Early career In 1896, the 20-year-old Astorquia returned to Bilbao, bringing with him his newly-acquired business knowledge and passion for football, and like many other Bilbaínos, he began to play football in the
Hippodrome of Lamiako in
Leioa, which at the time was the home of organized football in Biscay. At first, he became a member of an informal group led by
Carlos and
Manuel Castellanos, the so-called
Bilbao Football Club, playing a key role in setting up meetings between them and the workers from the
Nervión shipyards. Either way, he went on to become the head of a seven-man committee that founded what would later become Bilbao's first official football club. After obtaining the permission of the Civil Government, the club was officially established on 5 September 1901, in the meeting held at
Café García, in which a group of 33 football pioneers, including Astorquia and his brother,
Luis, signed the documents to make it official, and hence
Athletic Club was born. Astorquia was one of the most important figures in what is now regarded as one of the first football rivalries in Spain, one that helped turn football into a mass phenomenon in Bilbao since their duels aroused great expectation.
Club Bizcaya In 1902, Astorquia became the club's second president, taking over from
Luis Márquez, who had been elected on 11 June 1901. Under Astorquia's presidency, the two rivals agreed to join the best players of each club to play two games against the
Bordeaux-based side Burdigala. This temporary merge became known as
Club Bizcaya, with Astorquia being the only Spanish player in Bizcaya's attacking quintet, with Bilbao FC's English forwards (
George Langford,
William Dyer, William Butwell and
Walter Evans) making out the rest. Following these two victories, the French newspaper ''L'Auto
(currently known as L'Équipe'') described Bizcaya as "best team in Spain". In the build-up for the tournament, however, Athletic and Bilbao FC could not agree on whether to go together or separately, so Astorquia wrote and signed a note to the capital stating that "For reasons beyond Vizcaya's control, [...] No Club [from Bilbao] is registered for the competition", but thanks to the intervention from
Carlos Padrós of Madrid FC, the Basques participated as Bizcaya. Astorquia captained his team in the tournament and he led by example, netting three goals, one in each game he played: the quarter-finals against
Club Español (5–1), in the semifinals against
New Foot-Ball Club (8–1), and the opening goal of the
final in a 2–1 win over
Joan Gamper's
FC Barcelona, thus contributing decisively in Athletic's very first piece of silverware. According to some sources, Astorquia netted the opening goal of the game against Español, thus being the author of the very first goal in Copa del Rey history, but due to the little statistical rigor that the newspapers had at that time, the exact order of the goals is unknown, and this feat is more often attributed to Español's
Ángel Ponz, while Athletic's first competitive goal is attributed to either Astorquia or Evans. Between 1901 and 1903, Astorquia was simultaneously Athletic's founder, player, captain (equivalent to coach), and president, performing all four tasks expertly. in the
final at the
Castellana racetrack, Athletic found themselves 2–0 down to
Madrid FC at half-time, but after an inspirational address by Astorquia during the break, the Athletic players pulled off a comeback in the second half, capturing a 3–2 victory over the home team in front of 5,000 spectators. As the captain and president of the club, Astorquia felt obliged to take a step forward and gather the players around him in the Biscayan locker room to give them a harangue. in Madrid, the newly-arrived group from Bilbao were asked to wait for a few days until the Madrid champion was decided, but Astorquia was quick to refuse to do so. Therefore, under the protection of the regulations, he and his team showed up at 11:00 at
Español de Madrid's ground to play the final, eventually being declared champions due to the opponent's failure to appear. Then they sang the
alirón and returned home. ==Outside football==