Get to know Atalanta BC, Athletic’s final pre-season opponents

Athletic Club's last 2026/27 pre-season fixture sees the Lions travel to Italy to face Serie A outfit Atalanta BC for the Trofeo Bortolotti at the Stadio di Bergamo on Friday 14 August (20:45 CEST).

Los Leones and La Dea (the Goddess) have recent history, with Athletic producing a memorable comeback to defeat the Italians 2-3 in last season’s Champions League group phase.

Much like Athletic, Atalanta, who finished seventh in the league and qualified for the Conference League last season, are getting used to life under a new head coach after the experienced Maurizio Sarri took over from Raffaele Palladino in June.

This is the eighth and last friendly in what has been a busy summer for the Edin Terzić’s Lions, following on from warm-up matches against CD Derio (0-3 win), SD Leioa (0-11 win), Sestao River (0-3 win), SD Eibar (2-2), Racing Santander (0-3 win) Burgos CF (0-3 win) and Olympique Marseille (1-3 loss).
 

Maurizio Sarri at the helm

Legendary Italian coach Maurizio Sarri has been brought into to replace Palladino, who himself was a mid-season replacement for Ivan Juric.

With over 35 years of managerial experience, Sarri is generally regarded as one of Italy’s top coaches. His previous job was at Lazio, where he led the Rome-based club for four years over two spells (2021/22-2023/24 and 2025/26), but he has also been in the dugout at Empoli FC, SSC Napoli, Chelsea FC, Juventus FC and a multitude of Italian lower-league sides.

I Nerazzurri only major signing so far this summer is Gianluca Gaetano from Cagliari Calcio, whilst Marco Palestra has joined Chelsea, Marco Brescianini has gone to Fiorentina and Berat Djimsiti has moved to Saudi Arabian side Al-Diriyah.

Nonetheless, Atalanta’s first-team squad includes a host of international talents, eight of whom featured in the 2026 World Cup: Sead Kolašinac (Bosnia & Herzegovina), Charles de Ketelaere (Belgium), Marten de Roon (Netherlands), Éderson (Brazil), Mario Pašalić (Croatia), Isak Hien (Sweden), Odilon Kossounou and Kamaldeen Sulemana (Ghana).

Added to that, several players have been capped by Italy: Giacamo Raspadori, Gianluca Scamacca, Giorgio Scalvini, Raoul Bellanova and Honest Ahanor.
 

Pre-season so far

I Nerazzurri have played three friendlies before hosting Athletic. They started off their pre-season with a 3-2 home against Serie B side SS Arezzo, before losing 2-1 to Feyenoord, whilst their most recent outing was a 0-3 away win over FC Schalke 04.
 

Italy’s favourite underdogs

Since their foundation in 1907, Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, a name inspired by the heroine of Greek mythology, have developed a reputation for punching above their weight in Italian football.

Atalanta are often referred to as ‘The Queen of the Provinces’, a nickname derived from the fact they hold the record for most seasons in the Serie A (66) among teams not representing regional capitals.

La Dea have won two major honours: the 1962/63 Coppa Italia and the 2023/24 UEFA Europa League, which they achieved by spoiling Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten season with a 3-0 win in the final. 

In recent years, Atalanta have been an ever present in continental competitions. This season included, and with the exception of 2022/23, the Italians have qualified for Europe every year since 2017/18.

I Nerazzurri are renowned for their prolific youth development. According to a recent CIES Football Observatory report, Atalanta’s academy has produced 94 top-flight players since 2005, the highest number in Italian football and joint-sixth at European level (Athletic are eighth).
 

Previous meetings

The two sides' only other encounter came in last season’s Champions League Group Phase. Athletic went into the Matchday 7 clash needing a win to keep their qualification hopes alive.

The Lions went down 1-0 in the first half, but produced a spectacular second-half turnaround, scoring three goals in 15 minutes via Gorka Guruzeta (58’), Nico Serrano (70’) and Robert Navarro (74’).

Nikola Krstović netted just before stoppage-time but the Lions held on to take three crucial points back to Bilbao.


Stadio di Bergamo

La Dea have played at the 23,500-seater Stadio di Bergamo (known as New Balance Arena for sponsorship purposes) since 1928. The stadium has undergone several renovations since opening, the most of recent of saw the Curva Sud modernised before the 2024/25 campaign.
 

The city of Bergamo

Bergamo has a population of 120,000 residents and most of the city is split between two centres: Città Alta ('Upper City'), a walled medieval town which sits atop a hill, and Città Bassa ('Lower City'), a modern neighbourhood which is located in the plains below.

The wider Bergamo province is also known for the Bergamesque dialect, which has official status in the region.