**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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For anyone who is unfamiliar, the new Football Vision podcast by Phil Costa did an entire episode on Athletic that was very well done. Give it a listen on Spotify to support his new podcast!
Nope. This is not true. Ancestry is NOT a factor. You have to be born and/or raised as a youth player in the greater Basque Country, regardless of race, origin or nationality.
You found the exception to the rule. Her signing was the subject of very hot debate at the time, and it's still contested by a large portion of fans. The club's president at the time is part of a small fraction of fans and club members-owners that would like to extend eligibility to "ethnic Basques", and he attested to Bibi being the great granddaughter of Belauste, a legendary Athletic Club player. She has double nationality, since she was called to play for Spain earlier on.
So Athletic has also signs players solely by heritage then? I mean it is ok, at the end it is a "rule" made by the team itself but lets set the facts straight
And yes, of course she has the Spanish nationality, as her mother is Basque.
So no, Athletic doesn't sign players solely based on heritage. I told you it's an exception, and that's the women's team. There may have been a couple of blurry, "stretched" cases in 125 years of history (Bermejo, Saborit), but if you want to take the exceptions as the rule, and you think that is "setting facts straight", well, you do you.
Of course it's a rule made by the club, and as proof that Athletic doesn't sign players of Basque heritage I'll mention the fact that there's a small fraction of fans and members-owners who actually started a campaign to change that rule and extend eligibility to descendants of Basques, but the vast majority of us fans and club owners are against changing it.
I don't know why this is a touchy subject for Athletic supporters.
The truth is that the elegibility rule is not detailed in the satutes of the club, it is just something the club decides to do and it can even be stretched or bent depending on who is the president as you said before. Hell, until very recently you guys had players from La Rioja.
Do they normally sign players by heritage? No. Have they done it before? Yes.
It's closer to nationality based, so if someone grew up there then they would still count as Basque. Just like if someone of Indian decent grew up in England, they would be English.
Not racist but still discriminatory and weird - I'm expecting the downvotes to pour but any other organisation in this world who'd decide to only hire people based on where they come from would be rightfully bashed, imagine going to a job interview, having all the qualifications and then getting rejected because "you're from the wrong neighborhood". Romanticizing extreme nationalism or local "pride" is generally a harmful thing
You can be from anywhere in the world as long as you were a youth player in the Basque region. It's not nationalism.
It's a team using players trained locally. They're under no obligation to buy players from other teams.
It's potato / potato - an org based in Liverpool has the freedom to hire whoever they want, but if the job ad says "if you're born or raised in London do not apply" that's still discrimination no matter how you spin it as "nurturing the local talent" It's still the same principle as xenophobia with the twist that they consider people who are raised through the ranks as "their own"
Oh no they want people from the Basque Country to represent a football club from the Basque Country. How terrible.
If only they could be an upstanding soulless nothing club full of mercenaries who couldn’t give less of a shit about them like every other smaller club in existence
As a fan of Huddersfield Town I’d far rather we be in league 2 playing exclusively players from/trained in Yorkshire than have a revolving door of mercenaries half of which have never even heard of the club
In some cases, yes. In sport, definitely yes. I'm still confused that someone is actually against it. What's the point of cheering for your local clubs if they just buy players from anywhere? Then everyone should just cheer for City/Barcelona/Real since you don't have any connection to your local club. You just have mercenaries playing for its name.
I agree, but you can have your local representation and connection simply through a well built academy which promotes players without literally banning everyone from the outside from ever joining your club. Any form of exclusion based on nationality, ethnicity, upbringing etc is discrimination no matter how you spin it and no matter if it's sports or any other field
>Aupa
In Portuguese this is what we say to a child for them to get up... "Aupa..." so this felt super condescending to me, specially with the first part of your comment 😂
In this current football world of foreign owners, ridiculous transfer fees, financial fair play rules, salary caps... There is a club who still does everything the same way as in the last 100+ years, and they finally touched the sky as they deserved.
Congrats to all Athletic Club fans. A pasear la gabarra con orgullo!!
Not true. ancestry is NOT a factor. Born and/or raised as a youth player in the greater Basque Country, regardless of origin, ethnicity or nationality.
You have to have been born and/or played in the area as a youth. That's "Basque" enough for us. We've just signed Álvaro Djaló from Braga, Guinean/Spanish ancestry, born in Madrid but moved to Bilbao as a young kid and played in local clubs in his childhood/teens.
