History

The Sunderland Daily Echo reports on a match played in Bilbao between English sailors.

Creation of the Zamacois Gymnastic Society in Bilbao, the seed of Athletic Club.

Athletic Club is founded.

Athletic Club’s first articles of association (1901) with 33 founding members.

From 1902 to 1910, Athletic sported blue and white team colours and the initials of the club's name, AC, emblazoned in the centre.

The 1903 La Copa winners Athletic pose in their blue and white kit. They won three consecutive titles starting in 1902.

Athletic Club unveiled its red and white shirt for the first time in a friendly match against Sporting de Irun in Amute (09/01/1910). The Board of Directors had entrusted Juan Elorduy, a footballer with Athletic de Madrid, with a consignment of blue and white shirts from Blackburn Rovers on his trip to England, but Elorduy instead brought shirts from Southampton in red and white stripes, the colours of the flag of Bilbao.

During the Copa tournament held in April 1911 in Jolaseta, several of the participating teams denounced the Bilbao team for improperly fielding foreigners. From then on, Athletic Club would compete only with home-grown players, thus giving birth to the philosophy that today distinguishes it from any other team in the elite of world football.

After spending several seasons at different grounds and on playing on pitches in Lamiako (Leioa, 1901-1911) and Jolaseta (Getxo), Athletic achieved its dream of having a ground in the city of Bilbao. It rented a plot of land adjacent to the San Mamés asylum, and built a stadium that was inaugurated on August 21, 1913 in a match against Real Racing Club de Irun.

Membership cards are created for Athletic Club fans.

Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, Pichichi, was Athletic’s first great legend. Scorer of the first goal at San Mamés, he scored 83 goals in 89 matches and since the 1950s the trophy for the top scorer in La Liga has borne his name. He died in 1922, a victim of typhus, at the age of 29. Soon after, a bust was erected in San Mamés, to which rival teams visiting the Cathedral for the first time still offer a bouquet of flowers.

The 1928-29 season brought a new competition: La Liga. Athletic Club was one of the ten teams participating in that first edition, in which it finished third, before going on to win the next two editions.

Fred Pentland, the first great coach of Athletic, who coached in two separate periods (1922-26 and 1929-1933), achieved the league and cup double in two consecutive seasons. A club icon, just like his trademark bowler hat.

Biggest Athletic win in the history of La Liga: Athletic beat FC Barcelona 12-1 in a match at San Mamés on February 8, 1931

Athletic's first history-making strike force, made up of Lafuente, Iraragorri, Bata, Chirri and Gorostiza, won three La Liga titles and five Copas in the five seasons they played together.

Athletic Club was forced to change its official name to Atlético de Bilbao after the Franco Regime imposed the 'Spanishisation' of names on all teams.

Iriondo, Venancio, Zarra, Panizo and Gainza. The most remembered attacking quintet in Athletic history.

Biggest win by Athletic in a cup tournament. As they did in La Liga against FC Barcelona, Athletic scored 12 goals against their opponents (RC Celta Vigo) in the Copa, 8 of which were scored by Gainza: Athletic 12 – Celta 1 (18/05/1947)

The Peña Gainza de Minglanilla (Cuenca) became Athletic Club’s first official supporters’ club.

After winning the 1955-56 Liga, the team made its debut in the newly created European Cup. They eliminated Porto and Honved and lost against Manchester United after an unforgettable first leg at San Mames (5-3) in the snow.

Copa victory: The 11 Villagers defeat Alfredo Di Stéfano’s Real Madrid in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Creation of the Athletic Under-19 team in the 1961-62 season under the presidency of José Luis Garay. The team were runners-up in the Copa in their first campaign and won the title consecutively for the next five years.

Début of José Ángel Iribar, ‘El Chopo’, aged 19 in a 1962-63 La Liga game. He would become one of the club's great legends over 18 seasons, defending the red and white goal. He holds the all-time record with 641 matches played for Athletic.

