Euskal Non-League Day: Antiguoko KE

Location: Donostia
Ground: Campo de Berio
Division: División de Honor Juvenil (Top youth league)
Match: Antiguoko KE vs Aurrera de Vitoria (Sept 9. 17:30 CEST)

Founded in May 1982 by Leandro Carro and Dodaka Salegi, the Antiguoko have been one of the leading academy sides in The Basque Country for the past four decades, producing a score of top-level players. 

During that time, the Donsotia outfit have maintained an extensive relationship with Athletic Club, a connection which recently strengthened thanks to the affiliiate agreement signed in the summer of 2020 and set to last until 2030 at least.

This first edition of Euskal Non-League Day brings a 100 percent #MadeInEuskalHerria clash to Gipuzkoa as Antiguoko face Aurrera de Vitoria at their Campo de Berio on Saturday (17:30 CEST).

Julen Agirrezabala is expected to be among those attending the match and he will be handing out the raffle prizes: a men's first team shirt signed by the Lions, a women's first team top signed by the Lionesses and double VIP tickets for Athletic vs Cadiz on Saturday 16 at San Mames.

Leading football academy

Based in Donostia's Antigua neighbourhood, just a stone's throw away from the famous Ondarreta beach, Antiguoko are reponsible for bringing through some of the most important players in Athletic's recent history.

The relationship between Athletic and the Basque province of Gipuzkoa has been ever present at our club. For example, the brothers Miguel and Alfonso Sena played for Los Leones as early as 1907, before "Michel" became Real Sociedad's first captain upon their official foundation in 1909. A third brother, Gregorio Sena, would turn out for Athletic in the 1919/20 season.

The Antiguoko-Athletic Club connection first began to bear fruit around 30 years ago when Aitor Huegun - who was part of the Athletic side which won the youth double in 1992 - and Juanjo Valencia arrived in Bilbao. Both players made their first team debuts under Jupp Heynckes and were part of the squad that finished as LaLiga runners-up in 1998 - our centenary season. They were the first in a long line of players to come to Bizkaia from Antiguoko.

Andoni Iraola and Aritz Aduriz, two modern-day legends of Athletic Club, arrived later that decade after reaching the semi-finals of the Youth Cup in 1999. They were part of an Antiguoko KE generation that also featured well-known names like Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso.

What's more, Aduriz and Iraola played for Athletic at the same time as other former Antiguoko KE graduates such as Ander Murillo - currently a member of Bilbao Athletic's coaching staff- and David Asensio

In recent years, the Sky Blues have provided Athletic with a steady stream of top flight players such as Alex Petxarroman, Iñigo Díaz de Cerio, Kenan Kodro and Unai López, while other notable footballers like Iker Hernández, Imanol Agirretxe, Jon Guruzeta and Mikel Alonso have also spent time at the Lezama academy. This legacy remains present today thanks to current first-team players Gorka Guruzeta, Julen Agirrezabala, Peru Nolaskoain and Yuri Berchiche - all of them took some of their first formative steps as footballers at Antiguoko.

The collaboration shows no signs of slowing down. Proof of this is the recent arrivals of Alex Alba, Oier Gastesi and Unax Rezola.