new shirts, but was unable to find enough. Waiting for the ship back to Bilbao and empty handed, Elorduy realised that the colours of the local team Southampton matched the colours of the City of Bilbao, and bought 50 shirts to take with him. Upon arriving in Bilbao, the club's directors decided almost immediately to change the team's strip to the new colours, and since 1910, Athletic Club have played in red and white stripes. Of the 50 shirts bought by Elorduy, half were then sent to Atlético Madrid, where Elorduy was a committee member and a former player; it had originally begun as a youth branch of Athletic Bilbao. Before the switch from blue and white to red and white, only one other team wore red and white, Sporting de Gijón, since 1905.

Athletic were one of the last major clubs who did not have the logo of an official sponsor emblazoned on their kit. In the UEFA Cup and the Copa del Rey of 2004–05, the shirt sported the word "Euskadi" in green in exchange for hundreds of thousands of euros from the Basque Government (Red, white and green are the Basque colours). This policy was changed in 2008, when Athletic made a deal with the Biscay-based Petronor oil company to wear their logo in exchange for over €2 million. In 2011, Athletic revealed a new away kit that was inspired by the Basque flag. The Kutxabank logo now adorns the front of Athletic's kits.

Between 2001 and 2009 Athletic also manufactured their own playing kit, under the brand 100% Athletic and utilising the small design from their centenary celebrations as a manufacturer's logo.

Athletic's shield incorporates the escutcheons from Bilbao as well as Biscay. The shield from Bilbao it incorporates its bridge as well as it also includes the Church in San Anton, and the wolves of the strong Haro family that were Lords of Biscay and the founders of Bilbao at the time of 1300. In the shields of Biscay it is it's Gernikako Arbola (Guernica's tree) as well as it is the crosses that is of Saint Andrew ( saltires). The first evidence of its use dates to 1922.

First official club logo was a blue circle , surrounded by a belt, with The letters C and A in the middle of the crest in white (as the club's colors were at the time). The second one was from 1910, and consisted of the red and white flag (newly adopted as the shirt's colors) with an red square in the upper left corner and containing an initials in white. The third one, from 1913, featured identical flag only it was displayed on a pole encircling the football (this is quite similar in appearance to Real Sociedad crest that is still in use in the present, but without the crown of patronage from the royal family).

The initial version of the present crest, basically an inverted triangular shape , with stripes of white and red as well as a segment of local motifs, dates from 1922. It was a simple design that was modified several times several of which like that from Atletico Madrid, which was originally a part from the Bilbao club. Then, in 1941, this first design of shield was designed, however it was named "Atletico Bilbao" was adopted in the year general Francisco Franco outlawed all non-Spanish-language names during the dictatorship of the fascists. After 1972, the team introduced full color to the design and also reverted to their name that was originally the English "Athletic Club" name. Since 2008, the form of the shield had been altered and a brand new "Athletic Club" typeface was launched.

Detail of the players as below mentioned.

As of 17 July 2022

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ESP	Unai Simón
2	DF	ESP	Álex Petxa
4	DF	ESP	Iñigo Martínez
5	DF	ESP	Yeray Álvarez
6	MF	ESP	Mikel Vesga
7	FW	ESP	Álex Berenguer
8	MF	ESP	Oihan Sancet
9	FW	GHA	Iñaki Williams
10	FW	ESP	Iker Muniain (captain)
12	DF	ESP	Daniel Vivian
14	MF	ESP	Dani García
15	DF	ESP	Iñigo Lekue
16	MF	ESP	Unai Vencedor
17	DF	ESP	Yuri Berchiche
18	MF	ESP	Óscar de Marcos (2nd captain)
19	MF	ESP	Oier Zarraga
20	FW	ESP	Asier Villalibre
22	FW	ESP	Raúl García (3rd captain)
24	DF	ESP	Mikel Balenziaga
26	GK	ESP	Julen Agirrezabala
30	FW	ESP	Nico Williams
31	DF	ESP	Aitor Paredes
33	FW	ESP	Nico Serrano
—	FW	ESP	Gorka Guruzeta

The current president of the club Jon Uriarte is the current president of the club. Jon Uriarte.

The board of directors of the Athletic Club is composed of the following directors:

• President: Jon Uriarte.
• Vice-President: Mikel Martínez.
• Secretary: Fernando San José.
• Vice-Secretary: María Tato.
• Treasurer: Aitor Bernardo.
• Accountant: Jon Ander de las Fuentes.
• Board members: Begoña Castaño, Goyo Arbizu, Itziar Villamandos, Óscar Beristain, Joana Martínez, Iker Goñi, Óscar Arce, Ricardo Hernani, Tomás Ondarra, Jorge Gómez, Manu Mosteiro.
• Managing Director: Jon Berasategi.
• General Secretary: Juan Ignacio Añibarro.
• Sporting Director: Rafael Alkorta.

Athletic Bilbao is a professional association football club that is based within Bilbao, Spain, which is a part of La Liga. This chronological listing includes the managers who held the post of manager of the initial group from Athletic Bilbao from 1910, the year that the very first manager of professional status was appointed until the present. Every manager's entry lists the dates of his tenure as well as the awards he received and his notable achievements during his time as a manager.

