Yes, that's right. Less than a month after a match in which they played before a crowd of 20,000, Athletic Bilbao defeated Hispalis 5-0 to take the Spanish first division title. They win the title with 55 points. Levante also has 55 points but Athletic win on account of a win and a draw against Levante. Here's a translation of an article about the game(Mostly Babelfish and me fixing their sentences.(Or getting the gists) There will probably be some problems so any corrections would be fine) http://www.diario-elcorreo.es/vizcaya/edicion/prensa/noticias/Deportes/200304/28/VIZ-DEP-132.html Today Athletic proclaimed themselves champion of Superliga after defeating by 5-0 Hispalis on the last day of League. The support(liking) of women's soccer happed today at San Mamés which was jammed by an euphoric public who celebrated wildly to the girls of the Athletic. The Red and White has won the league title in their first year in the top division. Allá por el 10 de octubre del año pasado, cuando el Athletic femenino echó a andar con una goleada en Lezama al Torrejón, la junta directiva ya se dio cuenta de lo acertado de una sección que atrajo desde entonces a dos mil espectadores cada partido en Lezama. .(I somewhat get this but it didn't pan out. Since the board did something on the first day of the season when there were 2,000 people at the game. Just figured out. Lezama is the name of the youth team and I think their smaller stadium) What they nor the most fervent supporter of women's soccer would have imagined is that the Athletic would win the title before 35,000 spectators. Nobody doubted yesterday that the title was Athletic's. What was in question was how many goals they would score on a proud Hispalis side who were guests to this celebration. And the Bilbaoans scored five on Levante who were a worthy rival. The outcome of the encounter was already known(sung). There were not any nerves during the first half an hour which was the time that the Athletic took in controlling San Mamés for the first time with a header from Tzibi, after one of the many hurled crosses from the corner, all good, by Iraia, the best player in the party. The second goal was scored by Eva the midfielder of Uriagereka. With the nerves gone, only thing left was to enjoy. In addition to both goals, there were several shots saved by the Sevillian goalkeeper who will keep the video from the party in the best corner of her house. With the Superliga league in hand, the second half served to showcase more goals including another from Eva Ferreira who is the team leader with goals along with Nerea Onaindia(who is injured and will be operated on in a couple of weeks); Ibarra knocked one in from the post and Lorena scored from the penalty spot. Athletic celebrated their deserved success which thrilled the thousands of supporters especially the youngest of the fans. A celebration The players of the Híspalis who would have been happy with a goal were left waiting agaped at the celebration by the hosts. After these 22 matchdays, the popularity of women's soccer has icreased immensely in Vizcaya. This final match, which sometimes was on the brink of madness, points to a new social and sport phenomenon. The revelry acquired then its culminating point with the return of the champions. This occurred three weeks against Puebla who they surpassed in the table. In the history of San Mamés(The Stadium) and of Athletic where there has been too long of a time without a title, an important space for a group of girls will be reserved who have excited the Red and White. What happens now from this boom is unknown. At the moment, they will play for the Copa de la Reina. And later the Uefa Women's Cup.
So, are the women all Basques like the mens team too? If you're ever in Bilbao, a visit to the Guggenheim is a must do.
I assume fierce Basque pride had something to do with the interest. Was this match part of a doubleheader and what kind of admission was charged? If it was a single game that tickets were sold for, wow! That's a higher attendance than WUSA has ever drawn for anything (there were 36,000 at the first Freedom/United DH but many were not in the house for the WUSA game and Freedom only counted the halftime game of 21,000 for their attendance). So maybe FIFA should move the 2003 World Cup to Spain
http://www.athletic-club.net/ampliar.asp?noticia=832&idi=1 Some more photos there. No doubleheader. The men played starting a 8 the night before and the women played at noon the next day. Here's the page with the lineup. As far as I can tell only one player from outside of the Basque region and she is from Madrid! http://www.athletic-club.net/cantera.asp?equipo=Femenino&idi=1 Most of the names do look Basque to me. I sent an e-mail to the team about the tickets and some congratulatory notes. Tickets are usually very cheap in Europe for women's games. They have a little note that says you can buy a one year ticket(Jan-Dec) for 36 Euros(24 for under 18). This past year they played 11 games at home(22 overall) so that comes out to about $3.28 per game. Not bad. Also ignore the link below. That's a here and now link. This is the one for the archives: http://servicios.elcorreodigital.co...rtes/athletic/200304/27/athleticfemenino.html Check out the forum that's linked to that page. I thought BS was a tough place. Phew. Also I found out that all of the home games of the season were played at what I assume is the smaller ground or a training ground.(They talk about the other squads at the link. B teams and youth squads or their youngers as they call them) except for the last two of course. Also the yearly pass is for that ground. But I assume that after the immense success of these last two matches that they will be playing more in the Cathedral as they call it next season. Capacity at the Cathedral is 40,600. Maybe Fulham or Frankfurt will play there. Some of the English on this site is quaint. Training is behind opened doors. Sweet. In Spanish, they just say "opened door". One must not forget that this team is a new team. That is most of the players used to play for Leioa E.F.T. Anyway, here's the link to their history: http://www.athletic-club.net/historia.asp?equipo=Femenino&idi=2 I still think it's strange that they used head-to-head before goal difference. Well, they can make up the rules anyway they desire. By the way, Athletic is the only Basque team in the top division. However, they may be joined by another team next year. The second division is divided up, regionally, into six leagues.The first one appears to be just teams from the Basque and Navarra regions. The second group includes teams from Castilla and Leon as well as a few from Asturias. Third group is Catalonia and the fourth group is Madrid and Castille-La Mancha.(http://www.red2000.com/spain/images/photo/region/cm-cr.jpeg) The fifth group is for teams from Andalucia and the sixth group is for teams from the Canarias and maybe Mallorca. Can't tell. Good number of matches are suspended or forfeited. So I suspect island hopping is greatly diminished in the fall and winter. Big shock. Here's another page with photos. 500 photos, in fact! http://www.futbol-femenino.com/par06-01.htm