Athletic Bilboa Questions

[Catfish]

I am starting to grow very fond of this small club. The home crowd is electric. I'm amazed at how they stay up in the top flight of La Liga with drawing only from the Basque region.

Have they won any Copa Del Reys....I hope I got that correct (Spanish Cups)?

Have they won any Spanish League titles?

How many years have they been in the top flight?

Thanks for any and all help.

[RandyNA74]

First off it's BilbAo, not BilbOa. ;)

Athletic is a cup monster. I think they have won something like 23 Kings Cups. A few leagues, though not sure how many offhand.

They've been in top flight as long as anyone can remember. Don't know of if and when they were ever in Segunda.

[Catfish]

First off it's BilbAo, not BilbOa. ;)

Athletic is a cup monster. I think they have won something like 23 Kings Cups. A few leagues, though not sure how many offhand.

They've been in top flight as long as anyone can remember. Don't know of if and when they were ever in Segunda.

VERY COOL! I knew they were cool, but this just makes it sweeter.

[Bilbao2Brooklyn]

I am starting to grow very fond of this small club. The home crowd is electric. I'm amazed at how they stay up in the top flight of La Liga with drawing only from the Basque region.

Have they won any Copa Del Reys....I hope I got that correct (Spanish Cups)?

Have they won any Spanish League titles?

How many years have they been in the top flight?

Thanks for any and all help.Outside of Ream Madrid and Barcelona, Athletic Bilbao are the most successful club in spain, historically.

They have never , ever, ever, been relegated.

http://www.athletic-club.net/gifs/trackrecords.gif http://www.athletic-club.net/lineahorizontal.gif

Spanish League Titles

8 Championships
1929-30 1930-31 1933-34 1935-36 1942-43 1955-56 1982-83 1983-84

7 Runner-up
1931-32 1932-33 1940-41 1946-47 1951-52 1969-70 1997-98

Spanish Cup Titles (COPA DEL REYS)

24 Championships1902 1903 1904 1910 1911 1914 1915 1916 1921 1923 1930 1931 1932 1933 1943 1944 1945 1950 1955 1956 1958 1969 1973 1984

11 Runner-up
1905 1906 1913 1920 1941-42 1948-49 1952-53 1965-66 1966-67 1976-77 1984-85

Spanish Supercup

1 Championship
1984-85

1 Runner-up
1983-84

UEFA Cup

1 Runner-up
1976-77

The team has an Illustrious past. Have you ever heard the term Pichichi? It is the term for the top goal scorer in La Liga. He was a player for Athletic.

The nickname for the stadium, San Mames, is "La Catedral", The Cathedral. Seeing a match there is a religous experience.

Great players have included All time La Liga goal scorer Zarra.


Goto www.athletic-club.net (http://www.athletic-club.net/) , they have an english section, and check on the left the "History" link. everything you might need to know.

Current player include Joseba Etxeberria, Ismael Urzaiz, Asier Del Horno, The on-fire Santi Ezquerro, Pablo Orbaiz and flamboyant Fran Yeste.

Anything else that it takes to make you a Bilbao fan, let me know, I'll tell you 'cause we got it all.

[Persian Luis Figo]

Long time reader... but never bothered to register to post... anyways i took the initiative today and this topic is what motivated me ;) because I love ATletic Bilbao.

I love the fact that their transfer policy is to only acquire Basque players and yet they're always at least around UeFa cup places.

I mean Sociedad can at least bring in foreign players like Nihat.. but no spanish players that aren't basque... which makes their job a lot easier though out the season to be able to have a star Turkish or Serbian player but we lost 3-2... very good match though but those ********ers came back...

p.s. If I remember correctly a couple years ago, Sociedad bought BORIS.. who wasn't Basque?? whats up with that? do they not have that policy anymore or was that a one time thing allowed by their chairman??

Anyways i'd like to know even more about Atletico Bilbao even though I already know a lot ;). I've gone to their website... and read all that history and stuff... but you'd think somewhere on the site... it will mention something about their special transfer policy so a person who's not familiar to it would learn.

Also their website is good.. but too bad they dont have player DESCRIPTIONS... when you click on lets say Ezquerro... they have his stats from past seasons but no description like other websites ususally have.

[Persian Luis Figo]

wow... does anybody come into this forum?? damn.. i joined cuz i thought it was sooooo big! :confused: :(

[Quango]

wow... does anybody come into this forum?? damn.. i joined cuz i thought it was sooooo big! :confused: :(

The Basque Clubs form isn't that big, sorry. It's also winter break for La Liga, though, so posting has been especially light.