Although Athletic had already had a team with that name at the end of the 1930s, in 1964 it was created as a subsidiary of the first team. It began its journey in the regional category under the control of Piru Gainza, first, and then Rafa Iriondo, and in just five seasons it reached the Segunda Division.

Inauguration of the football school in Lezama (Bizkaia), the first in Spain, in the 1971-72 season, under the presidency of Félix Oráa, with three pitches and a building that included living quarters and changing rooms. The facilities were later expanded to include four more pitches and an indoor sports centre.

The Club returned to its original name, Athletic Club, after the decree banning team names containing foreign words was repealed.

Athletic Club played its first European final (UEFA) against Juventus FC. After the first leg in Turin ended 1-0, the Lions won 2-1 at San Mamés, but the double value of away goals prevented them from lifting the title.

First elections to elect a president on the basis of universal suffrage among all its members, a measure promoted by Jesús María Duñabeitia, president of Athletic from 1977 to 1982.

The achievement of winning the 82-83 La Liga, after a 27-year wait, in a thrilling last round of matches in Las Palmas, triggered wild scenes in Bilbao, where crowds of people gathered to welcome their team. The La Gabarra barge, which has since become a symbol of the club's success, took the champions along the estuary in front of hundreds of thousands of Athletic supporters.

In the 1983-84 season, Athletic Club achieved the fifth double in its history after winning La Liga on the last day in an unforgettable match against Real Sociedad and the final of the Copa against FC Barcelona at the Bernabeu. Obviously, they also won the Supercopa, having won both competitions.

The La Liga clubs became Public Limited Sports Companies (SADs) thanks to the fiscal consolidation plan in view of the huge debts accumulated. Only Athletic Club, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and CA Osasuna remained as clubs. In 1999, Athletic approved its current articles of association

Athletic celebrated its centenary in the best way possible, taking the runners-up spot in the 1997-98 La Liga, which opened the doors to the UEFA Champions League for the first time, having taken part in the European Cup three times in its history.

After merging with Leioa EFT, a club founded in 2000 and playing in the Superliga, Athletic Club made its debut in the top flight of women's football. It did so in Lezama on October 17, 2002 against AD Torrejon on the first day of a championship that it would end up winning.

On December 16, 2004, the Lions achieved their biggest win in Europe by defeating Belgian side Standard Liege 7-1. It was the fourth match in the UEFA Cup group stage and featured goals by Ezquerro (3), Yeste, Iraola, Del Horno and Etxeberria.

Athletic Club Women win three league titles in a row, becoming the first team to be permanently gifted the trophy.

After the 1977 final against Juventus, Athletic Club reached its second continental final (UEFA Europa League) after a brilliant run in the competition. They lost in Bucarest against Atlético de Madrid in the final.

100 years after its inauguration, the legendary Cathedral bade farewell with a friendly match against a team from Bizkaia and made way for the new, state-of-the-art San Mamés, which made its début with a LaLiga match against RC Celta on 16/09/2013.

After many years of trying, the men's first team returned to title-winning ways. They beat FC Barcelona in the Supercopa after an unforgettable 4-0 win at San Mamés and a 1-1 draw in the second leg at the Camp Nou.

The Lions win the 2021 Supercopa by defeating Real Madrid 2-1 in the semi-finals and beating FC Barcelona 3-2 in a final to remember.

The historic feat of playing two Copa finals in the same year, in April 2021, against Real Sociedad and FC Barcelona, could not be capped off with the coveted trophy.

6 April 2024. A day to remember. After losing six finals since the 1984 double, Athletic are once again champions of their favourite competition. The 25th Copa arrives in Seville - with tens of thousands of Athleticzales travelling to the city - following an agonising match against Mallorca which ended with a triumphant penalty shoot-out. Bilbao turns out five days later to see La Gabarra set sail after spending forty years on the sideline.