Main Photo by Yves Alarie

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NICKNAME – Los Leones/Lehoiak (The Lions), Los Rojiblancos/Zuri-gorriak (The Red and Whites)
FOUNDED – 1898
LOCATED IN – Bilbao, Basque Country
STADIUM – San Mamés
BY METRO – 10 minutes from the centre
CAPACITY – 53,289
PROMOTED – Ever Present
BEST LA LIGA FINISH – Winners (8 times)
BEST COPA DEL REY RUN – Winners (24 times)
BEST EC/CL FINISH – QF (1957)
BEST UC/EL FINISH – Runners Up (Twice)
BEST CWC FINISH – R16 (1973/1974)
RECORD GOALSCORER – Telmo Zarra (335)
2023/2024 FINISH – 5th

FIVE FACTS ABOUT ATHLETIC BILBAO
1. Football was brought to Bilbao in the 19th century by a mixture of English migrants and students returning from English universities. In the early pre-WWII years, they were coached by a succession of English managers.
2. As far as the playing staff is concerned, Athletic only field players from the Greater Basque Country, which extends into modern day France.
3. The San Mamés stadium is named after St Mammes, who was thrown to the lions by the Romans, but survived. St Mammes is also the reason they are known as “The Lions”.
4. They are the only side apart from Real Madrid and Barcelona to have never been relegated from the top flight since its inception.
5. They won the first ever Copa Del Rey in 1903.

FIVE FACTS ABOUT BILBAO
1. The city rose to prominence as a port exporting iron mined in the Biscayan region.
2. Its Aste Nagusia festival attracts over a million people each year and has been voted Spain’s most important.
3. The amount of Basque speakers in Bilbao is on the increase, with 30% able to both speak and understand it and an additional 20% only able to understand.
4. Residents come from 127 different countries, with the largest communities from Colombia and Bolivia.
5. Bilbao’s Guggenheim Museum, designed by Frank Gehry, is one of the most admired works of modern architecture in the world.

INTERESTING VIDEO LINKS
Official anthem
“Gogoaren Indarra”
Kepa Junkera on the “trikiti” (Basque accordion)
A look around Bilbao

OTHER SPANISH CLUBS
Alavés, Almería, Athletic, Atlético Madrid, Barcelona, Betis, Cádiz, Celta Vigo, Éibar, Elche, Espanyol, Getafe, Girona, Granada, Huesca, Las Palmas, Leganés, Levante, Mallorca, Osasuna, Rayo Vallecano, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad, Sevilla, Valencia, Valladolid, Villarreal