at old
San Mamés From 1941 until 1975, Therefore, any references to
Atlético Bilbao in matches during the period correctly reflect the official title at the time.
Traditions It is traditional for the captains of teams visiting Athletic's stadium for the first time to present a bouquet of flowers to a
bust of the club's 1920s star
Pichichi. Since it is rare for Athletic to encounter new opponents in domestic football, most of these brief pre-match ceremonies take place prior to European ties.
1950s: The Magyars and the Babes were played in Milan's
Arena Civica Athletic's first experience of European competition was the non-UEFA
Latin Cup held at the end of the
1955–56 season in which they were champions of Spain; in the small four-team tournament held in
Milan, the
Lions finished as runners-up to
A.C. Milan. Winning the domestic league also granted Athletic entry to the
European Cup, the
first edition of which had been won by Spanish rivals
Real Madrid. During the
1956–57 campaign, They defeated
FC Porto in the opening round and were then drawn against
Budapest Honvéd of Hungary at a significant point in that nation's history. Before the first leg of their tie – originally scheduled for
Budapest – had been played, the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 began. The Honvéd players, who formed the backbone of the '
Mighty Magyars' international side, were already out of the country, but their families remained at home amidst the chaos of the uprising. The legs were switched, with Athletic winning narrowly 3–2 in
Bilbao. The United players had helped to clear snow off their aeroplane at
Bilbao Airport to enable them to fly home after the first leg; exactly a year after their win over Athletic, the English club was decimated in the
Munich air disaster which involved their plane failing on take-off in wintery conditions.
1960s and early 1970s: Diminishing returns It would be nine years before Athletic played in Europe again, although a
Copa del Generalisimo win in
1958 and three league finishes in the top five (
1958–59,
1959–60,
1961–62) achieved in the period would have been sufficient to qualify in later eras. before meeting Scotland's
Dunfermline Athletic. Both won their home leg 1–0 necessitating a playoff in Bilbao, won 2–1 by the home side with a late
Fidel Uriarte goal. The quarter–final opponents were another Hungarian side,
Ferencváros, and the tie finished 3–3 on aggregate; again a playoff was required, which took place in Budapest, and Ferencváros won 3–0 on their way to the trophy, beating
Juventus in
the final. Prior to the match, the Yugoslav side's manager had underplayed his team's strength, stating "The best we can hope for is a draw". A 2–0 win at home could not retrieve the situation for Athletic. Red Star did not have much impact on the competition, losing to another Spanish club
Valencia in the next round, but their domestic rivals
Dinamo Zagreb went on to
win the cup. In the
following campaign, That tie was successfully passed, A late goal by
Emlyn Hughes at
Anfield sent Athletic's
1968–69 Fairs Cup first round tie with
Liverpool into
extra time. When that did not provide a winner,
the toss of a coin (or specifically picking the correct colour of card the referee was holding, from a choice of red or green) They overcame their first German opponents
Eintracht Frankfurt through a spectacular volley from teenage defender
José María Igartua they were eliminated in the opening round by eventual winners
Manchester City. Athletic returned to the Fairs Cup for its
final edition The change of competition to the
UEFA Cup in
1971–72 brought little upturn in fortune, as Athletic qualified (their sixth successive European campaign, the longest sequence in club history) but lost to
Eintracht Braunschweig after beating
Southampton. in 1973 provided entry into the
1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup,
Late 1970s: UEFA Cup finalists The club's first major successful run to the latter stages of European competition occurred in the
1976–77 UEFA Cup under head coach and former player
Koldo Aguirre. Early rounds against
Újpest of Hungary and
Basel of Switzerland were overcome thanks to strong home wins in the second leg. In the second leg at the
San Siro, Milan scored a penalty with less than ten minutes remaining to lead on
away goals before an even later Athletic penalty turned the tie. and
FC Barcelona during their
1976–77 UEFA Cup run That victory over one of the
continent's biggest names provided confidence in facing another: domestic rivals Barcelona. It was the first time Athletic had played another Spanish team in Europe, and the two clubs had already played both league fixtures that season, the
Catalans winning 3–1 in Bilbao and the Basques claiming a 2–0 victory at the
Camp Nou ten days before their UEFA Cup tie. The tie was played in an unusually friendly atmosphere due to the similar regional identity of the two clubs, whose supporters were excited by the prospect of a
brighter future for their respective territories after the death of dictator
General Franco and the weakening of
his regime. Athletic held on for a 2–1 lead at San Mames and led by the same score by half–time in the second leg thanks to a brace from
Javier Irureta, requiring Barça to score three more times in the last 45 minutes. They could only manage one, through
Johan Cruijff, so the
Lions qualified for the penultimate stage of a European tournament for the first time. participants:
Iribar,
Alexanko,
Guisasola,
Villar,
Escalza,
Lasa;
