The Basque Country’s Copa del Rey stories are not only the tales from the final, but they’re also the Amorebietas and Portugaletes
Tag: basque
While the Spanish Civil War sent the best Basque players away from their home country, football allowed them to plant seeds in another
Señor Dávila blew the final whistle, sending the Balaídos stadium into raptures. Celta Vigo had just qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history, a 3-2 victory over Real…
FANS ARE FALLING OUT OF LOVE WITH MODERN FOOTBALL. It’s an irony that seems especially bitter given the availability of every match in stunning HD and the constant deluge of coverage, but…
At the end of the 19th century, the sons of the British industrial revolution headed to the iron-rich Basque Country in their thousands. The northern city of Bilbao was rapidly emerging as the…
STEPPING OFF THE PLATFORM at the Abando train station and into its main corridor, you are immediately reminded of where you are. As your footsteps take you through clouds of tobacco smoke…
Football in its contemporary format is one dominated by the development of the superstar. With the sport becoming evermore a global game, it is reaching its tentacles into areas that had previously been…
Vitoria-Gazteiz is a proud city. The seat of government for the Basque Autonomous Community, it also serves as the unofficial capital city for the region. The home of not one but two…
When Athletic Club played Real Sociedad in December 1976, history would change forever as they took the banned Basque flag onto the pitch in defiance
In the words of Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle: “Happiness belongs to the self-sufficient.” There is no club more self-sufficient in world football than Athletic Club and after another season fighting for European qualification in…
As featured on Guardian Sport The Basque County of Spain is an oft-celebrated component of world football, from Athletic Bilbao and their insistence upon only fielding players from the Basque Country to the…