Rivals by country: BELGIUM

On this day, but 108 years ago, in 1912, May 12, Athletic Club faced a Belgian team for the first time, the Daring Club of Brussels, a rival that would end up being special in the history of Athletic Club. After several mergers, the club became Racing White Daring Molenbeek in the 1970s, a team dropped out by the lions in the semi-finals of the 1977 UEFA Cup. Athletic played two matches against Racing White Daring at Jolaseta, being defeated in the first match by 5-1 and drawing in the second clash by 2-2, four days later on May 16, in 1912.

Daring Club is the first team that appears in the list of Belgian rivals, made up of 15 clubs and the Liege national team, which we have faced on 34 different occasions, 13 times corresponding to the UEFA Cup in its different denominations, and another 21 times in a friendly way.

Overall, Athletic has won 16 matches, drawn 9 and being defeated 9 times as well.

The strongest teams in Belgium
In more than a century of clashes, Athletic Club has faced the strongest and most traditional teams in the history of Belgian football, those who lead the historical classification of the First Division or are at the ranking of titles.

Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Standard de Liège stand out amongst the teams; they have won 60 League championships and have remained virtually unchanged over time. However, Athletic have also faced less well-known teams such as Union Saint Gilloise, 11 times League champions, RFC Liège (5), Royal Antwerp (4) and the aforementioned RWD Moleenbek, who, along with their predecessors, have won 12 championships.

European championships
Athletic Club has faced qualifying rounds against Belgian rivals on five occasions, winning three of them and being defeated in two. In addition, on 2 other occasions, Belgian clubs have taken part at the Group Stage along with red-and-white limos. In both groups, Athletic made it to the next round.

• The 1964/65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup faced Athletic Club against its first official Belgian rival, Royal Antwerp. The lions won 2-0 at San Mames, and 1-0 at the Bosuil Stadium in Antwerp in the 16th round of the competition.
• RWD Moleenbek did not lose either of their two matches in the 1977 UEFA semi-final, but their adventure ended due to double value of the goals scored away in the event of a draw, 1-1 in Brussels and 0-0 in San Mames.
• In the 1/16th final of UEFA 85/86, the rival was RFC Liège, whom Athletic beat with a 1-0 away win and a 3-1 at home.
• Beveren was the first Belgian club to send Athletic out of an official competition. It happened in the 16th UEFA in 86/87, beating the red-and-white by 3-1 in Belgium and defeating us by a single goal, 2-1, at San Mames.
• To finish, in the same UEFA round but at the 2009/10 season, Anderlecht dropped out Athletic Club after a 1-1 draw in Bilbao and a 4-0 win in the Belgian capital. A young Romelu Lukaku stood out in that team.

As far as the group stages were concerned, two results are worth remembering:

• In the 2004/05 season, Athletic achieved their best score in a European competition, 7-1 against Standard. Athletic, headed by Ernesto Valverde, needed to win that one game against the Belgians in the group, and they managed to do so with a memorable win. Three goals scored by Ezquerro, plus those from Yeste, Iraola, Del Horno and Etxeberria, completed a historic win.

• The two-legged qualifying round against Genk in the Group Stage of the 2016/17 season also provided a highlight. After a 2-0 defeat on Belgian land, Athletic carried out a revenge with a 5-3 win at La Catedral, with Aritz Aduriz shining brightly that made a major victory possible.

Against the Selection of Liege
The match between Athletic Club and a Liege team, made up of the best players of the city, on 25 May, 1922 in the Belgian city deserves a special mention. In addition to the international matches played in the nearby city, Bourdeaux, it was the first time that the lions travelled to the central Europe, a significant distant journey to play a single match.

The lions, led by Mr. Burton, won 1- 0 against a team made up of the best players from the different teams of the city, thanks to a goal scored by Laca. The chronicles of the time pointed out that ‘there was great expectation to witness the match and the goal was formidable’.

The list of Belgian rivals is completed by Lierse, Sint-Niklaas, Gent, Charleroi, and Sporting Lokeren.