Why Bilbao doesn’t want non-Basque players

Athletic Bilbao is a football club located in the Basque region of Spain. Since 1912, they have insisted on using Basque players. Despite limited talent options, Bilbao is one of the only teams in La Liga history to have never been relegated, along with Real Madrid and Barcelona.

In the history of La Liga, Bilbao is the team with the fourth most championships, second only to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid with 8 times. In addition, they are the team that has won the second most Copa del Rey titles, second only to Barcelona with 23 times. With these championships and honors, Athletic Bilbao is definitely one of the best teams in Spanish history.

In the past hundred years, the tradition of Athletic Bilbao has made some challenges. After the Second World War, Real Madrid found strong reinforcements such as Puskas and Di Stefano and dominated Spanish football, forcing Bilbao to seek changes and no longer insist on using native Basques.

Even if a player was not born in the Basque region, he can join Athletic Bilbao as long as his parents have Basque ancestry. For example, Merodio, who was born in Barcelona, ??his father has Basque ancestry. Joined Bilbao in 1956. In the 1960s, Bilbao revised its tradition. Even if you were not born in the Basque Country, as long as you grew up in the Basque Country, you were eligible to become a member of Bilbao.

This tradition of Bilbao changed again in the 1990s. Even if there are players whose parents do not have Basque ancestry, they were not born in the Basque Country, or even did not grow up in the Basque Country when they were young, but as long as they are from the Basque Country He has been through the club's youth training and meets the conditions to join Bilbao. On the surface, this is a change in the policy of recruiting players, but ultimately, it is a question of identity. What exactly does it mean to be a Basque?

The most traditional method is based on blood, and one must be born and raised to be considered a Basque. But is blood the only way to tell the difference? Is it just blood that Bilbao needs to stick to, or is it something else? What they want to preserve is culture. After recognizing this, Bilbao's recruitment policy gradually relaxed, changing from blood to having a Basque cultural background, such as growing up in the Basque Country or learning football.

In Spain, the Basque Country is a very sensitive topic. Like Catalonia, the Basques have long wanted independence from Spain. What is a Basque? What is Spanish? Spanish dictator Franco believed that the Basques were part of Spain, but the Basques felt that they were not Spanish, but Basques.

This season Bilbao promoted a young player from the youth team to the first team. His name is Inyaki Williams, who can play as a left and right winger. Inyaki-Williams is a black man. He is 20 years old. His father is Ghanaian and his mother is Libyan. The parents met in a refugee camp and immigrated to the Basque Country in Spain together. Later, they gave birth to Inyaki. Ky Williams.