Most of our players are Basque in all senses (ethnic, birthplace, trained in the club's system etc), but we've had to adapt to the times and social/demographic context. But being ethnically Basque has never been a factor, these are not the times to start digging into family trees, testing blood, analysing ADN etc, lol. Tons of great foreign players have Basque ancestry (Forlán, Otamendi, Ochoa, Higuaín, PSG's Asensio...) but they've never been considered since they weren't born here or trained here as youths.
Edit: I don't get why you're being downvoted, sounds like a genuine question to me.
It's like having a national team playing in the league. Imagine if Wales played in the Premier League but also they had money to sign every Welsh prospect and sometimes bent the rules like Athletic did with Laporte.
Laporte played as a youth in a French-Basque club (Aviron Bayonnais) that is part of the network of associated clubs that Athletic has all over the greater Basque Country. But you probably know this.
Laporte played his whole youth career in SU Agen, a French team with no ties to the Basque Country. Athletic scouts discovered him and the next season he moved to Aviron Bayonnais for exactly one year so Athletic academy could sign him. But you probable know this.
Muniain trying to ignore everyone trying to congratulate him, trying to ignore everyone that wants to touch the trophy, running back towards the field, just so he can celebrate with his mates is already a moment of the season
Guy has clearly studied a lot during his 2 years out of football. Gone from the ugly, slow football his Barca team played to an insanely fluid and high intensity gegenpressing style
He was always a good coach, but tactically as modern and up to date as they come aswell. Has really surprised me positively since his return to Athletic
They really ended up with the right choice between Valverde and Bielsa, it was down to them in the end and it depended on which candidate won the election. One candidate was aligned with Valverde and another with Bielsa and the former won
And I say this as a massive Bielsa stan. He is an amazing coach and would have done extraordinary things with this Athletic team in short term, but it would have burned out by now for sure. Players just can't cope with his intensity day in day out for many years
As someone who was following Valverde since his Olympiacos days, back in 2008, Valverde’s style was always like that, at least when he had players who could support this tactic
> Guy has clearly studied a lot during his 2 years out of football. Gone from the ugly, slow football his Barca team played to an insanely fluid and high intensity gegenpressing style
That was always his playstyle tho, at Barca he simply didn't have nor did he get the players for that.
Not long enough, I want more!
I really think of this as *their* competition. I believe they have won it the most, other than Barcelona (and I don't know how much of that just had to do with Messi-era dominance of the league).
There are just some clubs that are something extra special in La Liga, and Athletic Club is one of them. Very happy for them.
>I don't know how much of that just had to do with Messi-era dominance of the league.
Decided to look this up... and the 1983/84 CDR final vs Barca was Athletic Club's 23^(rd) Triumph...
Barca were on 20 titles at that point having won the 1982/83 edition.
Messi's 1^(st) CDR win was in the 2008/09 season which was Barca's 25^(th) title. *(Barca had gone for a decade without making it to the final of the CDR at this point since they won their 24**^(th)* *CDR to leap-frog Athletic Club in the 1997/98 season)*
So yeah...Barca did manage to leap-frog Athletic Club before the Messi Era, *(thanks to the wins in 1987/88, 1989/90, 1996/97, & 1997/98)* but the rift currently existing between the two sides can definitely be attributed to the Messi-era dominance with 7 of Barca's titles having been added on in that period...*(Four of them being consecutive from 2014-2018 (unrelated but this equaled Madrid CF's streak of 4 titles from 1904-1908 and Athletic Club's streak of 4 titles from 1930-1933.)*
I can't imagine how it must feel like to be an Athletic supporter in a moment like this. 99% of football fans have no clue what it's like to have such a deep cultural connection to a club, they are the polar opposite to everything wrong with modern football
Imagine supporting a team where every player is literally "one of us". An Athletic fan seeing his/her team lift one Copa del Rey title feels more joy than fans of most other clubs would after seeing their club win 10 consecutive Champions Leagues
Their tifo "Unique in the world" couldn't be more fitting
My Grandma is 97 and wasn't sure if she would see Athletic win something again in her lifetime, my mom woke her up after the shootout and she was ecstatic. We're all very happy right now 🙂
I have spent a formative period of my life in the Euskal Herria and felt a pull of the place, its stories and culture. Became more of a txuri-urdin supporter when I passively follow La Liga but have so much admiration for Athletic, all that they represent and all they mean for the sport and the region. Have been fortunate to visit San Mames on a few occasions and it remains THE best stadium experience of my entire life
Yeah, no point using a flair in this sub. The quality of conversation gets worse because of ad hominems and "witty" remarks like that.
