La Liga Founding Member Status

Lore & Background

The policy originated from a 1911 dispute with fellow Basque club Real Sociedad regarding Athletic fielding ineligible English players in the Copa del Rey. This led to a rule requiring all players to be Spanish citizens. As many top players were Basque, Athletic maintained the approach even after regulations were relaxed. The club's motto is 'with home-grown talent and local support, there's no need for imports'. The policy is not written in the rulebook but was added to the club's website in 2008. It extends to reserves, farm team CD Basconia, youth teams, and the women's department. Real Sociedad had a similar policy from 1962 until 1989.

Reader's Guide

Athletic Bilbao's player recruitment is limited to those born in the Basque Country or who learned their football skills at a Basque club. Youth players may be invited due to ancestral links, but no senior players have been signed based on heritage alone. Coaching staff and managers can be from anywhere. The club has never been relegated from La Liga, one of only three clubs (with Real Madrid and Barcelona) to achieve this.

Did You Know?

• The last foreigner to make a competitive appearance for Athletic outside their own criteria was English forward Andrew Veitch in 1911.
• Athletic Bilbao was the last club in La Liga to field a black player; that was Jonás Ramalho in 2011.
• Iñaki Williams, born in Bilbao to Ghanaian immigrant parents, became Athletic's first black goalscorer in 2015 and later club captain.
• The first French-Basque to play for the senior team was Bixente Lizarazu in 1996.
• Aymeric Laporte became the first Frenchman to graduate from the club's youth system in 2012, despite having no birth or residency link to the Basque region.