Athletic Club Women’s Team: a dream that came true 17 years ago

Today, Athletic Club commemorates the 17th anniversary of the first match played by their first female team. On 6 October 2002, Lezama was witness to a major event in the history of Biscayan sports. The red-and-white team, managed by Iñigo Juaristi back then, made their debut in the Superliga, playing as hosts against Torrejón. A contest where 11 lionesses wore Athletic Club’s shirt for the first time, making their dream come true. Their first match gathered more than a thousand people at field 2. The clash ended up with a 7-1 goal-fest against the team from Madrid. Months later, the side managed to get their first league title after a match against Hispalis at San Mamés, which was followed by 35,000 people in the stadium.

In that very first team, footballers Tzibi Juaristi, Eli Ibarra and Iraia Iturregi made their first appearance. Now they are Athletic Club managers. Tzibi, the most veteran of them, has picked up the reins of the new Women C team that plays in the Territorial. Iraia is the manager of the reserve team, which plays in the Reto Iberdrola. As for Eli, she is in charge of the Genuine side, being also an active collaborator on different Athletic Foundation’s projects and while she is temporarily the delegate of the Women’s first team until Saioa González returns from her maternity leave. The three former Lionesses have spent plenty of hours at Lezama, travelled together on numerous occasions and shared a number of league titles.

Three pioneering women who started defending the red and white colours on the pitch on 6 October 2002, and are still here to transmit Athletic’s values to the promising young female footballers at the Club’s Academy 17 years later.