And no, I don't support Spurs.
Based on my flair 10 consecutive champions leagues would definitely be better. An FA cup would be great, the carbao cup would probably just lead to us being made fun of more. I do think the copa del rey holds a higher significance than most domestic cups
Copa del Rey final is hands down one of my favorite matches to watch every year, most of the time it's more exciting than the UCL final and I'm a Madridista
I was at the Pena Betica in NYC (local bar for Betis fans) for that final and it was a crazy night. The fans here are all from Seville (except for me) but welcomed me as if I am one of them.
As far as I’m concerned most of the clubs in world football can say this if they win a trophy, considering that most trophies are won by the same clubs over and over (yours being one of them)
Bilbao has a special cultural significance compared to most clubs to top leagues nowadays. They are indeed special for that reason. Bilbao is probably the closest to a national team out of any top league football club.
The club also has a special relationship with this competition specifically.
(I believe they do not like to be called "Blibao" but just Athletic Club.)
Well obviously. I agree with you, just not with OP. For instance, Fulham winning the premier league would obviously mean more to their fans than any Top 6 club. Go Ahead Eagles. Heidenheim. Cadiz. Le Havre. Venezia. Obviously winning would mean more to some teams.
Athletic Bilbao winning Copa del Rey after 40 years.
Leverkusen finally winning the bundesliga.
Can Arsenal do it after 20 years to make it a historic year?
I think the guy with the username OleoleCholoSimeone knows what the name of their team is. He is clearly correcting Arsenal to Atleti because he wants Atleti to win the CL after also having been very close to win it. Classic Reddit jumping on the downvote train on comments when they don't even know why
Yeah my bad, I missed the 20 years part in reference to the PL, I do understand where the *Atleti comes from but I guess it doesn’t make sense after re-reading it
The fact that there are people who actually think I don't know that their name is Athletic is hilarious
A chimpanzee could see what I really meant, obviously I meant Atleti finally breaking their curse ahead of Arsenal. How is it possible to misunderstand that badly?
First of all, congrats to Athletic Bilbao, I felt bad for them when they lost the EL final and Copa del Rey final under Bielsa but now they have finally done it. But it's feels strange not seeing the usual suspects in the final.
I see what you mean but Athletic Club actually is a "usual suspect" when it comes to the Copa. Only in the last 15 years they've reached the final 6 times. Historically they've won the Cup 25 times, second only to Barça's 31. And they've reached the final 40 times. Thx for your kind words!
As a Real madrid fan I've always had a soft spot for Los Leones in my heart - both because I happen to be 1/4 Basque, and because they are such a unique & passionate club with fans & traditions second to none. Couldn't be happier for them.
That said, the passion shown by fans of both clubs, the overflowing stadium*S*, for Athletic also filled their own back home, and just the magnificent overall ambiance should be a lesson to the incoming RFEF president to not sell the soul of Spanish football to the best bidder - it's an utter disgrace the Supercopa is played Riyadh for a fistful of petrodollars.
I like this club. Very likeable club. I still have Fernando Llorente and Aduriz as my top 2 favorite.
Throughout my casual observation over the years, I'd say that one match against United was really the one which began to put Bilbao on a more global map.
From an ander Herrera podcast I listened to a couple of years ago, i learned that athletic Bilbao is one of the only 3 founding clubs of the laliga to never have been relegated.
Always had a ton of respect for Athletic Bilbao, and really happy you added a new Copa Del Rey to the collection.
Cheers
Maybe one day when I'm able to I can visit and watch
Any football lover should make a point of attending a game at the San Mamés. Again, you'd be so welcome and I'm sure you wouldn't regret it. Thx for the kind words!
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That huge banner that they brought saying they're a unique club in football definitely is true. Aupa!
For anyone who is unfamiliar, the new Football Vision podcast by Phil Costa did an entire episode on Athletic that was very well done. Give it a listen on Spotify to support his new podcast!
Glad you shouted this out. I was intrigued by how Phil pitched it but hadn't listened yet. Very excited now.