Welcome, though. Quango

[Bilbao2Brooklyn]

wow... does anybody come into this forum?? damn.. i joined cuz i thought it was sooooo big! :confused: :(Persian, welcome.

The Basque forum is not as busy as I would like but quango and I try to keep it busy, with an assist from Sinko.

We are at winter break for the moment so the posting will be light.

[Persian Luis Figo]

Yeah I realized that guys... but i was still tempted to do a second message saying C'MON!! :D

Either way I hope you guys come and teach me a lot more about Bilbao because i really like them.... and you'd tell me why Sociedad were allowed to buy Boris a few years back and lots more?

take care.

[RandyNA74]

I have an interest in Basque teams as well and try to post here when I can, but Quango, Bilbao2Brooklyn etc. are more knowledgeable about it than I am so I'm happy just reading what's going on most of the time.

[Persian Luis Figo]

yeah so do I in fact i've been reading for long time but never registered.

Anyways apart from other questions i've asked earlier in the thread about Bilbao, i'd also like to know of La Liga Basque players outside "Bilbao, Sociedad and Osasuna" and if they're any good.

I only know of Mikel (Albacete)
Aitor Ocio (Sevilla)
Palacios (Levante)

and few other crap players.

[Persian Luis Figo]

oh man... lol still no reply... i thought BIGsoccer.com forums were HUGE... anybody know a bigger foootball forum... like the busiest one you honestly seen?

thanks

[Bilbao2Brooklyn]

oh man... lol still no reply... i thought BIGsoccer.com forums were HUGE... anybody know a bigger foootball forum... like the busiest one you honestly seen?

thanksI think this maybe the wrong place for you.

While I found your posts interesting, I find my reading for Law School a bit more important to get to. So I apologize for not immediately responding to you.

[Persian Luis Figo]

Of course your studies are more important man... i'm in University right now myself.. 1st year for Commerce and sometimes i dont got time for anything else.

but i was just politely asking if you guys honestly know a more busier forum?
plus why should you be the only one who will respond to me you know what i mean ;) while I like reading your posts... i wish there were more than 3 or 4 participants in this thread.

I think Portuguese part of this forum is descent though.. quite a lot of people there... maybe because lots of Portueguese people here... not enough spanish i dunno...
anyways dont worry bro... study for law and get back to me whenever you feel like.

[PYordan]

waa waa waa, you are looking on an American soccer website for information about Athletic, what exactly do you expect?

Anyways my roommate is from Bilbao and he's a ridiculous Athletic fan. Two questions, both of which have probably been asked elsewhere:

What do you think of the new advertisement on the non-league Athletic jersey, (first one ever)

Can French Basques be on the team? Not that they really need a 36 year old Lizarazu, but I'm curious.

[RandyNA74]

Apparently they can since Lizarazu already played for Athletic in the past. ;)

[PYordan]

yeah, you are right. I hate it when my lack of knowledge is exposed.

[ezpatari]

Did you guys see the article in FIFA:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/031219/1/kd3.html

in particular the quotation:

"In Bilbao, did only Basque players play?
Players had to be born in the Basque country. It was impossible for anybody born in Madrid to play for us. That was God’s law. Bilbao would rather be relegated to the second division than allow Spaniards or foreigners to play for them."

(I like the little part about God's law ;) )

To the person who wants a busier Athletic forum, try:

http://www.aupaathletic.com/foros/

[Bilbao2Brooklyn]

Did you guys see the article in FIFA:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/031219/1/kd3.html

in particular the quotation:

"In Bilbao, did only Basque players play?
Players had to be born in the Basque country. It was impossible for anybody born in Madrid to play for us. That was God’s law. Bilbao would rather be relegated to the second division than allow Spaniards or foreigners to play for them."

(I like the little part about God's law ;) )

To the person who wants a busier Athletic forum, try:

http://www.aupaathletic.com/foros/That is incorrect. Right now, there are players (Aranzubia and the striker Ezquerro)on Athletic from La Rioja, for example, that is not part of Euskadi.

[PYordan]

no, its not incorrect, it is just a loose (sometimes very loose) interpretation of what is traditional Basque territory, which I guess includes northern La Rioja, according to some. I know a lot of hard core Basques consider Basque lands to extend beyond the official comunidad El Pais Vasco. Navarrans can often play for Bilbao, despite the fact that Navarra has been an independent kingdom for about 10 centuries.