Athletic Bilbao B

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).^[3] Despite the low expectations, they still won the championship and entered the 1939 Copa del Generalísimo, as the club itself regrouped for a return to normality.

In the 1940s, a reserve team called CD Bilbao played at regional level for a few seasons, but when they had the opportunity of promotion to the third tier, the club opted instead to send players to strengthen its more prestigious local partner Arenas de Getxo.^[4]

The name was revived in 1964, when Athletic decided to establish a reserve team with Agustín Gaínza as coach. The new Bilbao Athletic initially played in 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 Segunda División B, Bilbao Athletic returned to the second tier after defeating Cádiz CF 3–1 on aggregate in the promotion playoffs.^[5] 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.^[6] 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^[7] (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.^[8] They bounced back to the third tier immediately by winning their group in 2023–24, losing only twice.^[9]

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,^[10] 2018–19, 2019–20 and 2023–24 editions, they bowed out at the group stage (they did not enter in 2022–23).

• As farm team:
  • Club Atlético de Bilbao Amateur (1964–1966)
  • Bilbao Atlético Club (1966–1972)^{[n. 1]}
  • Bilbao Athletic Club (1972–1991)^{[n. 1]}
• As reserve team:
  • Athletic Club "B" (1991–2006)^{[n. 1]}
  • Bilbao Athletic (2006–)^{[n. 1]}

• As a farm team

• As a reserve team

• 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

As of 9 September 2024.^[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   ESP Oier Gastesi 3 DF   ESP Jon de Luis 4 DF   ESP Aimar Duñabeitia 5 DF   ESP Eneko Ebro 6 MF   ESP Alejandro Rego 7 MF   ESP Iker Varela 8 MF   ESP Beñat Gerenabarrena (captain) 9 FW   ESP Ibai Sanz 10 MF   ESP Ibon Sánchez 11 FW   ESP Aingeru Olabarrieta 12 DF   ESP Javier Elías 14 DF   ESP Ander Izagirre

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 MF   ESP Junior Bita 17 MF   ESP Eneko Aguilar 18 MF   ESP Peio Canales 19 FW   ESP Ekain Azkune 21 FW   ESP Endika Buján 22 DF   ESP Xabi Irurita 23 FW   ESP Asier Hierro 24 DF   FRA Johaneko Louis-Jean 25 GK   ESP Mikel Santos 26 MF   ESP Javi Sola 28 MF   ESP Eñaut Lete 31 FW   ESP Igor Oyono

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 30 GK   ESP Eric Gamen 33 DF   ESP David Osipov

No. Pos. Nation Player 34 MF   ESP Gaizka Alboniga-Menor

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   ESP Erlantz Palacín (at Sestao River until 30 June 2025) — DF   ESP Miguel Barandalla (at Sestao River until 30 June 2025) — FW   ESP Aimar Vicandi (at Barakaldo until 30 June 2025)

No. Pos. Nation Player — FW   ESP Álvaro Marin (at Amorebieta until 30 June 2025) — FW   ESP Luis Bilbao (at Barakaldo until 30 June 2025)

 

• Segunda División B:^[b] 1982–83,^[c] 1988–89^[c]
• Tercera División:^[b] 1966–67,^[d] 1968–69^[e]
• 1ª Regional league: 1965–66
• Segunda Federación:^[f] 2023–24^[c]

For big matches, they use San Mamés, the first team stadium.

•   Javier Clemente
•   Agustín Gaínza
•   José Ángel Iribar
•   Rafa Iriondo
•   Ignacio Izagirre (284 matches)
•   Iñaki Sáez (290 matches, record)^[12]
•   José Ángel Ziganda (242 matches)

Note: This list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 top league games and/or have reached international status.

• CD Basconia (Athletic Bilbao's feeder club)

• 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)