Athletic Bilbao signing policy

The Basque flag

Since 1912, the Spanish football club Athletic Bilbao has had an unwritten rule whereby the club will only sign players who were born in the Basque Country or who learned their football skills at a Basque club.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] On occasion, youth players have also been invited to join due to ancestral links to the region, but no senior players have been signed based on Basque heritage alone.

The policy is related to Basque nationalism[7][8][9] and has been praised as a way to promote local talent,[6][10] although it has been criticised as being discriminatory.[4][11][12]

With regards to coaching staff, including managerial positions, those roles are eligible for non-Basques, both from other regions in Spain and elsewhere in the world.

  1. ^ "Philosophy: What is it?". Athletic Bilbao.
  2. ^ Minshul, Phil (2009-12-16). "Colour barrier finally broken at Athletic Bilbao". BBC. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  3. ^ "Athletic de Bilbao, cien años sin extranjeros" [Athletic Bilbao, a hundred years without foreigners]. La Vanguardia (in Spanish). 18 November 2011. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  4. ^ a b "¿Por qué en el Athletic de Bilbao solo juegan vascos?" [Why do Athletic Bilbao play with Basques only?]. BBC Mundo (in Spanish). BBC. 9 May 2012. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference origin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b Tariq Panja (9 January 2019). "Athletic Bilbao Is Flush With Cash and Facing Relegation". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 January 2019.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference exceptions was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference goss was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Unwin, Will (15 March 2012). "Welcome to Spain's old English outpost". The Independent. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
  10. ^ Pete Jenson (2014-08-26). "Pete Jenson: Athletic Bilbao's locals-only transfer policy shows success does not need to be bought". The Independent. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  11. ^ "Is Athletic Bilbao 'Basque-only policy' playing by the rules?". Metro. 2013-05-31. Retrieved 2016-09-17.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference whispers was invoked but never defined (see the help page).