Athletic Bilbao B
| Full name | Athletic Club "B" | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Los Leones / Lehoiak (The Lions) Los Cachorros / Katxorroak (The Cubs) | ||
| Founded | 1964 | ||
| Ground | Lezama (Field 2) | ||
| Capacity | 3,250 | ||
| Chairman | Jon Uriarte | ||
| Manager | Jokin Aranbarri | ||
| League | Primera Federación – Group 1 | ||
| 2023–24 | Segunda Federación – Group 2, 1st of 18 (champions) | ||
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Athletic Club "B", commonly known as Bilbao Athletic, is the reserve team of Athletic Club, a football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country in Spain. The team currently compete in the Primera Federación – Group 1. Founded in 1964, the team holds home matches at the small stadium attached to the club's training facility at Lezama, holding 3,250 spectators[1] or occasionally at San Mamés Stadium, with its 53,500-seat capacity, for important fixtures.
Reserve teams in Spain play in the same football pyramid as their senior team rather than a separate league. However, reserves cannot play in the same division as their senior team. Therefore, Bilbao Athletic are ineligible for promotion to La Liga. Reserve teams are also no longer permitted to enter the Copa del Rey. In addition, only under-23 players, or under-25 with a professional contract, can switch between senior and reserve teams. In recent years, most of Bilbao Athletic's players have been graduates from the club's youth setup ('cantera') via the feeder team, Basconia. As a result of Athletic's signing policy, only Basque players feature also for the reserve team.
History
[edit]The Bilbao Athletic name was first used in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, when both La Liga and the Copa del Rey were suspended; most of the top Athletic players had joined the Euzkadi XI, a team put together at the suggestion of José Antonio Aguirre, the president of the Basque Country (and himself a former Athletic Bilbao footballer). Euzkadi went on tour to raise funds for the Basque cause, and also played in the Mexican domestic league. However, at home the Campeonato de Vizcaya had resumed in 1938. With their best players abroad with Euzkadi, Athletic could only field weakened sides and, to avoid possible shameful results damaging the club's reputation, chose to enter under the name Bilbao Athletic (derived from the two clubs that merged in 1903 to become Athletic Bilbao – Bilbao Football Club and Athletic Club).[2] Despite the low expectations, they still won the championship and entered the 1939 Copa del Generalísimo.
The name was revived in 1964, when Athletic Bilbao decided to establish a reserve team with Agustín Gaínza as coach. The new Bilbao Athletic initially played in local regional leagues before winning promotion to Tercera División in 1966, under Rafa Iriondo; in 1969 they first reached Segunda División.
In 1983–84, with José Ángel Iribar as coach, and an emerging Julio Salinas as striker, the reserves finished in second place, only trailing Castilla CF; both teams were ineligible for promotion, and Salinas won the Pichichi.
Bilbao Athletic dropped back down to the third level in 1996, but the main squad continued to be nurtured with several players who had spells with the reserves.
After 19 seasons in the Segunda División B, Bilbao Athletic returned to the second tier after defeating Cádiz CF, 3–1 on aggregate, in the promotion playoffs.[3] However, in their campaign in the Segunda they were reliant on the same group, a core squad of 20-year-olds who had never played at such a high level before, and despite battling performances in most of their games, a pattern of narrow defeats led to the team finishing bottom and being relegated back down at the first attempt.[4] Somewhat ironically, the promoted teams that season were CD Leganés whose squad included three players on loan from Athletic who would have been eligible to play for Bilbao Athletic that season, as well as the parent club's local rivals Alavés and Osasuna.
The team came close to another promotion in 2020–21, losing to Burgos after extra time in the final round of the promotion play-offs[5] (they had lost in the opening round in 2018 and 2020).
League re-organisation in 2021 meant the third level became the Primera Federación, consisting of only two groups and a higher average standard of play than in the four groups of Segunda B. In 2022–23, Bilbao Athletic finished bottom of their section (in which the reserves of local rivals Osasuna and Real Sociedad survived comfortably) and were relegated to the five-group Segunda Federación – the first time the team had been in the fourth tier since the 1960s, and potentially damaging for player progression at the club with a wider gap between the standards of this level and La Liga.[6] They bounced back to the third tier immediately by winning their group in 2023–24, losing only twice.[7]
Premier League International Cup
[edit]Athletic have competed in the Premier League International Cup (an Under-23 tournament, all matches played in England), with most of the players selected for their squad drawn from Bilbao Athletic plus some younger additions from Basconia and the Juvenil squads (the rules permit the use of a limited number of overage players, but Athletic do not use them). In 2014–15, 2015–16 and 2016–17 the club qualified from their group but were eliminated in the quarter-finals, while in the 2017–18,[8] 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2023–24 editions, they bowed out at the group stage (they did not enter in 2022–23).
