Athletic Bilbao, a professional football club based in Bilbao (Biscay, Basque Country, Spain) has competed in international tournaments as representatives of La Liga since 1956. The club's first entry into an official competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) was the European Cup in 1956–57 (its second edition) as national champions; they reached the quarter-finals.
Athletic have yet to win a continental trophy in 33 attempts, up to and including the 2024–25 season. They finished runners-up in the two-legged 1977 UEFA Cup final, losing to Juventus on the away goals rule, and in the 2012 UEFA Europa League final, losing 3–0 to compatriots Atlético Madrid. They progressed to a third semi-final in the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League but did not reach the final which was due to be played at their own stadium. The club have competed in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League three times, in 1998–99, 2014–15 and 2025–26, without qualifying for the next phase on any occasion.
Striker Aritz Aduriz contributed 34 European goals for the club over a six-year spell from 2012 to 2018, winning the Europa League's top scorer award twice (one shared). The player with the most appearances, full-back Óscar de Marcos (77 matches), was also heavily involved during that period as well as in the 2011–12 and 2024–25 Europa League runs.
History
From 1941 until 1975, the club was known as Atlético de Bilbao following a decree from the ruling regime of the period that foreign words should not be used – the Athletic name, adopted at the turn of the 20th century, reflected English connections to football in the area. 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
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. The competition ended in 1957 and has become relatively obscure although was taken seriously at the time.
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 second leg was eventually played a month later in Brussels after Honvéd, unwilling to return to Hungary, took part in several exhibition matches around the continent. That return ended in a 3–3 draw with Athletic progressing 6–5, although Honvéd played a portion of the match with ten men after the goalkeeper was injured; their international winger Zoltán Czibor took his place between the posts. Honvéd continued to play tour matches across Europe and in South America for some time, until most returned home. Czibor, Sándor Kocsis and captain Ferenc Puskás did not go back and had to serve bans for their defection before they were able to play for their new clubs – Athletic's domestic rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Honvéd would not be a major force in the game again.
Athletic's next opponents were the young Manchester United squad known as the Busby Babes, who progressed after another battle ending 6–5. After 85 minutes of the first leg in Bilbao, the home side led 5–2 before the Red Devils scored a third goal, giving themselves a more achievable target in Manchester, and it was also with five minutes remaining in the return that they found the decisive goal to win 3–0. 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.
In the 1964–65 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup tournament, the club progressed through two early rounds 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.
Athletic's next entry into Europe in the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a short unhappy venture, as Red Star Belgrade won 5–0 in the first round, first leg match in Belgrade, which remains the club's heaviest European defeat. 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, a win over Denmark's Frem was rewarded with a cross-border meeting with Girondins Bordeaux, the shortest-ever away journey at 257km. That tie was successfully passed, but after receiving a bye to the quarter-finals through the luck of the draw, Athletic's next opponents were Ferencváros who once more proved too strong, despite enduring a miserable journey from Budapest to the Basque Country for the second leg; the Hungarians would again reach the final, this time losing to Leeds United.
A late goal by Emlyn Hughes at Anfield sent Athletic's 1968–69 Fairs Cup first round tie with Liverpool into extra time. (with this tiebreak method now preferred to a deciding match), 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) was employed for the only time in the club's European matches, with luck favouring the Lions. They overcame their first German opponents Eintracht Frankfurt through a spectacular volley from teenage defender José María Igartua and advanced to the quarter-finals to face Rangers, where two late goals in the first leg at Ibrox proved decisive as the 4–1 loss, including a strike by Alex Ferguson who had been in the Dunfermline side narrowly beaten four years earlier and had a goal disallowed in that tie, was only countered 2–0 at home with some good chances to score a vital third being squandered.
In 1969–70, Athletic Bilbao entered the Cup Winners' Cup for the first time as winners of the 1969 Copa del Generalísimo; they were eliminated in the opening round by eventual winners Manchester City. Athletic returned to the Fairs Cup for its final edition but again exited early, this time at the hands of Sparta Prague.
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.
After a year's hiatus, a domestic cup win in 1973 provided entry into the 1973–74 European Cup Winners' Cup, the last time the club would enter that competition, ending after two journeys behind the Iron Curtain: Athletic were accompanied to the USSR by 1000 supporters for the goalless draw with Torpedo Moscow, but this result was followed by a heavy 3–0 defeat to Bulgaria's Beroe Stara Zagora which could not be overturned back in Bilbao.
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 third round against Italians Milan, Athletic played at home first, and this time secured a strong 4–1 lead to take to Italy after scoring on 81 and 86 minutes. 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.
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.
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. Athletic's veteran goalkeeper José Ángel Iribar would face his 'twin', the Italian national custodian Dino Zoff (the two were of similar age, height and appearance).
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 Juves 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.