History of Athletic Bilbao and the Basque Conflict

• Athletic Bilbao is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain, about two minutes from our site in the Olabeaga neighbourhood in Bilbao.

• Athletic Bilbao has had its controversies throughout its history, mainly being that since 1912, they have had the unofficial/unwritten rule to only sign players either from Basque Country or who learned football at a club within the Basque country. This has even extended into the clubs motto, this being, “With home-grown talent and local support, there’s no need for imports.”

• The reason for Athletic Bilbao's unofficial transfer policy is a result of the years of tension and conflict in the Basque country, with this coming full circle with the Basque Conflict from 1959-2011, an armed, political conflict fought between Spain and a group of social and political Basque organizations, known as the Basque National Liberation Movement, who sought their independence from Spain and France.

• Today, Athletic Bilbao still hold strong to this policy, with only Spanish nationals with roots to the Basque country playing for the team as of 2021, with a majority of the coaching staff also being Spanish nationals. The club play at the San Mamés Stadium, which replaced the former stadium in 2013, ad is only a 2 minute walk from our allocated site in the Olabeaga neighbourhood.