Athletic Bilbao B
Full nameAthletic Club "B"
Nickname(s)Los Leones / Lehoiak
(The Lions)
Los Cachorros / Katxorroak
(The Cubs)
Founded1964 (1964)
GroundLezama (Field 2)
Capacity3,250
Chairman.Jon Uriarte
ManagerCarlos Gurpegui
LeagueSegunda Federación – Group 2
2022–23Primera Federación – Group 2, 20th of 20 (relegated)

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 are playing in the Segunda Federación – Group 2. 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

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 (the name was 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.

Aerial view of the team's mini-stadium at Lezama, 2019

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.

Bilbao Athletic played home games at San Mamés during the 2015–16 season due to league requirements, but attracted crowds of only a few thousand for most games.

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).

Premier League International Cup

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,[6] 2018–19 and 2019–20 editions, they bowed out at the group stage.

Background

  • As farm team:
    • Club Atlético de Bilbao Amateur (1964–66)
    • Bilbao Atlético Club (1966–72)
    • Bilbao Athletic Club (1972–91)
  • As reserve team:
    • Athletic Club B (1991–2006)
    • Bilbao Athletic (2006–)

Season to season

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
1964–65 4 1ª Reg. 17th DNP
1965–66 4 1ª Reg. 1st DNP
1966–67 3 3ª 1st DNP
1967–68 3 3ª 3rd DNP
1968–69 3 3ª 1st DNP
1969–70 2 2ª 13th Round of 32
1970–71 3 3ª 5th 3rd round
1971–72 3 3ª 9th 1st round
1972–73 3 3ª 5th 3rd round
1973–74 3 3ª 13th 1st round
1974–75 3 3ª 8th 1st round
1975–76 3 3ª 4th 2nd round
1976–77 3 3ª 4th 1st round
1977–78 3 2ª B 5th 2nd round
Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey
1978–79 3 2ª B 7th 2nd round
1979–80 3 2ª B 12th 2nd round
1980–81 3 2ª B 3rd DNP
1981–82 3 2ª B 10th 2nd round
1982–83 3 2ª B 1st 2nd round
1983–84 2 2ª 2nd 2nd round
1984–85 2 2ª 15th 1st round
1985–86 2 2ª 7th 1st round
1986–87 2 2ª 6th 3rd round
1987–88 2 2ª 17th 4th round
1988–89 3 2ª B 1st DNP
1989–90 2 2ª 3rd Withdrew[nb 1]
1990–91 2 2ª 13th N/A
Season Tier Division Place
1991–92 2 2ª 13th
1992–93 2 2ª 15th
1993–94 2 2ª 14th
1994–95 2 2ª 16th
1995–96 2 2ª 18th
1996–97 3 2ª B 12th
1997–98 3 2ª B 2nd
1998–99 3 2ª B 6th
1999–2000 3 2ª B 8th
2000–01 3 2ª B 6th
2001–02 3 2ª B 6th
2002–03 3 2ª B 4th
2003–04 3 2ª B 11th
2004–05 3 2ª B 9th
2005–06 3 2ª B 6th
2006–07 3 2ª B 15th
2007–08 3 2ª B 15th
2008–09 3 2ª B 11th
2009–10 3 2ª B 15th
2010–11 3 2ª B 12th
Season Tier Division Place
2011–12 3 2ª B 8th
2012–13 3 2ª B 3rd
2013–14 3 2ª B 5th
2014–15 3 2ª B 2nd
2015–16 2 2ª 22nd
2016–17 3 2ª B 8th
2017–18 3 2ª B 4th
2018–19 3 2ª B 6th
2019–20 3 2ª B 3rd
2020–21 3 2ª B 2nd / 2nd
2021–22 3 1ª RFEF 15th
2022–23 3 1ª Fed. 20th
2023–24 4 2ª Fed.
  1. ↑ Before the start of the competition

Players

Current squad

As of 30 August 2023.[7]

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 Spain ESP Álex Padilla
2 DF Spain ESP Erlantz Palacín
3 DF Spain ESP Miguel Barandalla
4 DF Spain ESP Aimar Duñabeitia
5 DF Spain ESP Unai Egiluz
6 MF Spain ESP Alejandro Rego
7 FW Guinea-Bissau GNB Quicala Bari
8 MF Spain ESP Beñat Gerenabarrena
9 FW Spain ESP Urko Izeta
10 MF Spain ESP Unai Gómez
11 FW Spain ESP Luis Bilbao
13 GK Spain ESP Oier Gastesi
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 MF Spain ESP Junior Bita
15 DF Spain ESP Jon de Luis
16 MF Spain ESP Mikel Jaureguizar
17 FW Spain ESP Adu Ares
18 DF Morocco MAR Aymane Jelbat
19 FW Spain ESP Iñigo López
20 MF Spain ESP Iker Varela
21 FW Spain ESP Carlos Mattheus
22 DF Spain ESP Hugo Rincón
23 MF Spain ESP Ibon Sánchez
27 FW Spain ESP Aingeru Olabarrieta

Reserve team

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
31 DF Spain ESP Eneko Ebro

Out on loan

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 Spain ESP Beñat de Jesús (at Barakaldo until 30 June 2024)
— FW Spain ESP Álvaro Marin (at Helmond Sport until 30 June 2024)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF Spain ESP Unai Vélez (at Barakaldo until 30 June 2024)
— FW Spain ESP Ibai Sanz (at Sestao River until 30 June 2024)

Coaching staff

Position Staff
Head coach Spain Carlos Gurpegui
Assistant head coach Spain Ander Murillo
Analyst Spain Iñigo Lizarralde
Goalkeeping coach Spain Armando Ribeiro
Fitness coach Spain Mikel Legarreta
Psychologist Spain Iñigo "Txolo" Aguinaga
Physiotherapist Spain Jon Ciaurri
Spain Xabier Mendieta
Medical services Spain Juan Manuel Santisteban
Nurse Spain Joseba Andoni Monasterio
Kit manager Spain José Félix Gallastegi
Match delegate Spain Javier Arkotxa

Honours

Bilbao Athletic in training

Notes

  1. 1 2 Third tier
  2. 1 2 Promoted directly
  3. ↑ Not promoted in 1967 play-offs
  4. ↑ Not promoted in 1969 play-offs

Stadium

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

Selected coaches

Notable players

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

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Athletic: El campo 2 de Lezama sube su aforo hasta los 3.250 espectadores". Mundo Deportivo. 19 October 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2020.
  2. ↑ "Bilbao Athletic history". Athletic Bilbao. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  3. ↑ "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.
  4. ↑ "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.
  5. ↑ 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
  6. ↑ "Report: Swans U23 0 Athletic Bilbao B 2". Swansea City A.F.C. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
  7. ↑ "Bilbao Athletic - Plantilla 2022-23". Athletic Club. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  8. ↑ "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.
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