Dani,
Rojo II,
Carlos, ,
Rojo I In the semi-final tie, against Belgians
R.W.D. Molenbeek, a 1–1 draw was achieved in a tough contest in
Brussels before a 0–0 draw in Bilbao was sufficient to progress to the
two–legged final against another
Serie A club, Juventus. Both clubs fielded teams of a single nationality in the showpiece first leg at the
Stadio Comunale on 4 May before a 75,000 crowd, with the only goal scored by the hosts'
Marco Tardelli. In the return on 18 May, an early
away goal by
Juve's
Roberto Bettega left Athletic with a tough task to score three against the side that were about to be
crowned Serie A champions, had only conceded 20 goals in the league and given up just one to each of their UEFA Cup opponents that season. Athletic quickly equalised on the night through Irureta, but could not find another goal until
Carlos scored the second on 78 minutes. A frantic last portion of the match failed to produce the vital third goal, the tie finished 2–2 and Juventus claimed their first European trophy on the away goals rule. A few weeks later, Athletic suffered further disappointment when they lost the
1977 Copa del Rey Final in a
penalty shoot–out to
Real Betis. appeared in 55 European matches before falling to
Aston Villa,
1980s: No joy in European Cup enabled
Liverpool to eliminate Athletic from the
1983–84 European Cup After three years with no European football for Athletic, in the
1982–83 UEFA Cup it was the Budapest team Ferencváros who once again ended their participation. After seeing off
Lech Poznan, but Liverpool showed their strength by winning 1–0 at San Mamés through
Ian Rush, the first opponent to win there since 1968 (22 matches). The
Reds would go on to win the
final in Rome. but the
subsequent European Cup campaign was disappointingly brief, with Bordeaux prevailing in the first round tie despite Athletic only needing a single goal to win at home and progress on away goals; two goals home were disallowed and the crowd threw missiles at the referee in frustration. (losing 3–0 in the second leg after a run of five straight wins in earlier matches against
Beşiktaş J.K. and
RFC Liège in the first two rounds) in
1985–86 UEFA Cup and
Beveren,
Michael Laudrup, who scored two of the goals, also opened the scoring in Bilbao to all but end the tie as a contest, although Athletic did come to within two goals of levelling the aggregate before having to settle for a 3–2 win on the night. Athletic returned to European football with enthusiasm in the
1994–95 UEFA Cup, and English league leaders
Newcastle United in a tie memorable for another comeback in the first leg (reducing arrears from 3–0 at
St James' Park by scoring twice in the last 20 minutes) and for the positive interaction between the two groups of supporters, before losing out to
Parma, who would go on to lift the trophy, in another closely–fought contest over the two legs. In their next qualification in
1997 – before losing to an English rival: Aston Villa. The
1997–98 domestic season saw Athletic finish as runners-up, and
Galatasaray to finish bottom of a very tight section. It would be their last European involvement for six years.
2000s: Group stage experience was a scorer in Athletic's biggest European win, 7–1 away to
Standard Liège Athletic, coached by
Ernesto Valverde, made a comeback to continental competition in the
2004–05 UEFA Cup, their only participation in that tournament's five-club group stage involving one match against each opponent. Revenge for the defeat a decade earlier was achieved with a home win over Parma in the opening fixture, and progression to the next stage was achieved in style by defeating
Standard Liège 7–1 in Belgium, the club's biggest-ever win in Europe (
Santiago Ezquerro scoring three). However, these positive results proved to be a false dawn as an underwhelming loss in the first knockout round to an
Austria Wien side inspired by
Libor Sionko followed. In the aftermath of the defeat, Valverde announced he would be leaving the club at the season's end after disputes with the hierarchy. and lost on penalties in the summer in their sole entry to the early-season
Intertoto Cup after a playing just a single two-legged tie, losing 1-0 in both games to Romania's
CFR Cluj. The result came in the wake of the departure of two important players – Ezquerro to Barcelona and
Asier del Horno to
Chelsea, and set the tone for a disappointing
domestic season in which the club narrowly avoided relegation. The club's next entry, into the re-branded
UEFA Europa League in
2009 involved the setting of new club records, as 16-year-old
Iker Muniain became the club's youngest player in a European match in the first leg defeat to
Young Boys, then came off the bench and scored the goal which saw Athletic progress on away goals in the return in Switzerland. Despite failing to win at home again in the next round, a long journey north to the
Arctic Circle was rewarded with a narrow aggregate victory over
Tromsø and qualification to the
group stage, where two wins over Austria Wien (the away leg interrupted by a pitch invasion by local
right-wing hooligans) were mitigated by a pair of defeats to
Werder Bremen (the only German opponent to win in Bilbao). In the first knockout round, Athletic endured their worst aggregate losing margin in a 1–5 reverse to
Anderlecht, led by another 16-year-old forward,
Romelu Lukaku, while more violent incidents involving supporters occurred at San Mamés in the first leg and in the streets of Brussels prior to the second leg.
