Athletic Bilbao B

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 will play in the Segunda División B in the 2019–20 season. 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.

Athletic Bilbao B

Full name	Athletic Club "B"
Nickname(s)	Los Leones / Lehoiak (The Lions) Los Cachorros / Katxorroak (The Puppies)
Founded	1964 (1964)
Ground	Lezama (Field 2)
Capacity	3,250
President	Aitor Elizegi
Head coach	Joseba Etxeberria
League	2ª B – Group 2
2019–20	2ª B – Group 2, 3rd
Home colours Away colours Third colours

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.

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.

Premier League International Cup

Athletic have competed in the Premier League International Cup (an Under-23 tournament, all matches splayed 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,[5] 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

• As farm team

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 2ªB 5th 2nd round

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1978–79 3 2ªB 7th 2nd round 1979–80 3 2ªB 12th 2nd round 1980–81 3 2ªB 3rd DNP 1981–82 3 2ªB 10th 2nd round 1982–83 3 2ªB 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 2ªB 1st DNP 1989–90 2 2ª 3rd Withdrew[nb 1] 1990–91 2 2ª 13th N/A

• As reserve team

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 2ªB 12th 1997–98 3 2ªB 2nd 1998–99 3 2ªB 6th 1999–00 3 2ªB 8th 2000–01 3 2ªB 6th 2001–02 3 2ªB 6th 2002–03 3 2ªB 4th 2003–04 3 2ªB 11th 2004–05 3 2ªB 9th 2005–06 3 2ªB 6th 2006–07 3 2ªB 15th 2007–08 3 2ªB 15th 2008–09 3 2ªB 11th 2009–10 3 2ªB 15th 2010–11 3 2ªB 12th

Season Tier Division Place 2011–12 3 2ªB 8th 2012–13 3 2ªB 3rd 2013–14 3 2ªB 5th 2014–15 3 2ªB 2nd 2015–16 2 2ª 22nd 2016–17 3 2ªB 8th 2017–18 3 2ªB 4th 2018–19 3 2ªB 6th 2019–20 3 2ªB 3rd 2020–21 3 2ªB

1. Before the start of the competition

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• 14 seasons in Segunda División
• 30 seasons in Segunda División B
• 10 seasons in Tercera División
• 2 seasons in Categorías Regionales

Current squad

As of 9 October 2019[6]

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 Jokin Ezkieta 2 DF  ESP Jon Sillero 3 DF  ESP Jon Rojo 4 DF  ESP Javier Murua 5 DF  ESP Daniel Vivian 6 MF  ESP Unai Vencedor 7 FW  ESP Asier Córdoba 8 MF  ESP Oihan Sancet 9 FW  ESP Andoni Tascón 10 MF  ESP Antonio Salado 11 FW  ESP Jon Morcillo 12 FW  ESP Gorka Guruzeta 13 GK  ESP Ander Iru 14 FW  ESP Iñigo Baqué

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 DF  ESP Oier Luengo 16 MF  ESP Oier Zarraga 17 MF  ESP Julen Bernaola 18 DF  ESP Jesús Areso 19 DF  ESP Imanol García de Albéniz 20 MF  ESP Víctor San Bartolomé 21 FW  ESP Ewan Urain 22 FW  ESP Juan Artola 23 DF  ESP Álvaro Núñez 24 DF  ESP Aitor Paredes 25 MF  ESP Beñat Prados 26 FW  ESP Rubén Azcona 27 FW  ESP Jon Cabo - DF  ESP Odei Arrieta

Honours

• Segunda División B:[lower-alpha 1] 1982–83,[lower-alpha 2] 1988–89[lower-alpha 2]
• Tercera División:[lower-alpha 1] 1966–67,[lower-alpha 3] 1968–69[lower-alpha 4]
• Biscay Championship: 1938–39

Notes

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

Stadium

Main article: Lezama Facilities

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

Bilbao Athletic in training

Selected coaches

• Javier Clemente
• Agustín Gaínza
• José Ángel Iribar
• Rafa Iriondo
• Ignacio Izagirre (284 matches)
• Iñaki Sáez (290 matches, record)[7]
• José Ángel Ziganda (242 matches)

Famous players

Note: this list contains players who have appeared in at least 100 games for the first team.

Aritz Aduriz José Ramón Alexanko Rafael Alkorta Yeray Álvarez Fernando Amorebieta Genar Andrinúa Daniel Astrain Daniel Aranzubia Estanislao Argote Jon Aurtenetxe Beñat Dani Miguel de Andrés Óscar de Marcos Asier del Horno Xabier Eskurza Imanol Etxeberria

Xabier Etxeita Endika Guarrotxena Felipe Patxi Ferreira Luis Fernando (es) Luis de la Fuente José Ramón Gallego Carlos García Ander Garitano Andoni Goikoetxea Ibai Gómez Javi González Julen Guerrero Carlos Gurpegui Iago Herrerín Gorka Iraizoz Andoni Iraola

Ander Iturraspe Aitor Karanka Iñaki Lafuente Andoni Lakabeg Aymeric Laporte Aitor Larrazábal Iñigo Lekue Iñigo Liceranzu Fernando Llorente Ricardo Mendiguren Iker Muniain Ander Murillo José María Noriega José María Núñez Unai Núñez Luis Prieto José Ángel Rojo Txetxu Rojo

Carlos Ruiz Julio Salinas Patxi Salinas Manuel Sarabia Miguel Ángel Sola Markel Susaeta Óscar Tabuenka Santiago Urquiaga Josu Urrutia Ismael Urtubi Juan José Valencia Óscar Vales Ustaritz Iñaki Williams Francisco Yeste Félix Zubiaga (es) Andoni Zubizarreta

See also

• CD Basconia (Athletic Bilbao's feeder club)

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. "Report: Swans U23 0 Athletic Bilbao B 2". Swansea City A.F.C. 20 December 2017. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
6. BILBAO ATHLETIC 2019-20; Athletic's official website
7. "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.

External links

• Team history 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)