Bilbao, football capital
San Mamés will host UEFA League final on 21st May
TIME
April 2025
It was once a host venue for the 1982 Men’s World Cup and will do so again in 2030, and in 2015 it will host the match that will determine the winner of the Europa League
In Bilbao, football is experienced in a special way. Perhaps because the city’s name is also the name of a very special club. Unique in the world. Or perhaps it is because it is inhabited by special people. Just think that the iconic Guggenheim Museum is located in the Campa de los Ingleses, one of the first places where football was played in this area at the end of the 19th century.
If you are visiting the capital of Bizkaia and want to talk about football, there are a few things you should know. Athletic Club, known as Athletic de Bilbao, is a football club with a rich
history and a unique identity. Founded in 1898, it is one of only three clubs, along with Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, to have played in every season of the Spanish Primera División since its inception in 1928. Among its many trophies, the club’s museum displays 8 league titles, 3 Super Cups and 24 cups, the last of which was won in 2024. It maintains the tradition of playing exclusively with players born or trained in the Basque Country and Navarre.
One of the records the club holds is that of the highest goal scored in the First Division. It happened on 8 February 1931: Athletic Club de Bilbao, coached by Mr Pentland, beat FC Barcelona 12-1.
True legends of the Spanish league have been part of the red and white squad.
Among them, Telmo Zarraonaindia, ‘Zarra’, Athletic’s all-time top scorer, and of the Spanish league until the arrival of Messi, with 251 goals in 277 games.
José Ángel Iribar, ‘El Txopo’, a sober, elegant and very effective goalkeeper who, with 614 games disputed, is the player with the most games in the history of the red and white club. Iribar, considered one of the best goalkeepers in the history of Spanish football, is still today, at 82 years of age, the main institutional representative of the club apart from the president.
Other legendary strikers were ‘Piru’ Gaínza, Rafael Moreno ‘Pichichi’, ‘Dani’ Ruiz-Bazán, ‘Txetxu’ Rojo and Aritz Aduriz.
This season, Oscar de Marcos, an all-rounder, is retiring after 562 games in the Lions’ shirt.
LA GABARRA
The another of Athletic’s peculiarities is that it celebrates its triumphs by travelling along the Bilbao estuary, from the mouth of the river to the Town Hall Bridge, in one of the barges or gabarras that once crossed the same waters, carrying, for example, iron ore.
One million people took part in last year’s celebrations.
The Cathedral of football
Despite playing their home games elsewhere, Athletic have been based in San Mamés for over 110 years. There was a hamlet of the same name and a small chapel dedicated to the martyr of Caesarea, who was sacrificed to lions. Hence the team’s nickname, ‘Los Leones’.
The old San Mamés was inaugurated on 21 August 1913. It underwent several renovations to adapt to the needs of the club and the public until it was demolished in 2013 to make way for the new stadium, which occupies more or less the same site. Work began in 2010 and was carried out in several phases, allowing the Athletic Club to continue playing in their stadium during construction. It has a capacity of more than 53,000 spectators and state-of-the-art facilities, including VIP boxes, catering areas, a museum, shopping area, restaurant and cafeteria.
La Catedral, as Athletic’s stadium has always been popularly known, has received numerous architectural awards for its innovative design and functionality, as well as being recognised as the best sports building in the world at the World Architecture Festival 2015 in Singapore. Of course, it meets the requirements of an ‘Elite category’ stadium, the highest according to UEFA. In addition, it is always among the stadiums with the highest occupancy rates in the Spanish league.
The greatest thing of all, however, cannot be expressed in words and that is to experience a game in San Mamés.
What football stars say about San Mamés
DIEGO ARMANDO MARADONA
«It’s beautiful! It’s such a beautiful field».
KEVIN KEEGAN
«I would love the final (of the 1982 world cup) to be played here».
PEP GUARDIOLA
«It’s a legendary stadium, where it feels like three players are taking the corner, the crowd is cheering so loudly and with such passion that everything that happens seems to happen twice. It has been an honour to experience San Mamés at its best».
MARCELO BIELSA
«It is difficult for me to express myself sincerely about Athletic’s sentiments without being confused with demagogy, but it is of such repercussions what Athletic means, from where Athletic sees the current football in these times, for all of us who love football, a football that is so commercialised (…) San Mamés is a box that contains all these sentiments with infinite resonance and repercussions. For me, it evokes a lot of emotions that I would like to share with those who build it, the Athletic fans, but I never run the risk of being demagogic. I’ll leave that for another time».
XAVI HERNÁNDEZ
«They have always treated me very well there. It’s not the first time I’ve received a standing ovation from ‘La Catedral’ and it gave me goosebumps. I am very grateful to the people of San Mamés for that».
RAÚL GONZÁLEZ
«The Athletic fans are great. San Mamés is a ground I have always enjoyed playing at. The atmosphere is always great».
MICHAEL ROBINSON
«You know, there are some things in life that should last forever. San Mamés is one of them. Beautiful stadium».
LUIS FERNÁNDEZ
«Bilbao without San Mamés is like Paris without Eiffel Tower».
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