Early 2010s: Europa League final scored seven times in the
2011–12 UEFA Europa League run
Marcelo Bielsa became Athletic coach in 2011, with his first competitive fixture a
Europa League tie at home to
Trabzonspor which ended 0–0. The club took full advantage of that piece of good fortune, winning
the group ahead of
Paris Saint-Germain before eliminating
Lokomotiv Moscow in the last 32. Athletic were then drawn against Manchester United and won 3–2 in the first leg at
Old Trafford, going on to knock the three-time European champions out of the tournament with a 2–1 victory at home (a long-awaited 'revenge' win from 1957).
Fernando Llorente and
Óscar de Marcos both scored in each leg of the tie, The sides drew 2–2 in the second leg, allowing Athletic to progress to the semi-final against Sporting CP. A few hours after the match in Bilbao, an incident of disorder occurred near the stadium, during which Athletic supporter was shot in the head with a '
Flash-ball' fired by a member of the
Ertzaintza police service and later died. Five years later, charges were brought against officers commanding the vehicles that attended the scene, with a trial date set for October 2018. before the Europa League final Athletic lost the semi-final first leg in Portugal 2–1 after initially taking the lead through
Jon Aurtenetxe, but prevailed 3–1 at home with goals from
Markel Susaeta,
Ibai Gómez and the winner by Llorente in the 89th minute in front of a fervent home crowd to edge into the final in
Bucharest, 4–3 on aggregate; Bielsa's adventurous tactics led to 28 goals being scored and 20 conceded across the six group games and eight knockout matches during the run. The
2012 UEFA Europa League Final at the
Arena Nationala proved a step too far for Athletic as they lost 3–0 to Spanish rivals
Atlético Madrid The two clubs had shared league wins during the season, but on the day Atlético were inspired by the forward play of
Radamel Falcao and won comfortably. A group of supporters had a double disappointment as they charted a flight to the wrong destination, mistaking Budapest for Bucharest. In an unwelcome echo of 1977, moved to
Bayern Munich and soon won the Champions League The team did not break up entirely following the 2012 campaign. The three most prominent players who did depart all won European medals in the subsequent years:
Javi Martínez (Champions League with
Bayern Munich in
2013), Fernando Llorente (Europa League with
Sevilla in
2016, and
Ander Herrera (Europa League with Manchester United in
2017). As runners-up to Champions League qualifiers Barcelona, Athletic made an immediate return to the Europa League in
2012–13. and their highest aggregate margin of victory – the second leg finished 3–3 for a six-goal difference. The
group stage was reached, but disappointing results, including two defeats to
Lyon led to an early exit. The final continental fixture at the original
San Mamés stadium prior to its demolition was a 0–0 draw against Sparta Prague in December 2012. The club had a strong home record at the century-old venue, losing only six times in 76 European matches there.
Late 2010s: Champions League and top scorer 2014–15 season was a win over
Napoli in the Champions League in 2014 After one season in a half-built stadium and with no European football, Athletic – now coached by Valverde for a second time – finished in 4th place in the
2013–14 La Liga, allowing rare access to the Champions League qualification process. In the first match at the new
San Mamés in its completed state, they defeated
Napoli to reach the
2014–15 UEFA Champions League group stage. However they could only finish third behind
Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto after losing to
BATE Borisov (who were defeated heavily by the other teams), meaning they dropped into the Europa League, the only occasion in which the club has been involved in two European competitions in one season. Athletic were then knocked out of the lesser tournament at the Round of 32 by
Torino, their first home loss to an Italian club after eight matches undefeated.
