Players with a red-and-white and a black-and-green past

The bond between Athletic Club and Sestao River has been reinforced recently. Since Sestao Sport Club was re-founded as Sestao River Club in 1996, several players of its team have played in the first team of Athletic Club.This is the case of Ibai Gómez, Gaizka Toquero or Koikili Lertxundi, among others. But there have also been moves in the opposite direction. Players that after making their debut in the First Division with Athletic Club, ended up playing in Las Llanas. Roberto Pampín, Ibon Gutiérrez or Gaizka Bergara are some of the examples that started wearing the red-and-white t-shirt to the green and black t-shirt.

As for the players who moved from Sestao to Lezama since 1996, the first ones who arrived at Athletic Club were Mikel Dañobeitia and Eder Martínez. Both players arrived at the red and white club for the 2005-06 season, with José Luis Mendilibar heading the team; two years later, in 2007-08, Athletic got an agreement with Koikili Lertxundi, who remained at the club for the following five seasons. Later on, Gaizka Toquero (for another five seasons) and Joseba del Olmo (one year) joined the Club for the 2008-09 season. The last player to join Athletic Club with a green-black background was Ibai Gómez, a player from the current team who joined the red-and-white squad for the first time in 2010-11.

Eight players did it the other way around, moved from Athletic Club to Sestao River:  Gorka Azkorra, who left Athletic Club in 2005 although he did not join the Left Bank entity until 2016; Roberto Pampín (he left in 2005 and joined River in 2006 after a year at Real Unión Club); Francisco Javier Tarantino, who left Athletic Club in 2006 although he did not sign for Sestao River Club until a decade later; Pablo Paredes, who left Athletic Club in 2006 and played with the green-and-black entity in the 2009-10 season; Ibon Gutiérrez, who left our club in 2006 and arrived in Las Llanas in 2011; Aritz Solabarrieta, whose last season as a player of our team was in 2006 and arrived at River in 2012 and the last ones, Gaizka Bergara (2008) and Isaac Aketxe (2010).

* Season they arrived at Athletic Club
** Season they arrived at the Sestao River Club.

Records in Cup
As for the official records, without taking into account friendly matches, the two clubs met three times during the 1980s in the Cup, with Athletic Club moving forward to the next round in the three cases. During the 1981-82 season, it was  Sestao River Club who won 1-0 in Las Llanas, but Noriega’s double in the second leg served to turn the tie around. In the following season, Sarabia scored the only goal of a 1-0 played away win. That happened before a goalless draw in San Mames. Finally, during the 1988-89 season, Sestao’s 0-0 draw in Bilbao was followed by a 1-0 win, with Uralde scoring the only goal. Three matches won, then, as a result, two draws and one defeat.