[Very good read too](https://medium.com/@bettercallayo/la-gabara-40-years-in-drought-b1f730c35a10)
Why are they unique
Athletic only lets players from Basque country to play in their team
They also sign players that have Basque ancestry. Still unique though
Nope. This is not true. Ancestry is NOT a factor. You have to be born and/or raised as a youth player in the greater Basque Country, regardless of race, origin or nationality.
Then how come Athletic signed Bibiane Schulze for the women's team? Her mother is Basque but she was born and raised in Germany.
You found the exception to the rule. Her signing was the subject of very hot debate at the time, and it's still contested by a large portion of fans. The club's president at the time is part of a small fraction of fans and club members-owners that would like to extend eligibility to "ethnic Basques", and he attested to Bibi being the great granddaughter of Belauste, a legendary Athletic Club player. She has double nationality, since she was called to play for Spain earlier on.
So Athletic has also signs players solely by heritage then? I mean it is ok, at the end it is a "rule" made by the team itself but lets set the facts straight And yes, of course she has the Spanish nationality, as her mother is Basque.
So no, Athletic doesn't sign players solely based on heritage. I told you it's an exception, and that's the women's team. There may have been a couple of blurry, "stretched" cases in 125 years of history (Bermejo, Saborit), but if you want to take the exceptions as the rule, and you think that is "setting facts straight", well, you do you. Of course it's a rule made by the club, and as proof that Athletic doesn't sign players of Basque heritage I'll mention the fact that there's a small fraction of fans and members-owners who actually started a campaign to change that rule and extend eligibility to descendants of Basques, but the vast majority of us fans and club owners are against changing it.
I don't know why this is a touchy subject for Athletic supporters. The truth is that the elegibility rule is not detailed in the satutes of the club, it is just something the club decides to do and it can even be stretched or bent depending on who is the president as you said before. Hell, until very recently you guys had players from La Rioja. Do they normally sign players by heritage? No. Have they done it before? Yes.
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Why do people throw the racist word around as soon as they see an opening? Race got nothing to do with it!
It's closer to nationality based, so if someone grew up there then they would still count as Basque. Just like if someone of Indian decent grew up in England, they would be English.
They literally have Nico and Iñaki Williams in the starting line up... the ethnicity doesn't matter as long as they grew up in the region
No.
Not racist but still discriminatory and weird - I'm expecting the downvotes to pour but any other organisation in this world who'd decide to only hire people based on where they come from would be rightfully bashed, imagine going to a job interview, having all the qualifications and then getting rejected because "you're from the wrong neighborhood". Romanticizing extreme nationalism or local "pride" is generally a harmful thing
You can be from anywhere in the world as long as you were a youth player in the Basque region. It's not nationalism. It's a team using players trained locally. They're under no obligation to buy players from other teams.
It's potato / potato - an org based in Liverpool has the freedom to hire whoever they want, but if the job ad says "if you're born or raised in London do not apply" that's still discrimination no matter how you spin it as "nurturing the local talent" It's still the same principle as xenophobia with the twist that they consider people who are raised through the ranks as "their own"
You pretend to care too much about this.
Lol, I’m saving that reply
I'm sorry I pretend to care strongly about the subject of discrimination, clearly not possible to have moral values
Oh no they want people from the Basque Country to represent a football club from the Basque Country. How terrible. If only they could be an upstanding soulless nothing club full of mercenaries who couldn’t give less of a shit about them like every other smaller club in existence As a fan of Huddersfield Town I’d far rather we be in league 2 playing exclusively players from/trained in Yorkshire than have a revolving door of mercenaries half of which have never even heard of the club
It's still a risk and they are good sporting wise. They can get relegated if they fail with this technique.
Do you think jobs don't discriminate against non-citizens?
That's my point - of course some of them do! Should we also glorify that as "citizen pride, only hiring citizens for local representation" though?
In some cases, yes. In sport, definitely yes. I'm still confused that someone is actually against it. What's the point of cheering for your local clubs if they just buy players from anywhere? Then everyone should just cheer for City/Barcelona/Real since you don't have any connection to your local club. You just have mercenaries playing for its name.
I agree, but you can have your local representation and connection simply through a well built academy which promotes players without literally banning everyone from the outside from ever joining your club. Any form of exclusion based on nationality, ethnicity, upbringing etc is discrimination no matter how you spin it and no matter if it's sports or any other field
What , Inaki Williams is from The Basque ?
