Match Pack: Newcastle United vs Athletic Club (Champions League 2025/26 MD4)

The Red-and-White wave returns to Europe again. Athletic Club's players will be backed by around 3,000 Athleticzales when we take on Newcastle United at St. James' Park.

After beating Qarabag two weeks ago, Ernesto Valverde's side will be looking to consolidate their position among the top 24 in the UCL League Phase.

The Lions will face stiff opposition in the form of Eddie Howe's Magpies, who have started well in the Champions League and are currently 8th in the League Phase with two wins and a single loss.

 

Match Info

St. James' Park, Newcastle

UEFA Champions League, League Phase MD4

Wednesday November 5, 18:45 CET

 

Team news

Ernesto Valverde has named a 23-man squad for Wednesday night's clash.

Valverde's and Areso's pre-match comments

Catch up with everything the gaffer and Jesus had to say.

 

The Opponents

Newcastle United's origins date back to the creation of Stanley FC in 1881. A year later, the club was renamed Newcastle East End FC. In 1982, Newcastle East End inherited the structures of the dissolved Newcastle West End FC, including St James' Park, and shortly afterwards changed names to Newcastle United FC.

Although most of their successes came in the first half of the 20th century, Newcastle, nicknamed 'The Magpies', are generally considered one of the most successful teams in English football history, with four league titles, six FA Cups, one League Cup and one Community Shield.

Furthermore, they have competed in Europe 18 times. Their first appearance was in the 1968/69 Fairs Cup, which they went on to win. However, they haven't reached the final of a major European competition since then. They closest they've been came in the 2003/04 season under Bobby Robson, when  Olympique Marseille knocked them out of the Champions League semi-finals.

After an 11-year absence from Europe, they qualified for the 2023/24 Champions League, but failed to make it out of a group that included AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund.

NUFC play at St James' Park, a 52,200-capacity stadium that was first opened in 1880 and has been used by Newcastle since 1892.

 

Head coach:

Eddie Howe currently runs the show at St. James' Park. The highly-rated coach first made waves at Bournemouth FC, taking over after a knee injury cut short his playing career.

He led the south-coast team from League Two to the Premier League between 2009 and 2015, with a brief spell at Burnley FC in 2011/12.

He then kept the club in the top flight for five seasons before it was eventually relegated. In November 2021, he replaced Steve Bruce at Newcastle United and steered the club away from the relegation zone.

The Magpies have gradually improved under his leadership, becoming a regular contender for European qualification.

 

Standout players:

Newcastle United are well known for mixing international talent with English players.

The team's foreign contingent includes: Sven Botman (Netherlands), Fabian Schar (Switzerland), Sandro Tonali (Italy), Anthony Elanga (Sweden), Nick Woltemade (Germany), Joelinton (Brazil) and current captain Bruno Guimaraes (Brazil). 

The young English players in the squad are: Lewis Hall, Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento and Jacob Ramsay. In addition, they have some more experienced England internationals, such as Nick Pope, Aaron Ramsdale, Kieran Trippier and Harvey Barnes. 

The Geordies' sense of identity and the club's absolute dominance of local support means that many players from the North East have donned the famous black and white stripes. The current Geordie members of the squad are Dan Burn and Lewis Miley. 

Other famous Geordies who have played for the Magpies include Jackie Milburn, Sean Longstaff, Paul Gascoigne, Peter Beardsley and Andy Carroll. Perhaps the best-known example is the club's record goalscorer, Alan Shearer, who scored 206 goals in 406 appearances for the club.

The Magpies have a strong youth academy and their players are known for turning down big contracts to stay at Newcastle United.

 

Recent form:

Newcastle have had a mixed start to the 2025/26 Premier League season and are currently in 13th place. Their most recent league outing was a 3-1 away loss to West Ham United.

The Toony Army have faired better in the Champions League. They kicked off their European campaign with a 1-2 home defeat against FC Barcelona, but have followed that up with a 0-4 away victory over Union Saint-Gilloise and a 3-0 win against Jose Mourinho's SL Benfica at St. James' Park.

 

Interesting facts:

• The match will take place on November 5th, a festive day in England called Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes Night related to a Catholic plot in 1605 that planned to assassinate the protestant king of the time.
   
• In October 2021, a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund became the majority owner of the club. 
   
• A Geordie folk song called ‘Blaydon Races’ is played at St James Park before every match.
   
• Dire Straits’ song ‘Going Home’ is also a pre-match regular at home games.
   
• NUFC were the main club in the Hollywood movie ‘Goal’, set around the career of fictional Mexican footballer, Santiago Muñez.
   
• The club's badge is modelled on the city's coat of arms, featuring two seahorses which represent Newcastle's status as a seaport and a castle. 
   
• For the first year of their existence NUFC played in red shirts and white shorts.

 

Tyneside's Toon Army: Pride of the Geordies

The city of Newcastle, or Newcastle upon Tyne, one of few one-club cities in England, is an important industrial and innovation centre in the North East. Like Bilbao, the region once prospered thanks to mining and shipbuilding industries, but the economic recession of the 1970s and 1980s led to massive decline and social unrest.

The residents of Tyneside (Greater Newcastle), known as Geordies, are renowned for their friendliness, work ethic and distinctive dialect (also called Geordie).

Another of the club's nicknames, “Toon Army”, is a Geordie trademark, as the word “town” is pronounced “toon” in the Tyneside region. Just like Bilbao and Athletic Club, Newcastle United supporters love to see local lads wearing their beloved black and white striped shirts.

What's more, former Athletic Club manager Howard Kendall was born in Tyneside (in the town of Ryton) and followed Newcastle as a child, regularly attending matches at St James' Park.

 

Previous Meetings

This will be the fifth time Athletic have taken on the Magpies, and it will be our third visit to the north-eastern English city. 

The two sides first met in the Uefa Cup Round of 32 back in 1994/95. The first leg at St. James’ Park finished 3-2, with Athletic fighting back from 3-0 down. The Lions advanced to the next round on away goals after Kuko Ziganda’s strike gave them a 1-0 victory at San Mamés.

Those matches have gone down in legend for the atmosphere in each city and the sense of camaraderie among both sets of fans. Before the return leg at San Mamés, Bilbao was awash with red-and-white and black-and-white kits. Supporters drank together and sang together, forming a bond and mutual respect which continues to this day.

In fact, at the end of the match in Bilbao, hundreds of Athleticzales invaded the pitch, rushing towards the away end to give a standing ovation to the Newcastle fans. The visiting supporters responded by chanting: “Athletic, Athletic, Athletic!”

In 2001, Athletic were invited to Newcastle for Rob Lee’s testimonial, with the Lions winning 0-1 thanks to a Julen Guerrero goal.

Most recently, the Zurigorri returned to Tyneside for a pre-season friendly in 2022/23. Eddie Howe’s side won 2-1, with Callum Wilson and Alan Saint Maximin giving them the lead before Raúl García pulled one back in the 64th minute.

 

How to Watch

Check out our global TV guide to make sure you don't miss the match. 

You can also follow the fixture, and keep up to date with everything Athletic related, through the official Athletic Club app, as well as on our website and social media accounts:

Twitter

Basque: @Athletic_eus

English: @Athletic_en

Spanish: @AthleticClub

Facebook

www.facebook.com/ATHLETICCLUB/ (Spanish + Basque)

Instagram

@athleticclub (Spanish + Basque)

Website

Basque: www.athletic-club.eus/eu/

English: www.athletic-club.eus/en/

Spanish: www.athletic-club.eus/