Athletic Bilbao: All Local, Even if it Means Relegation

By: Laurie | December 20th, 2007

What do you call a club that has never signed a player from outside its own local region? Not Arsenal, that’s for sure. But in the wake of EPL calls for all teams to include a specific number of local players, scrutiny of the Spanish La Liga team Athletic Bilbao has grown. Because Athletic’s entire identity revolves around the fact that it is made up completely of local players. And by “completely” I mean: Completely. They have never had a non-Basque player.

From an interesting article in The Telegraph:

Athletic are the most exclusive club in world football and proud of it. If you’re not Basque, you can’t join. Their favourite saying is: Con cantera y aficion, no hace falta importacion. It translates as: With home-grown talent and local support, you don’t need foreigners.

If your geography is a little fuzzy, the Basque region is the area that spans the France-Spain border. The population is just over 3 million people. There is a strong ethnic identity, and a segment of the population would like to form their own nation. Barring that, they have the soccer team.

Former French international Bixente Lizarazu was the first non-Spanish player ever to play for the club, back in 1995-6, and he got in only because he was still Basque, if French. Even so, he didn’t play much for the team and left for Bayern Munich after one season.

The club has never been relegated, playing in the Primera División since its inception in 1928. It’s getting harder and harder to keep that up, though. Last year they just barely avoided relegation. This season they’re doing a little better, currently sitting in 14th place, but they’re still just a couple of points out of the drop zone.

This doesn’t seem to bother the team’s followers, though. The majority seem to prefer the thought of relegation to giving up their identity. From the article’s comment section:

People who are not part of this team or at least don’t support it, cannot understand why it’s more important for us to maintain our policy rather than winning titles. Of course we’d like to play Champions League every year, but not in any price. I mean, we are the 9th richest team in Spain, so the best player are not available for us. Moreover, why to sign a normal foreigner when you have young local players willing to succeed with their team? This team is more than just a couple of colours. It represents almost a country (Basque Country), and when things are not going very well, local players’ implication is much bigger than any other’s. That’s why we believe in this policy, and support it.

I don’t know about you, but I find it refreshing to see a team that doesn’t hold to the “win at all costs” mentality.

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Category: Europe, Spain La Liga, World Football

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Laurie

Thanks for the clarification, Carlos.
Carlos

Well, I would like to state just one thing about Athletic's policy and it is that despite being so proud of just have basque players in their squad, the truth is quite different.
What's the difference? It could be said that Athletic's policy considers as "Basque players" any player grown up in any football team from the Basque Country... and Navarra, born in the Basque Country or not.
This could be unserstandable, of course, but as most population in Navarra doesn't consider themselves as "Basques", Athletic's policy does, and consider OSasuna's players as Basque and eligible players for its "Basque team".
Furthermore, quite a lot players from La Rioja (un autonomous community which has nothing to see with the Basque Country, placed right south or it) are also considered eligible/ Basque players.
So it's a nice story not as real as told. Lizarazu was their most evident non-Basque player, but not the only one.
Musab

I for one have no problem with what Bilbao is doing. I think there just very proud of their culture and want to raise their own homegrown talent. If they can find it, they should.

A question to you all: How many Basque footballers are there at other Spanish clubs?
Nolan

In recent years they have actually become more flexible, if you can call it that. If you developed your football skills in the Basque country you qualify, so in a way it's not as "xenophobic" as it used to be.

Personally I find their desire to protect their Basque identity somewhat admirable, plus it results in them having one of the best youth development systems in the world. Despite their relegation-battling the fact that they haven't ever been relegated despite fielding mostly their own products is admirable, and they still have some great players, most notably Fran Yeste. Plus as any Barca fan will tell you they have produced some great players, such as Alexanko and Zubizarreta, one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.

There is a dark side to this however, as they are still a moderately wealthy club and have a habit of poaching talent from smaller Basque clubs.
Johnny on the Spot

I think before many of you condemn this policy, you need to go back and understand Spanish history (especially the 100 years that surround 1936) and why the Catalans and the Basques are so fiercely independent and hateful towards the Castillians. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, only that the game can be a microcosm of history and sociopolitical intrigue and that foundation is necessary to understand football.

And being completely ignorant while proclaiming that someone else is ignorant is sad. But while the internet provides resources to learn these types of things, most fools spend there time watching porn and spouting their worthless opinions.
-a

There are no similarities between Athletic Bilbao and Chivas. Read the history of the club.

It's an admirable, albeit risky philosophy, especially in this day & age when most clubs overlook local talent.

Like all clubs, their fate is in their own hands.

NB: The women's team, who follow the same philosophy, have won the league several times in recent times.
Alex

i mean in a way...its good to keep ur players local for local support..and plus if u dont do to well ur city will pick you up and not bring you down (media)

its almost like the chivas of guadalajara...every single player that has ever played has been from mexico...so the tradition/popularity is growing cuz of this very fact..thats y there the most popular club in mexico
Sam

I was in Bilbao two summers ago. Hilarious. All signs in Spanish are whited out.
chris

Didn't know this.

AB has a new fan.
Melissa

oh sh*t, I don't want to include Chivas in a xenofobia debate... scratch what I said.
Melissa

Well I guess there's Chivas de Guadalajara too
lorenzo23

If you think football is just about football then you'll never understand football...a franchised spectator sport for the tv viewer but the passion is in it being a tribal and political game. Maybe not in the USA.
Lucas

@Laurie: you just wrote that you're "a white, anglo-saxon protestant, with virtually no ethnic identity" - obviously a contradiction, but I do understand what you mean. I do actually find the story interesting, even if I find it mildly disturbing to see institutionalized xenophobia given a free pass. Especially when my own country is being rightly vilified for building a wall along its southern border. Et cetera.

This is part of a much larger and much more annoying topic that resembles a can with worms in it that I would prefer remain closed. So I'll end with:

Hey, Bilbao has pretty awesome kits, don't you think? Red & White striped shirts, black shorts and socks...very sharp! ;)
Anthony

Lucas: xenofobia

Your sinking ship isn't taking on water? Oh it is, but it's your water. Makes sense.
Laurie

Interesting points. One person's xenophobia is another's ethnic pride.

Where's the line? As a white, anglo-saxon protestant, with virtually no ethnic identity, I have no idea.
Lucas

Interesting. How does one say "xenophobia" in Basque?
Ryan

This goes WAY beyond football and extends into the whole Basque culture and thought process.

The Basques would love nothing more than to have their own country and never deal with anything 'Spanish'. Thus this policy