Basconia

Full name	Club Deportivo Basconia
Founded	14 March 1913 (1913-03-14)
Ground	Polideportivo de Artunduaga, Basauri, Basque Country, Spain
Capacity	8,500[1]
President	Juan Ignacio Azurmendi
Head coach	Carlos Gurpegui[2]
League	Tercera Federación – Group 4
2022–23	Tercera Federación – Group 4, 4th of 20
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Club Deportivo Basconia is a Spanish football club based in Basauri, Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded on 14 March 1913, it currently plays in Tercera Federación – Group 4, holding home games at Estadio de López Cortázar, with an 8,500-seat capacity.^[3] In 1997, they entered into a partnership with Athletic Bilbao to serve as a feeder club for Bilbao and essentially operate as the club's C team.^[4]

History

Founded in 1913 and named after a local iron and steel-working works (later owned by the Altos Hornos de Vizcaya company), Basconia reached the national third level (Tercera División) thirty years later. The club played in the second tier for six seasons (1957–63), but this was before the creation of the regionalised new third division in the 1970s.

In 1997, Basconia became Basque neighbours Athletic Bilbao's feeder club, not being eligible for promotion if the reserves, Bilbao Athletic, playing in the level above, did not attain the same goal. The primary function of the agreement is to aid the development of young players in a challenging environment while remaining in the same group under the close guidance of the parent club; a number of teenagers who spent a season at Basconia became professionals at Athletic Bilbao, eventually playing in La Liga and UEFA competitions. In January 2020 it was confirmed that the partnership, due to expire that summer, had been renewed for another three years to 2023.^[5]

Basconia's place in Athletic's club structure means that the squad changes greatly each season. About half of the players move up to play for Bilbao Athletic, or go out on loan to other local clubs playing at Segunda División B level. They are replaced by graduates, usually 17 or 18 years old, from the previous year's Juvenil A team. The squad is normally expanded further with new signings from the regions's youth clubs, most notably Danok Bat and Antiguoko.

Basconia B playing at Soloarte

Although Athletic Bilbao control the main squad's players and coaching personnel, Basconia retains its own club committee and staff and operates several youth teams as well as amateur side Basconia B who compete in the Preferente de Vizcaya league, two levels below the first team. These other teams play in a separate small stadium in the town, Soloarte. Occasionally the main squad has been supplemented by some of Basconia's 'own' players in emergencies – Mikel Rico was with Basconia B when he appeared in one Tercera División fixture in 2001;^[6] he left Biscay for a long career across Spain which eventually brought him back to sign for Athletic in 2013.

In January 2018, with the team struggling to remain in the league, Basconia took the unusual step of recruiting some older, more experienced players including Thaylor Lubanzadio^[7][8][9] to help them maintain their 23-year divisional status,^[10] which was eventually accomplished – they finished 15th, 5 points above the relegation zone.^[11]

Season to season

• As a separate club

• As a farm team

• 6 seasons in Segunda División
• 8 seasons in Segunda División B
• 55 seasons in Tercera División
• 3 seasons in Tercera Federación/Tercera División RFEF

Current squad

As of 26 May 2023^[12]

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 2 DF  ESP Lander Arenal 3 DF  ESP Asier Santamaría 4 DF  ESP Aitor Sollano 5 DF  ESP Aimar Duñabeitia 6 MF  ESP Asier Santolaya 7 FW  ESP Ibai Asenjo 8 FW  ESP Iker Varela 9 FW  ESP Álvaro Marín 10 MF  ESP Carlos Mattheus 11 FW  ESP Aimar Peña 12 DF  ESP Miguel Barandalla

No. Pos. Nation Player 13 GK  COL Kevin Ríos 14 MF  ESP Ibon Badiola 15 MF  ESP Junior Bita 16 DF  ESP Eneko Ebro 19 FW  ESP Ieltxu García 20 MF  ESP Mikel Jauregizar 21 MF  ESP Ibon Sánchez 22 DF  ESP Erlantz Palacín 24 DF  ESP Álex Alba 25 FW  ESP Manex Irizar 30 GK  ESP Aimar Peñalver

Honours

• Tercera División

Winners:^{[lower-alpha 1]} 1956–57^{[lower-alpha 2]}

Winners (3):^{[lower-alpha 3]} 1984–85,^{[lower-alpha 4]} 1997–98,^{[lower-alpha 5]} 2002–03^{[lower-alpha 6]}

Selected coaches

• Javier Clemente
• Joseba Etxeberria
• José Luis Mendilibar

Notable players

Note: this list contains players who have appeared in at least 50 league games for the first team or have reached international status.

See also

• Athletic Bilbao (first team)
• Bilbao Athletic (B team)

References

External links

• Official website Archived 20 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
• Team history at Athletic Bilbao's official website
• La Cantera De Lezama Unofficial website focusing on Athletic's cantera teams

43°13′58″N 2°52′52″W / 43.232904°N 2.881116°W / 43.232904; -2.881116