Athletic Bilbao in European football

Did You Know?

• Ernesto Valverde holds the club record for most European games as manager with 64 over three spells, more than twice as many as any other.
• Koldo Aguirre (1977) and Marcelo Bielsa (2012) were the coaches who led Athletic to UEFA finals.

History

From 1941 until 1975, the club was officially called Atlético de Bilbao due to a decree banning foreign words, so references to Atlético Bilbao in matches of that period are correct. It is traditional for visiting captains to present flowers to a bust of 1920s star Pichichi before their first match at Athletic's stadium; because new domestic opponents are rare, most such ceremonies occur ahead of European ties. Athletic's first European experience was the non-UEFA Latin Cup at the end of the 1955–56 season, held in Milan, where they finished as runners-up to A.C. Milan.

That competition ended in 1957. Winning the domestic league gave Athletic entry to the 1956–57 European Cup. They defeated FC Porto in the opening round and were drawn against Budapest Honvéd of Hungary. Before the first leg, originally scheduled for Budapest, the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 began.

Honvéd's players, the core of the 'Mighty Magyars' international side, were already out of the country while their families remained in Hungary. The legs were switched, and Athletic won the first leg 3–2 in Bilbao. The second leg was played a month later in Brussels after Honvéd, unwilling to return to Hungary, had played several exhibition matches. The match ended 3–3, giving Athletic a 6–5 aggregate win; Honvéd played part of the game with ten men after their goalkeeper was injured, with winger Zoltán Czibor taking over in goal.

Honvéd continued touring Europe and South America before most players returned home, but Czibor, Sándor Kocsis and captain Ferenc Puskás defected and later served bans before joining Barcelona and Real Madrid. Honvéd never regained its former strength.

Player records

Athletic Bilbao's Basque-only player policy has meant just three non-Spain internationals have appeared for the club in European competitions: Fernando Amorebieta (Venezuela), Iñaki Williams (Ghana, after one Spain cap), and Maroan Sannadi (Morocco). Óscar de Marcos holds the record for most European appearances, with 77, after passing Markel Susaeta's 75 in 2025. The top European scorer is Aritz Aduriz with 34 goals, including 10 in the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, which earned him the tournament's golden boot.