As per detail below。

• La Liga : 1929–30, 1930–31, 1933–34, 1935–36, 1942–43, 1955–56, 1982–83, 1983–84
• Copa del Rey : 1903, 1904, 1910, 1911, 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1923, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1933, 1943, 1944, 1944–45, 1949–50, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1969, 1972–73, 1983–84
• Supercopa de España : 1984, 2015, 2020–21
• Copa Eva Duarte : 1950

Official competitions

• Primera División : 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2015–16
• Euskal Herria Cup : 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Invitational competitions

• Sport Mundi Tournament : 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012
• COTIF: 2015
• Teresa Herrera Trophy: 2017, 2018
• Ramón de Carranza Trophy: 2019

• Pos. = Position;
• Pld = Matches played;
• W = Matches won;
• D = Matches drawn;
• L = Matches lost;
• GF = Goals for;
• GA = Goals against;
• Pts = Points

Athletic Bilbao is a Spanish football club from Spain.

Institutional information:

• Associates: 44,171
• Official fans groups: 452
• Budget: €101,940,138 (2018–19 season)
• TV income: €71,000,000 (2016–17 season)

Best positions:

• Seasons in La Liga: all.
• Best position in La Liga: 1st (8 times)
• Worst position in La Liga: 17th (once)
• Historical position in the ranking of La Liga: 5th
• Best position in UEFA Champions League / European Cup: Quarter-finals (1956–57)
• Best position in UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup: Runners-up (1976–77, 2011–12)
• Entries in UEFA competitions: 32 (as of 2017–18 season)

5 participations in the UEFA Champions League / European Cup
18 participations in the UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup
2 participations in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
6 participations in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup
1 participation in the UEFA Intertoto Cup

Goals records:

• Most goals scored in one match home: Athletic 12 – Barcelona 1 (1930–31)
• Most goals scored in one match away: Osasuna 1 – Athletic 8 (1958–59)
• Most goals scored in one match in Copa del Rey: Athletic 12 – Celta Vigo 1 (1946–47)
• Most goals scored in one match in European competitions: Belgium Standard Liège 1 – Athletic 7 (2004–05)

Players records:

• Top scorer of club history: Telmo Zarra (367 goals)
• Most games played: José Ángel Iribar (614 matches)
• Most titles won by the club: Guillermo Gorostiza (15 titles)
• Youngest player to debut (amateur): Domingo Acedo (16 years old)
• Youngest player to debut (professional): Iker Muniain (16 years old)
• Youngest goalscorer (amateur): Domingo Acedo (16 years old)
• Youngest goalscorer (professional): Iker Muniain (16 years old)
• Oldest player to retire: Armando Ribeiro (39 years old)
• Oldest goalscorer: Aritz Aduriz (38 years old)
• Most expensive player signing: Iñigo Martínez (signed in 2018 for €32M from Real Sociedad)
• Most expensive player sold: Kepa Arrizabalaga (sold in 2018 for €80M to Chelsea)

• Alongside Real Madrid and Barcelona, Athletic is among the three teams to have participated in every version of La Liga, without ever being disqualified.
• In the 1929-29 season ended the league undefeated after just 18 games.
• Is the record holder for the most significant victory of all time in La Liga (12-1 to Barcelona on 1931).
• The record is for the greatest win of Copa del Rey (12-1 to Celta Vigo from 1947).
• The record holder for the greatest victory away from Real Madrid (0-6 in Santiago Bernabeu), Barcelona (0-6 in Camp Nou), Espanyol (1-5) and Osasuna (1-8).
• Telmo Zarra was the sole footballer in tradition of La Liga to be top scorer six times.
• Zarra is the most prolific scorer ever in Copa del Rey (81 goals).
• Gainza holds the record for the most goals scored in the course of a single La Liga match (8 goals).
• Zarra has the distinction of having the the most goals scored in the Copa del Rey final (4 goals).

As per detail below.

• Name: San Mamés
• Nickname: La Catedral (The Cathedral)
• City: Bilbao
• Opened: September 2013
• Capacity: 53,289[2]
• Beginning construction: 25 May 2010.
• End construction (partial): September 2013.
• End construction (total): August 2014.
• Pitch size: 105 m × 68 m (344 ft × 223 ft)
• Sports Facilities: Lezama

Lezama Facilities Lezama facilities is the facility in which all the classes of Athletic practice. It was officially opened in 1971-72 season under the direction by Felix Oraa. The facilities currently include, inter alia the five grass-based fields that are natural, as well as a gym with a pediment, an medical center, and a housing facility for youngsters. Lezama is under renovation since 1995 under the leadership by Jose Maria Arrate, which included the creation of new roads, parking exits and entry points that are that can accommodate the massive amount of vehicles that pass through every day, as well as an enclosure for the platform that provides more convenience for fans who attend the games of the youth teams as well as various other football clubs for youth.

The facilities are situated within Lezama, a municipality. Lezama about 10 miles away distant from Bilbao.

The Board has given its approval to the "Lezama Master Plan" that was created to modernize the structures of both youth teams as well as the first team. "The "Plan" was the product from a meticulous review of the essential requirements to ensure the long-term success of Lezama Athletic Club. The project will be completed over 2 to 3 years and its budget is approximately EUR12 million. The Club has committed itself to consolidating its cantera structure. It is the base that will determine the next direction for the Club . in this respect Lezama will be extended to include classrooms for youth work in lower categories, and also a department for audiovisual.