2015–16 season In 2015, for the third time in seven years, Athletic lost the
domestic cup final to Barcelona (who also won the league title); UEFA's rules had recently changed, so they no longer qualified as runners-up. However they also finished seventh in
the league, and with absence of any qualifier from the Copa del Rey, this was sufficient to enter the
2015–16 UEFA Europa League. The first qualifying round involved a trip to
Baku, Azerbaijan (the furthest distance they have travelled for a European fixture at 4,309 km) where a goalless draw with
Inter Baku was good enough to progress. although it took two late goals from
Aritz Aduriz to turn the away fixture with
Augsburg on its head. Aduriz also scored in the away legs of subsequent rounds against
Marseille (a volley from 35 yards) and
Valencia (his former club, against whom he had already netted twice that season during league wins), and in both legs against the holders Sevilla, but there the run ended as the hosts won a penalty shootout 5–4 at the
Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium to go through, eventually winning the trophy for
the third consecutive year. broke the Athletic European appearance record in 2016. Aduriz finished as the
competition's top scorer with 10 goals, and was named in the
'squad of the season'. Due to the early qualifying rounds played, the total of 16 matches in the campaign equalled the previous record set during 2011–12's run to the final. in a fixture that had significance for Susaeta making a record 56th continental appearance, overtaking Iribar. The campaign was recovered thanks to three home wins, including a 5–3 victory over
Genk in which Aduriz scored all five goals (including three penalties), becoming the first player to accomplish this feat since the competition was rebranded as the Europa League and also setting a new club record for most goals by one player in a continental fixture. Having previously been level with Llorente on 16, those goals also took him clear as the club's top scorer in European matches. Weaker away performances were exemplified by the defeat to
APOEL in the first knockout round, with a lead from the home leg overturned in Cyprus. Preliminary rounds against strong opposition for that stage (
Dinamo Bucharest and
Panathinaikos) and a tough match in Sweden (the first tie in that country) against newcomers
Östersunds FK featuring an equaliser by
Iñaki Williams in the closing minutes – left Athletic with two points from three games and looking unlikely to progress. However, three victories were then achieved with more late goals by Williams, Aduriz and
Raúl García, yielding 11 points in total and qualification as group winners. proved too much for Spartak to overturn despite their 2–1 win in Bilbao, but the second leg of the tie was overshadowed by violent clashes between home supporters and travelling Russian
hooligans before kick-off; a police officer collapsed and died from a heart attack in the efforts to control the scene. Both clubs were later sanctioned and fined by UEFA. In the Round of 16, Marseille took a 3–1 lead at the
Stade Vélodrome in the first leg of the second meeting between the sides in three years. The return at San Mamés was the 100th European match held at the two incarnations of Athletic's home stadium, but the outcome did not match the occasion for the home club, as
OM won 2–1 for a 5–2 aggregate victory, a margin which reflected fairly their dominance over the two matches. Aduriz, who scored in the first leg, was sent off late in the second, and again there were scenes of violence involving visiting supporters outside the stadium. It was also the first time in 50 years (Ferencváros, 1968) that Athletic had lost both legs of a knockout tie, although they had been beaten home and away in group stages three times between 2009 and 2014. Aduriz (now 37 years old) finished as
top scorer – along with
Ciro Immobile – with eight goals in the tournament proper. A poor
domestic campaign meant there would be no return to Europe the following season.
Barren years The club also failed to qualify for Europe in the next five seasons, although they did play their first competitive matches outside European territory, albeit in a domestic competition: the
2021–22 Supercopa de España was held in
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Athletic defeated Atlético Madrid in the semi-final but lost in
the final to Real Madrid. They also took part in the
previous edition of the Supercopa and won the trophy, but this was moved to the
La Cartuja in
Seville and played
behind closed doors due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Spain. The COVID situation also led to the two successive Copa del Rey finals for which Athletic qualified (with a Europa League place if won) being played within the space of two weeks in April 2021 in that same empty stadium; both of those matches ended in defeat, but in the case of the 2020 final against local rivals
Real Sociedad the European opportunity had already been forfeited due to both clubs voluntarily delaying the event in the hope that their supporters would be able to attend once rescheduled, which was ultimately futile.
