Athletic Club Femenino is the women's football section of Athletic Bilbao, competing in Liga F. Athletic is one of the most successful women's teams in Spain, with five championships. Just as with the men's team, their official policy is to sign players native to or trained in football in the greater Basque Country.[1] The team plays at the club's facilities in Lezama on the outskirts of Bilbao.

Athletic Femenino

Full name	Athletic Club Femenino
Nickname(s)	Las Leonas (The Lionesses) Neskak (Girls) Rojiblancas (Red-Whites)
Founded	2002; 20 years ago (2002)
Ground	Lezama (Field 2), Biscay, Spain
Capacity	3,250
President	Aitor Elizegi
Head coach	Iraia Iturregi
League	Liga F
2021–22	Primera División, 7th
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

History

The team was founded in 2000 as Leioa EFT after CD Sondika disbanded its women's team, which had played in the defunct División de Honor in the 1990s. After Leioa gained promotion to the new Superliga Femenina in just two years, it was absorbed by Athletic Bilbao. At that time a reserve team, Athletic B, was also introduced – they currently compete in Group 2 of the Segunda División, the regionalised second tier.[2]

In their debut season Athletic won the championship, and successfully defended the title in the next two seasons, becoming the first team to be awarded the trophy to keep permanently.[3] After a disappointing 2006 season, Athletic won its fourth title in 2007. As a result of their title wins they made four appearances in the UEFA Women's Cup, being knocked out in the group stages by 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2004, Djurgårdens IF in 2005, SV Saestum in 2006 and ASDCF Bardolino in 2008.

Athletic finished third in the next four championships between 2008 and 2011. In 2012 they were runners-up, and reached the Copa de la Reina final for the first time, losing to RCD Espanyol after extra time.[4] On 5 January 2013 the team celebrated its tenth anniversary, beating Arsenal LFC in a friendly match. They were cup runners-up again in 2014, this time losing on penalties to FC Barcelona, having finished second behind the same club in the league.

On 5 June 2016, Athletic won its fifth league title, nine years after its last success.[5] They competed in the UEFA Women's Champions League the following season, where they were eliminated by Danish champions Fortuna Hjorring in the Round of 32.

In June 2017, the club announced they would introduce a second reserve team for the coming season, made up of girls aged 13 to 15.[6] Later that year, a club proposal to enter another girls team (12/13 years) into a local boys' youth league was rejected by the provincial council.[7]

In January 2019, the club broke the European record for attendance at a women's football match with 48,121 spectators at San Mamés for a Copa de la Reina quarter-final fixture, a 2–0 loss to Atlético Madrid.[8][9] (however, it only stood for a few months until Barcelona played Atlético in front of a 60,739 crowd).[10] That match was the 14th played by the women's team in the two versions of the club's main stadium since the first in 2003, with three more played there during the next year.[11]

Season to season

As Leioa EFT

As Athletic Bilbao

Honours

Titles

Official competitions

• Primera División (5): 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2006–07, 2015–16
• Euskal Herria Cup (7): 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Invitational competitions

• Sport Mundi Tournament (4): 2006, 2007, 2011, 2012
• COTIF: 2015
• Teresa Herrera Trophy: 2017, 2018
• Ramón de Carranza Trophy: 2019[19]

UEFA competition record

Season	Competition	Stage	Result	Opponent	Scorers
2003–04 0 0	Women's Cup 0 0	Group stage 0 0	2–0 5–2 1–8	Neulengbach 1º Dezembro Frankfurt	Castrillo, Fernández Iturregi 2, Angulo, Ferreira, Ibarra Juaristi
2004–05 0 0	Women's Cup 0 0	Qualifying stage 0 0	10–3 1–1 5–0	Newtownabbey Strikers Maccabi Holon Clujana	Sánchez 2, Fernández, Ferreira, Iturregi, Onaindia, Orueta, Vázquez, Zabala + 1 o.g. Juaristi Fernández 2, Vázquez 2, Orueta
		Group stage 0 0	2–2 2–3 5–1	Arsenal Djurgården/Älvsjö Aegina	Iturregi, Vázquez Ferreira, Olabarrieta Vázquez, Fernández, Ibarra, Murua
2005–06 0 0	Women's Cup 0 0	Qualifying stage 0 0	6–2 3–0 1–1	Glasgow City Rapide Wezemaal Saestum	Vázquez 3, Fernández, Gurrutxaga, Juaristi Fernández, Juaristi, Orueta Fernández
2007–08 0 0	Women's Cup 0 0	Qualifying stage 0 0	4–0 16–0 0–1	Krka Novo Mesto Birkirkara Bardolino	Díez, Ferreira, Murua, Vázquez Vázquez 7, Juaristi 3, Olabarrieta 2, Díez, Iturregi, Murua, Sánchez 0
2016–17 0 0	Women's Champions League 0 0	Round of 32 0 0	2–1 1–3 (a.e.t.)	Fortuna Hjørring	Corres, Oroz Vázquez 0

Players

Current squad

As of 8 September 2022[20] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Mariasun Quiñones 3 DF  ESP Naia Landaluze 4 DF  ESP Garazi 5 DF  ESP Naroa 6 MF  ESP Oihane Valdezate 7 FW  ESP Nekane 8 MF  ESP Marta Unzué 9 FW  ESP Yulema Corres 10 MF  ESP Leyre Monente 11 DF  ESP Oihane 12 MF  ESP Irene Oguiza 13 GK  ESP Amaia Peña 14 MF  ESP Eunate 15 MF  ESP Clara Pinedo 16 FW  ESP Ane Azkona

No. Pos. Nation Player 17 MF  ESP Nerea Nevado 18 MF  ESP Itxaso 19 MF  ESP Mariana 20 FW  ESP Paula Arana 21 DF  GER Bibiane Schulze 22 FW  ESP Peke 26 GK  ESP Paula Esteban 27 DF  ESP Ane Elexpuru 29 MF  ESP Maite Zubieta 28 FW  ESP Sara Ortega 30 MF  ESP Alejandra Estefanía 31 FW  ESP Jone Amezaga 32 DF  ESP Amaia Martínez 33 FW  ESP Claudia Fernández

Out on Loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Reserve team

Former players

For details of current and former players, see Category:Athletic Bilbao (women) players.

See also

• Athletic–Barcelona rivalry
• Women's Basque derby

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Athletic Club de Bilbao equipo femenino.

• UEFA profile
• Athletic Club at Txapeldunak
• From official website:
  • Team history
  • Appearances
  • Goalscorers
  • A-Z of players
  • Debuts

На других языках

[ru] Атлетик Бильбао (женский футбольный клуб)