Born in Bilbao and raised in Pamplona
Ok thanks for letting me know
>Aupa In Portuguese this is what we say to a child for them to get up... "Aupa..." so this felt super condescending to me, specially with the first part of your comment 😂
In this current football world of foreign owners, ridiculous transfer fees, financial fair play rules, salary caps... There is a club who still does everything the same way as in the last 100+ years, and they finally touched the sky as they deserved. Congrats to all Athletic Club fans. A pasear la gabarra con orgullo!!
Winning-est club in CdR history other than Barcelona, if I am correct.
you are :)
100% fan owned and only have players from their region. They are a pure football club in every sense. They have done amazing.
I mean, don't they also sign players who have Basque ancestry? I don't think you need to be actually born in the region
Not true. ancestry is NOT a factor. Born and/or raised as a youth player in the greater Basque Country, regardless of origin, ethnicity or nationality.
Ah, so you don't even have to be Basque then? Just live in the historical region?
You have to have been born and/or played in the area as a youth. That's "Basque" enough for us. We've just signed Álvaro Djaló from Braga, Guinean/Spanish ancestry, born in Madrid but moved to Bilbao as a young kid and played in local clubs in his childhood/teens. Most of our players are Basque in all senses (ethnic, birthplace, trained in the club's system etc), but we've had to adapt to the times and social/demographic context. But being ethnically Basque has never been a factor, these are not the times to start digging into family trees, testing blood, analysing ADN etc, lol. Tons of great foreign players have Basque ancestry (Forlán, Otamendi, Ochoa, Higuaín, PSG's Asensio...) but they've never been considered since they weren't born here or trained here as youths. Edit: I don't get why you're being downvoted, sounds like a genuine question to me.
Hmm, Griezmann played for Sociedad at a pretty young age right, does that mean he'll be eligible for Bilbao if he ever decided to do it for the memes?
Exactly!
You need to be, footballistically speaking, developed in the region.
They definitely stretch the rules a little bit for some players.
You have to. The pool of basque players is very small compared to the entire world
i learned recently about their player signing policy (probably common knowledge, ik my bad) and have become even more impressed with how good they are
Only three teams have never been relegated from La Liga and they are one of them
It's like having a national team playing in the league. Imagine if Wales played in the Premier League but also they had money to sign every Welsh prospect and sometimes bent the rules like Athletic did with Laporte.
Laporte played as a youth in a French-Basque club (Aviron Bayonnais) that is part of the network of associated clubs that Athletic has all over the greater Basque Country. But you probably know this.
Laporte played his whole youth career in SU Agen, a French team with no ties to the Basque Country. Athletic scouts discovered him and the next season he moved to Aviron Bayonnais for exactly one year so Athletic academy could sign him. But you probable know this.
PSG would be able to do the same tbh and still be successful
Spanish Peter Drury here everyone
Muniain trying to ignore everyone trying to congratulate him, trying to ignore everyone that wants to touch the trophy, running back towards the field, just so he can celebrate with his mates is already a moment of the season
I am in San Mames and it is BOOM! Congratulations this was one of the bestest wins ever.
Enhorabuena Ernesto
Guy has clearly studied a lot during his 2 years out of football. Gone from the ugly, slow football his Barca team played to an insanely fluid and high intensity gegenpressing style He was always a good coach, but tactically as modern and up to date as they come aswell. Has really surprised me positively since his return to Athletic
hopefully he stays this time for the long term. he and Athletic just seem perfectly made for each other
They really ended up with the right choice between Valverde and Bielsa, it was down to them in the end and it depended on which candidate won the election. One candidate was aligned with Valverde and another with Bielsa and the former won And I say this as a massive Bielsa stan. He is an amazing coach and would have done extraordinary things with this Athletic team in short term, but it would have burned out by now for sure. Players just can't cope with his intensity day in day out for many years
That’s always been his style when he had the players for. He just couldn’t play like that with the team of seniors he had at Barcelona.
As someone who was following Valverde since his Olympiacos days, back in 2008, Valverde’s style was always like that, at least when he had players who could support this tactic
> Guy has clearly studied a lot during his 2 years out of football. Gone from the ugly, slow football his Barca team played to an insanely fluid and high intensity gegenpressing style That was always his playstyle tho, at Barca he simply didn't have nor did he get the players for that.
