Athletic Bilbao

Athletic Club, popularly known as Athletic de Bilbao or simply Athletic, is a Spanish football club from the town of Bilbao (Biscay, Basque Country, Spain). It was founded on 18 July 1898 and, together with Real Madrid and Barcelona, is one of only three teams that have played in every edition of the Primera División of Spain since its creation in 1928. It is also one of only four professional clubs in Spain that is not a sports public limited company, so that the governance of the club rests with its members.

The most representative particularity of the Basque club is its tradition of playing only with players born or footballing-trained in Euskal Herria. Although it arose circumstantially in 1911, it is strongly tied to Basque nationalism and its idea of a Basque homeland.

It is also internationally recognized for its work in the development of young footballers. Its youth academy is the main source from which the first team is fed and is considered one of the most prolific in Europe, and it is one of the historic nurseries of Spain and the one that gets the most out of its players.

It has won all of its titles in national competitions, where it is considered a historic club. A good part of its prestige was earned in the Copa del Rey, which it has won twenty-four times, the most recent in 2024. It earned the nickname "king of cups" for having been the most decorated club in the competition during the 20th century, until F. C. Barcelona surpassed it in 1998. In 2026 it holds second place, ahead of Real Madrid. It has also lifted the Primera División title on eight occasions (the last in 1984) and the Supercopa de España on three (the last in 2021).

It is the third Spanish club with the most official titles (36) and, at the end of the 2025-26 season, it occupies fourth place in the all-time Primera División of Spain table. It also holds the record for the biggest win in league history: a 12-1 victory over Barcelona in 1930-31. At the continental level, it has two UEFA Europa League runners-up finishes, achieved in 1976-77 and 2011-12.

Its main historic rival is Real Madrid, the team it has faced most often throughout its history and whose matches are known as El Viejo Clásico. It also maintains a historic rivalry with Real Sociedad, against whom it plays the Basque derby, and with Barcelona, whose matches are called the Athletic-Barcelona clásico.