Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in , holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-seat capacity. They were winners of the 1919 Copa del Rey, beating Barcelona 5–2.

It was among the pioneering clubs of Spanish football, and in 1928 was a founding member of La Liga, alongside neighbouring Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Unión. Only Real Unión has remained a consistent rival since then due to both of their downfalls from the top flight.

History

Origins of local football The area of Greater Bilbao was deeply connected to Britain due to its iron ore mines and industry. Don Manuel, a priest in the local parish of the Las Arenas neighborhood, would gift balls to local children during Catechism lessons. Some of these boys would go on to study in England and learn about the local game of football. After their return to Getxo, they spread football to nearby neighborhoods.

By 1901, weekly matches were played in the fields of Lamiako by youth from Las Arenas. In 1903, the same group would win the "Copa Athletic", the biggest local tournament at the juvenile level, as well as play a match against Club Ciclista de San Sebastián, the precursor to Real Sociedad. They eventually founded a local team in 1909 (encouraged by the recent creation of the Spanish Federation of Football Clubs) with the name of Arenas Football Club. It was renamed to Club Arenas three years later.

In 1914, they moved their home ground to the local sports club Real Club Jolaseta in the Neguri neighborhood.

Early successes

In 1912, they started competing in the Campeonato Norte along with Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, Racing de Santander, Sporting de Gijón and Celta, being crowned champion in 1917.

During the 1916–17 season of the Campeonato, all the teams except for Arenas, Athletic, and Real Unión were suspended. The sporting committee of the tournament decided to play only the remaining matches between these three teams. Jolastokieta, one of the suspended teams, was dissolved that year. Arenas lost one match and won another against Unión as well as beating Athletic twice to claim the title. They then beat Sporting de Gijón in the semi-finals. This qualified them to that year's Copa del Rey, where it reached the final in Barcelona, losing 1–2 against Madrid FC after extra time.

In 1917, a knock-out match in the Spanish Cup between Arenas and Athletic Bilbao had to be suspended after the pitch was stormed by Athletic supporters who were looking to assault the referee for seeming biased against their team.

In 1919, Arenas won another regional competition, the Campeonato de Vizcaya, thus qualifying for the Copa del Rey again, and won the national tournament after defeating Barcelona 5–2 in the final, scoring three in extra time. The following year, when the Spain national team were runners-up at their international debut in the Olympic Games, the squad included three players from the club, Francisco Pagazaurtundúa, Félix Sesúmaga, and Pedro Vallana.

Arenas Getxo appeared in Spanish Cup finals on two further occasions, losing against Barcelona in 1925 (0–2) and two years later against Real Unión (0–1), the latter in the only all-Basque decisive match in the competition's history not to feature Athletic Bilbao. Every member of the Spanish squad at the 1928 Olympics was with a Basque club, and Arenas provided four of the players.

Decline After playing in La Liga's first seven editions – finishing third in 1929–30 – and the following six seasons in the second division, the club has spent the vast majority of its existence competing at the fourth level, with the occasional visit to the regional leagues. In 2015, Arenas gained promotion to the third tier for the first time in 35 years, via the playoffs.

Season to season SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey192911ª5thRound of 161929–3011ª3rdRound of 161930–3111ª5thSemi-finals1931–3211ª5thRound of 161932–3311ª7thRound of 321933–3411ª10thRound of 321934–3511ª12thSixth round1935–3622ª2ndRound of 161939–4022ª7th1940–4122ª8thFirst round1941–4222ª7thFirst round1942–4322ª4thFirst round1943–4422ª12th1944–4533ª2nd1945–4633ª1st1946–4733ª1st1947–4833ª8th1948–4933ª13th1949–5033ª3rd1950–5133ª10thSeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1951–5233ª16th1952–5333ª10th1953–5433ª3rd1954–5533ª9th1955–5633ª4th1956–5733ª4th1957–5833ª4th1958–5933ª7th1959–6033ª1st1960–6133ª3rd1961–6233ª3rd1962–6333ª2nd1963–6433ª3rd1964–6533ª5th1965–6633ª9th1966–6733ª6th1967–6833ª7th1968–6933ª15th1969–7033ª15th1970–71410th SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1971–7246th1972–7345th1973–7442nd1974–75410th1975–7642nd1976–7733ª13th1977–7843ª13th1978–7943ª2nd1979–8032ª B18th1980–8143ª2nd1981–8243ª18th1982–8351st1983–8443ª6th1984–8543ª11th1985–8643ª13th1986–8743ª12th1987–8843ª13th1988–8943ª14th1989–9043ª17th1990–9143ª10thSeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1991–9243ª8th1992–9343ª8th1993–9443ª6th1994–9543ª19th1995–965Terr. Pref.13th1996–975Terr. Pref.1st1997–9843ª13th1998–9943ª8th1999–200043ª3rd2000–0143ª7th2001–0243ª9th2002–0343ª10th2003–0443ª10th2004–0543ª7th2005–0643ª5th2006–0743ª11th2007–0843ª12th2008–0943ª12th2009–1043ª15th2010–1143ª7th SeasonTierDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey2011–1243ª14th2012–1343ª2nd2013–1443ª3rd2014–1543ª3rd2015–1632ª B8th2016–1732ª B9thSecond round2017–1832ª B12th2018–1932ª B15th2019–2032ª B18th2020–2132ª B / 2021–2242ª RFEF5th2022–2342ª Fed.9th2023–2442ª Fed.12th2024–2542ª Fed.1st2025–2631ª Fed.11thFirst round2026–2731ª Fed.

17 seasons in La Liga 6 seasons in Segunda División 2 seasons in Primera Federación 7 seasons in Segunda División B 4 seasons in Segunda Federación/Segunda División RFEF 61 seasons in Tercera División

In regional system

SeasonDivisionPlaceCopa del Rey1913–14North5h1914–15North2nd1915–16North4th1916–17North1st1917–18North3rd1918–19Biscay1st1919–20Biscay3rd1920–21Biscay2nd1921–22Biscay1st1922–23Biscay2nd1923–24Biscay2nd1924–25Biscay1st1925–26Biscay2nd1926–27Biscay1st1927–28Biscay4th1928–29Biscay2nd1929–30Biscay3rd1930–31Biscay2nd1931–32Biscay2nd1932–33Biscay2nd1933–34Biscay3rd1934–35Basque Cup3rd1935–36Basque Cup1st1938–39Biscay5th1939–40Biscay4th

Current squad

Out on loan

Honours Copa del Rey: 1919 Runners-up: 1917, 1925, 1927 Tercera División: 1945–46, 1946–47, 1959–60 North Regional Championship / Biscay Championship: 1916–17, 1918–19, 1921–22, 1924–25, 1926–27, 1935–36 Copa Vasca: 1935–36

Famous players Delmiro Gorka Luariz Tomas Agirre Guillermo Gorostiza Rafael Eguzkiza Javier Iturriaga Raimundo Lezama Joseba del Olmo Félix Sesúmaga Ian Uranga José María Yermo José María Zárraga

Famous coaches Javier Clemente

References

Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (2003), Phil Ball.

External links

Futbolme team profile