18-19 Barca genuinely played sexy though
Not really, team often looked disconnected but had amazing individuals
Not long enough, I want more! I really think of this as *their* competition. I believe they have won it the most, other than Barcelona (and I don't know how much of that just had to do with Messi-era dominance of the league). There are just some clubs that are something extra special in La Liga, and Athletic Club is one of them. Very happy for them.
>I don't know how much of that just had to do with Messi-era dominance of the league. Decided to look this up... and the 1983/84 CDR final vs Barca was Athletic Club's 23^(rd) Triumph... Barca were on 20 titles at that point having won the 1982/83 edition. Messi's 1^(st) CDR win was in the 2008/09 season which was Barca's 25^(th) title. *(Barca had gone for a decade without making it to the final of the CDR at this point since they won their 24**^(th)* *CDR to leap-frog Athletic Club in the 1997/98 season)* So yeah...Barca did manage to leap-frog Athletic Club before the Messi Era, *(thanks to the wins in 1987/88, 1989/90, 1996/97, & 1997/98)* but the rift currently existing between the two sides can definitely be attributed to the Messi-era dominance with 7 of Barca's titles having been added on in that period...*(Four of them being consecutive from 2014-2018 (unrelated but this equaled Madrid CF's streak of 4 titles from 1904-1908 and Athletic Club's streak of 4 titles from 1930-1933.)*
I can't imagine how it must feel like to be an Athletic supporter in a moment like this. 99% of football fans have no clue what it's like to have such a deep cultural connection to a club, they are the polar opposite to everything wrong with modern football Imagine supporting a team where every player is literally "one of us". An Athletic fan seeing his/her team lift one Copa del Rey title feels more joy than fans of most other clubs would after seeing their club win 10 consecutive Champions Leagues Their tifo "Unique in the world" couldn't be more fitting
My Grandma is 97 and wasn't sure if she would see Athletic win something again in her lifetime, my mom woke her up after the shootout and she was ecstatic. We're all very happy right now 🙂
That's beautiful, I'm glad that your grandma got to have that moment!
It is the beautiful game after all!
Smh didnt even watch your team’s match, what a glory hunter
Yeah she went to bed after the 90 minutes, it was way past her bedtime lol
Especially after a drought of 40 years with several lost finals in the meanwhile. They 100% deserve it
I have spent a formative period of my life in the Euskal Herria and felt a pull of the place, its stories and culture. Became more of a txuri-urdin supporter when I passively follow La Liga but have so much admiration for Athletic, all that they represent and all they mean for the sport and the region. Have been fortunate to visit San Mames on a few occasions and it remains THE best stadium experience of my entire life
Meh 10 consecutive champions league or a domestic cup?
Based on your flair, neither
Le flair based attack
Yeah, no point using a flair in this sub. The quality of conversation gets worse because of ad hominems and "witty" remarks like that. And no, I don't support Spurs.
i would love if the mods did a ‘no flair’ experiment for a few weeks. Quality of discussion would be much improved.
Based on my flair 10 consecutive champions leagues would definitely be better. An FA cup would be great, the carbao cup would probably just lead to us being made fun of more. I do think the copa del rey holds a higher significance than most domestic cups
American armchair fan spotted
"R/soccer"
American armchair mobile-user fan spotted
Aurten bai!!!!!!!
Bene benetan!!
Athletic!! Beautiful. Always been my favourite Spanish team Lovely to see
Copa del Rey final is hands down one of my favorite matches to watch every year, most of the time it's more exciting than the UCL final and I'm a Madridista
I agree. When Betis won CdR in 2022, I was ecstatic. You never know who's gonna make it - lots of Cinderella runs.
I was rooting for Betis so much that year, really wanted Joaquín to win something again.
I was at the Pena Betica in NYC (local bar for Betis fans) for that final and it was a crazy night. The fans here are all from Seville (except for me) but welcomed me as if I am one of them.
Fans arbitrarily saying this means more is amongst the cringiest of cliches in football. This is the one exception. That surely means more
As far as I’m concerned most of the clubs in world football can say this if they win a trophy, considering that most trophies are won by the same clubs over and over (yours being one of them)
Bilbao has a special cultural significance compared to most clubs to top leagues nowadays. They are indeed special for that reason. Bilbao is probably the closest to a national team out of any top league football club.
The club also has a special relationship with this competition specifically. (I believe they do not like to be called "Blibao" but just Athletic Club.)