2020s The barren run was ended when Athletic won the Copa del Rey in
2024 to qualify for the next Europa League. They finished the
league campaign in 5th that year, which would also have been sufficient to qualify via that route. They were automatically entered into the
2024–25 UEFA Europa League league phase, in its first edition using a new format with a single 36-team pool and each team playing eight fixtures against as many different opponents; Athletic were one of the lower-ranked teams in the draws due to their lack of recent coefficient points. There was an extra incentive to attempt to reach a third final in the competition, as this time it was to be held at San Mamés. From the 2012 run, captain Óscar de Marcos (at the club throughout) and
Ander Herrera (back after eight years elsewhere) were in the squad, while Iker Muniain had moved on in the summer of 2024. Athletic performed strongly in the league phase, winning first-ever meetings with
Slavia Prague,
Ludogorets Razgrad,
Elfsborg,
Fenerbahçe and
Viktoria Plzeň (plus a further victory over
AZ Alkmaar, an opponent nine years earlier), taking a point away to
Roma and losing just once, to
Beşiktaş in Turkey. They finished second in the table behind
Lazio on goal difference, and progressed directly to the Round of 16. at
Ibrox in the Europa League for the 2025 semi-final Penalties and sendings-off via the
Video Assistant Referee featured prominently in the knockout stages. A red card was shown to the away side in each leg of the Round of 16 tie, a rematch with Roma; the Italians scored late after the dismissal of
Yeray Álvarez to take a lead to Bilbao, however
Mats Hummels was sent off early in proceedings at San Mamés affording Athletic – and
Nico Williams in particular – the space to dominate the game and score three times. In the quarter-final against
Rangers, Athletic again benefitted from a man advantage after only 10 minutes but this time were stifled by the Scottish opposition in a goalless first leg at
Ibrox,
Liam Kelly saving a spot kick from
Álex Berenguer awarded after a goal by the same player was disallowed for offside, with an earlier handball offence then 'activated' by VAR. In the second leg, another penalty was awarded and this time scored by
Oihan Sancet, either side of which Rangers had two claims disregarded; a late Nico Williams header sealed a 2–0 result and a pairing with
Manchester United in a repeat of the memorable 2012 tie. In the semi-final first leg at a raucous San Mamés, a lively start by Athletic was nullified by three goals in ten minutes for the visitors at the end of the first half, the second from a penalty against
Dani Vivian for a tug on the shoulder of
Rasmus Højlund awarded after a long VAR review. Vivian had escaped punishment for a similar incident against Rangers, but this time was shown a red card amid vehement protests, and when
Bruno Fernandes converted the penalty then soon added another goal it seemed almost certain the English club (who like Athletic had also faced 10 men in the two previous rounds) would progress to the final, the Basques taking slight hope from previous dramatic comebacks, including one from United themselves to overcome
Olympique Lyonnais in their quarter-final. Despite missing several key players through injury or suspension, Athletic took the lead at
Old Trafford through
Mikel Jauregizar and held it until the 72nd minute prior to a late collapse with the final scoreline of 4–1 (7–1 on aggregate) not fully reflecting what had been an even contest for large parts of the tie, but was nevertheless a decisive end to the home final dream. United would instead take on compatriots
Tottenham Hotspur for the trophy and a lucrative place in the Champions League, albeit Athletic also qualified for that competition a week after their European disappointment via the
domestic league. Eleven years after their last experience in the elite competition, the club qualified directly for the
2025–26 UEFA Champions League league phase where they were drawn to play
Arsenal,
Borussia Dortmund,
Qarabağ and
Atalanta for the first time, along with a reverse of the previous season's meeting with Slavia Prague, an away trip to
Newcastle United recalling the events of 1994, and home fixtures against two rivals from the 2011–12 run,
Sporting CP and
Paris Saint-Germain, the latter of whom were now reigning European champions. In an injury-hit campaign, their results were largely predictable, with a win and draw both home and away and four defeats, none by an embarrassing margin. A stalemate with PSG and an away victory over Atalanta (a rarity on Italian soil) provided a chance of progression in the last match with Sporting, but pushing forward in the final minutes with the score level left a vulnerability to counter-attack which the Lisbon team took advantage of to win 3–2 and end Athletic's hopes (they finished on 8 points, 29th of 36 teams) – the three points also propelled Sporting into the top 8 of the league along with first-placed Arsenal, while five of the other six opponents also finished in the top 24, indicating the high overall level strength the Basques had come up against. ==Club records==