Background
[edit]- As farm team:
- As reserve team:
Season to season
[edit]- As a farm team
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- As a reserve team
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- ^ Before the start of the competition
- 14 seasons in Segunda División
- 3 seasons in Primera Federación/Primera División RFEF
- 31 seasons in Segunda División B
- 1 season in Segunda Federación
- 10 seasons in Tercera División
- 2 seasons in Basque regional leagues
Players
[edit]Current squad
[edit]- As of 9 September 2024.[9]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Reserve team
[edit]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Out on loan
[edit]Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Coaching staff
[edit]| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| Head coach | |
| Assistant head coach | |
| Analyst | |
| Goalkeeping coach | |
| Fitness coach | |
| Psychologist | |
| Physiotherapist | |
| Medical services | |
| Nurse | |
| Kit manager | |
| Match delegate |
Honours
[edit]- Segunda División B:[a] 1982–83,[b] 1988–89[b]
- Tercera División:[a] 1966–67,[c] 1968–69[d]
- 1ª Regional league: 1965–66
- Segunda Federación:[e] 2023–24[b]
Stadium
[edit]For big matches, they use San Mamés, the first team stadium.
Selected coaches
[edit]Javier Clemente
Notable players
[edit]Note: This list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 top league games and/or have reached international status.
See also
[edit]- CD Basconia (Athletic Bilbao's feeder club)
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b c d In 1940, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) issued a circular ordering clubs to eliminate all foreign words from their names (see Language policies of Francoist Spain). From then until July 1972, when the 1940 Decree-Law was repealed, the club and its subsidiary were unable to recover their original names. In 1991, as part of FREF measures to formalise the relationships between clubs and their affiliated teams, the official name had to be simplified to the club's name followed by 'B'. With federation permission, the Bilbao Athletic name was restored in 2006.
- ^ a b Third tier
- ^ a b c Promoted directly
- ^ Not promoted in 1967 play-offs
- ^ Not promoted in 1969 play-offs
- ^ Fourth tier
References
[edit]- ^ "Athletic: El campo 2 de Lezama sube su aforo hasta los 3.250 espectadores" [Field 2 in Lezama increases its capacity to 3,250 spectators]. Mundo Deportivo. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
- ^ "Bilbao Athletic history". Athletic Bilbao. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "El Bilbao Athletic, a Segunda 19 años después y el Cádiz tendrá que esperar" [Bilbao Athletic, into Segunda 19 years later and Cadiz will have to wait] (in Spanish). EFE. 28 June 2015. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
- ^ "El Bilbao Athletic empata contra Osasuna y pierde la categoría" [Bilbao Athletic draw with Osasuna and lose the category] (in Spanish). El Correo. 15 May 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
- ^ RESUMEN | Saúl Berjón recoge el testigo de Dani Pendín como héroe del conjunto burgalés (1-0) [SUMMARY | Saúl Berjón picks up the witness of Dani Pendín as the hero of the Burgos team (1-0)], RFEF (in Spanish), 23 May 2021
- ^ La debacle del Bilbao Athletic, “una cagada” que abre una grieta en Lezama [The debacle of Bilbao Athletic, a "screw-up" that opens a crack in Lezama], Patxo De la Rica, Relevo, 1 May 2023 (in Spanish)
- ^ El Bilbao Athletic conquista el terreno perdido un año después [Bilbao Athletic conquers the lost ground a year later], Javier R. Beltrán, Diario AS, 21 April 2024 (in Spanish)
- ^ "Report: Swans U23 0 Athletic Bilbao B 2". Swansea City A.F.C. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
- ^ "Bilbao Athletic - Plantilla 2024-25". Athletic Club. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ "El "Cuco" Ziganda agranda su trayectoria deportiva – Navarra Deportiva" [The "Cuco" Ziganda enlarges his sports career] (in Spanish). 29 May 2017. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
External links
[edit]- Team section at Athletic Bilbao's official website
- Futbolme team profile (in Spanish)
- La Cantera De Lezama – Unofficial website focusing on Athletic’s youth teams (in Spanish)
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