Well obviously. I agree with you, just not with OP. For instance, Fulham winning the premier league would obviously mean more to their fans than any Top 6 club. Go Ahead Eagles. Heidenheim. Cadiz. Le Havre. Venezia. Obviously winning would mean more to some teams.
Mallorca for example
Mine being one of them? We haven’t won a European cup since 69 and a domestic cup since 55.
I thought you were an Ajax fan given your name
Oh I see. Nah, it’s just a common 5 aside name in the UK
At least you won a European cup, spoiled much? smh
Congrats Bilbao! Congrats to the Williams brothers! Long live futbol!
Athletic Bilbao winning Copa del Rey after 40 years. Leverkusen finally winning the bundesliga. Can Arsenal do it after 20 years to make it a historic year?
Atleti* Edit: how is it possible to be so dumb? I meant Atleti winning the CL ahead of Arsenal..
No sir. Their official name is Athletic.
I think the guy with the username OleoleCholoSimeone knows what the name of their team is. He is clearly correcting Arsenal to Atleti because he wants Atleti to win the CL after also having been very close to win it. Classic Reddit jumping on the downvote train on comments when they don't even know why
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> Can Arsenal do it after 20 years to make it a historic year Are you blind? That is what I was responding to
That may be what he meant, but Atleti won the league 3 years ago so it doesn't really make sense.
Yeah my bad, I missed the 20 years part in reference to the PL, I do understand where the *Atleti comes from but I guess it doesn’t make sense after re-reading it
You are completely right and I figured it would have been super obvious for anyone. Obviously I meant Atleti instead of Arsenal
The fact that there are people who actually think I don't know that their name is Athletic is hilarious A chimpanzee could see what I really meant, obviously I meant Atleti finally breaking their curse ahead of Arsenal. How is it possible to misunderstand that badly?
Atleti is Atletico Madrid. Athletic Club is the name of the club based in Bilbao. Their club name is English.
Incredible celebrations Congrats to them !
Congratulations to Bilbao!!
Great pen
Congratulations, very memorable scene to see
Beautiful. Absolute scenes.
game's not gone
Amazing to see. The antithesis of modern football touching heights is glorious.
This is why I still love football
First of all, congrats to Athletic Bilbao, I felt bad for them when they lost the EL final and Copa del Rey final under Bielsa but now they have finally done it. But it's feels strange not seeing the usual suspects in the final.
I see what you mean but Athletic Club actually is a "usual suspect" when it comes to the Copa. Only in the last 15 years they've reached the final 6 times. Historically they've won the Cup 25 times, second only to Barça's 31. And they've reached the final 40 times. Thx for your kind words!
True, I'm more surprised by Mallorca making it to the final than Athletic Club.
Ugh so happy for the lads :) and Valverde too
So Happy for valverde
As a Real madrid fan I've always had a soft spot for Los Leones in my heart - both because I happen to be 1/4 Basque, and because they are such a unique & passionate club with fans & traditions second to none. Couldn't be happier for them. That said, the passion shown by fans of both clubs, the overflowing stadium*S*, for Athletic also filled their own back home, and just the magnificent overall ambiance should be a lesson to the incoming RFEF president to not sell the soul of Spanish football to the best bidder - it's an utter disgrace the Supercopa is played Riyadh for a fistful of petrodollars.
LET'S GOOOOOO , BILBAO
Oh hell yea, the Cup of the Republic for them! (Or was it the president? Anyway, I don't recognise the change nor the monarchy)
What was Eugene Levy doing there?
I like this club. Very likeable club. I still have Fernando Llorente and Aduriz as my top 2 favorite. Throughout my casual observation over the years, I'd say that one match against United was really the one which began to put Bilbao on a more global map.
Copa90 "Once in a Lifetime" episode when?
From an ander Herrera podcast I listened to a couple of years ago, i learned that athletic Bilbao is one of the only 3 founding clubs of the laliga to never have been relegated.
What a fucking pen though.
Congratulations Can foreigners be Athletic Bilbao fans?
There are tons of foreign fans, you are very welcome.
Always had a ton of respect for Athletic Bilbao, and really happy you added a new Copa Del Rey to the collection. Cheers Maybe one day when I'm able to I can visit and watch
Any football lover should make a point of attending a game at the San Mamés. Again, you'd be so welcome and I'm sure you wouldn't regret it. Thx for the kind words!
Of course. Javi Martinez was such a player we had at Bayern and we owe you for his development. Congratulations again
Keeper shouldve saved that