San Mames Stadium — Attraction in Bilbao

REGIONAL PRIDE ABOVE ALL Athletic Bilbao is an unique football club. The Basque giant is one of Spain’s most successful clubs and has won eight league titles – the fourth best tally after Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid. Bilbao is also one of only three clubs who have played every season in La Liga since it began in 1928; the other two are Real Madrid and Barcelona. What makes the club even more special is that they have used only Basque players. The Basque Country is a region covering parts of northern Spain and southern France. Today it has three million inhabitants and is, of course, Athletic Bilbao’s catchment area. The policy of only allowing Basque players has limited the club in today’s world, where money has an increasing influence over football. As a result, their most recent title dates to 1984, when Bilbao won the Double (La Liga and the Copa del Rey). Since then they have made it to the final of both the Spanish Cup and the Europa League, but that is nothing compared to the successes of their former rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona. Even so, most Bilbao fans are happy. They are proud of their team and their region, which is also reflected in the club’s motto: Con cantera y aficíon, no hace falta importación (‘With our own talents and passion, we don’t need any imports’). To understand this motto, we need to turn to the history books. The Basque Country has never allowed itself to be absorbed into Spanish culture. Basque is a separate language, and as late as 2010 the terrorist organisation ETA was fighting for Basque independence, a fight borne out of resistance to the dictator Franco’s regime (1939–1975). Under Franco’s reign the Basques were oppressed; among other restrictions, the Basque language itself was forbidden. This was a dark era that strengthened the Basque people’s pride in their origins – a self-respect manifested in the crest for Athletic Bilbao.

CLUB: Athletic Club NICKNAME: Los Leones (the Lions) and Lehoiak (the Lions) FOUNDED: 1898 STADIUM: San Mamés, Bilbao (53,289 capacity) HISTORIC PLAYERS: Pichichi, Telmo Zarra and Joseba Etxeberria

Athletic Bilbao celebrate a win over Newcastle United in the 1994 UEFA Cup. The Basque country team has recorded eight La Liga titles – only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético Madrid...

San Mamés, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain.🇪🇸🏟

Home of @athleticclub

Capacity: 53,331

the stadium replaced the "old" San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao. With a capacity of 53,331 seats, San Mamés is the 7th-largest stadium in Spain and the largest in the Basque Country.

Planning and construction

The first stages of planning occurred as early as 2004, with initial contracts signed late on in 2006, after receiving approval to build in March 2006. The new stadium was to be built next to the existing San Mamés on land that was occupied until 2003 by the Bilbao International Trade Fair.

On 26 May 2010 at 12:00 the ground-breaking ceremony took place at San Mamés. The event was attended by: the Lehendakari of the Basque Country, Patxi López; the Deputy-General of Biscay, José Luis Bilbao; the Mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna; the Chairman of Bilbao Bizkaia Kutxa, Mario Fernández; the President of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, Ángel María Villar and the President of Athletic Club, Fernando García Macua.

San Mamés was inaugurated on 16 September 2013, 102 days after the final game at the old stadium. At that time the official capacity of the partially completed...

Great Stadium in the center of Bilbao City.

At the end of 2022, I took the time to visit this stadium, as part of a Business Trip with colleagues from Indonesia.

We got a tour package to see up close, starting from the background and history of the stadium and club to all the details in this stadium.

This magnificent stadium is located in the center of Bilbao, and close to the hotel where we stayed. The place is quite clean, neat... really beautiful with the red color typical of the Bilbao City Club.

It is really worth a visit not only for football fans but also for anyone visiting the city of Bilbao.

We learned a lot about the history of football in Bilbao. The beautiful tour guide was very knowledgeable and friendly. We got a lot of information about the Atletic Bilbao club including the long history of this club in the European scene.

And don't forget, we bought souvenirs in the form of club merchandise just before leaving the stadium exit.

Hopefully we can still visit there again, someday.

Warm greetings from...