Go back to the past and be the king

Chapter 218 Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Club de Bilbao is a football club located in Bilbao, Viscay Province, Basque Country, northern Spain. Founded in 1898, it is the second earliest football club in Spain.

The club is a founding member of the Spanish Football League and has not been relegated since 1928.Only Real Madrid and Barcelona have this honor at the same time.

The club uses only Basque players and the team is nicknamed "Basque Lions".

And before this season, they never had any commercials on their chest jerseys.This is already a clear stream in modern football that has been eroded by capital.

Athletic Bilbao only uses players of Basque descent, which has not changed until today, and is unique in La Liga and even major European leagues.

In the history of La Liga, Bilbao is the team that has won the fourth most championships, second only to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid with 4 times.

In addition, they are the team that has won the Spanish King's Cup the second most times, following Barcelona with 2 times.With these championships and honors, Athletic Bilbao is definitely one of the best teams in Spanish history.

In the past century, the pure blood of Athletic Bilbao has been challenged a little.

After World War II, Real Madrid received strong support from Puskas, Di Stefano, etc., and dominated Spanish football, forcing Bilbao to seek changes and no longer insist on using native Basques.

Even if a player was not born in the Basque region, as long as his parents have Basque blood, he can join Athletic Bilbao. For example, Merodio, who was born in Barcelona, ​​​​his father has Basque blood. He joined Bilbao in 1956 E.In the 60s, Bilbao revised the tradition again. Even if they were not born in the Basque Country, as long as they grew up in the Basque Country, they were eligible to become a member of Bilbao.

The tradition of Bilbao changed again in the 90s. Even if a player does not have Basque parents, was not born in Basque Country, or even grew up in Basque Country as a child, as long as he has been trained by a club in the Basque Country, he is still eligible. Conditions of accession to Bilbao.

On the surface, this is a change in the policy of recruiting players, but at its root, it is a question of identity. What exactly is a Basque?
The most traditional way for people is to be based on blood, you have to be born and bred to be considered Basque.But is lineage the only way to tell the difference?What Bilbao needs to stick to is just blood, or is it something else?What they want to keep is culture.After realizing this point, Bilbao's recruitment policy was gradually relaxed, and it was enough to change from ancestry to having a Basque cultural background, such as growing up in Basque or learning football.

Perhaps, we should ask ourselves, what is our football culture?To put it a little further, is our traditional culture still upheld like Biba?

In Spain, the Basque Country is a sensitive subject.Similar to Catalonia, Basques have always wanted independence from Spain, even more so than Catalonia.

What are Basques?What is a Spaniard?

The Spanish dictator Franco considered the Basques to be part of Spain, but the Basques felt that they were not Spaniards, but Basques.

In addition to the gradual relaxation of the rules for recruiting players, Bilbao has also sought sponsorship for jersey chests for the first time in recent years.In the past few seasons, Bilbao has been in the middle and lower reaches of La Liga for a long time, and sometimes there is a crisis of relegation. The qualification for the Europa League is also obtained by the domestic cup championship just like Munich 1860.

The team's financial situation was also not good, so the club began to seek the first jersey chest sponsorship.

Bilbao's chest sponsors in recent years are all local oil companies Petronor
Athletic Bilbao will not just look for sponsors, their first sponsor is the Basque oil company Petronor, Petronor is a supporter of the Basque independence movement.After the cooperation between Bilbao and Petronor expires, Bilbao will change the sponsor at that time, but it will still be the company of the Basque Country-Kutxabank.

For the sake of performance and income, Bilbao put aside some traditional rules step by step, striving to survive in modern football, but they will never forget their bottom line for money.Even if the rules for recruiting players are relaxed, they all insist that players must have a Basque background; even if they are looking for a chest sponsor, they are looking for a local Basque company.

They have a saying: "As long as you have homegrown talent and supporters, you don't need outsiders."

Athletic Bilbao represents a insistence. Although the cultural traditions have changed under the washing of the trend of the times, the core values ​​still remain.Under the pressure of performance and the increase in operating costs, Bilbao weighed the importance again and again, faced the tradition with a pragmatic attitude, and found out which ones are the unshakable bottom line and which ones can be integrated into the trend of the times.The traditional concession is to allow the club to go further.

Former Bilbao Club President Jose Maria once said: "Bilbao is not just a club, we are full of passion, which cannot be analyzed rationally. In world football, we are unique. Yes, I wouldn't say we are better or worse than other clubs, but we are different. We want the children of the land to represent the club. We are a sporting organization, not a business. We want players To be a real man, not just a professional football player."

Basques are traditionally herders, their language is the only non-Indo-European language in Western European countries, and their costumes and customs are different.This small nation has shown strong cohesion in history, never reconciled to foreign rule, and is brave and good at fighting. .

The Basques fought desperately against the invasions of the Visigoths, Romans and Moors, and were the last people to be conquered on the Iberian Peninsula.From the 19th century on, Basque nationalism was on the rise.

During the Franco dictatorship, the superficial "calm" was maintained by force.

After Franco's death, the Basque extremist organization "ETA" created terrorist incidents across Spain, killing hundreds of military and police officers. In 1998, there was a third attempted assassination of the king.

While severely punishing terrorists, King Carlos has adopted a policy of appeasing the Basque nation for many years, which has gradually eased the contradictions. In 1997, the king's little princess married a Basque boy, which was also considered conducive to alleviating the Basque national sentiment.

The Basques are one of the most bloody nations, and this is even more evident among Biba's players.

Since its establishment, this team has been known for its iron blood and strength.

Any team as strong as Barcelona and Real Madrid will not get any good results when they come to their home stadium, the new San Mames Stadium, let alone 1860 who came from afar.

　I'm sorry... I'm sick and hospitalized...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)