Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Club de Bilbao is a Basque football club from Bilbao in Vizcaya. The club, which was founded by British expatriates in 1898, currently plays in the Primera División, where it has resided since the formation of Spain's national league in 1928. Of the founding league members, only Athletic, Real Madrid, and FC Barcelona have never been relegated. The club's biggest international success was in 1976-77, losing in the final of the UEFA Cup to Juventus.

History

Football was introduced to Bilbao by two distinct groups of players, both with British connections. In the late 1800s Bilbao was a leading port at the heart of an important indusrial area with iron mines and shipyards nearby. It was the driving force of the Spanish economy and as a result attracted many migrant workers. Among them were miners from the north-east of England, including Sunderland, and shipyard workers from Southampton and Portsmouth. In the early 1890s these workers came together and formed Bilbao Futbol Club. Meanwhile, sons of the Basque educated classes had made the opposite journey and went to Britain to complete their studies in civil engineering and commerce. While in Britain these students developed an interest in football and on their return to Bilbao they began to arrange games with British workers. In 1898 students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the Athletic Club, deliberately using the English spelling. In 1901 a meeting was held in the Cafe Garcia which established more formal rules and regulations. In 1902 the two Bilbao clubs sent a combined team, known as Club Vizcaya , to the first Copa del Rey, sometimes referred to as the Coronation Cup . They returned with the trophy after defeating FC Barcelona in the final. This would lead to the eventual merger of the two clubs as Athletic Club de Bilbao in 1903. In the same year Basque students also formed Athletic Club de Madrid.

Related Topics:
Copa del Rey - FC Barcelona

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The clubs foundation date is the a subject of debate among football historians. The club itself declares 1898, but others claim 1901 is the true founding year. There is also a strong case for 1903. Equally debated, is the origin of the club colours. Although their first colours were blue and white stripes, in 1910 they switched to red and white stripes. There are three schools of thought about why this occurred. The most common theory is that they were changed out of deference to Sunderland and Southampton. Another is that an Athletic member was sent to Britain to buy a batch of blue and white tops but could not find any and returned with red and white tops instead. Perhaps the most credible theory, however, is that red and white striped tops were the cheapest stripes to make because the same combination was used to make bed mattresses. The left over cloth was easily converted into football shirts. Altough both Athletic Bilbao and Atletico Madrid started out with blue and white stripes, the discovery of a cheaper option probabably persuaded them to change. The Madrid club did it first and they became known as Los Colchoneros (the mattress-makers).

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Morbo Phil Ball; Football In Spain Alex Graham;

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www.athletic-club.net

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