Forget Barcelona! Athletic are more than a club

When Ernesto Valverde led Athletic to Copa del Rey glory in 2024, he called it the most meaningful achievement of his entire footballing life. Valverde had won two trophies with Barcelona as a player, and four as a manager, but admitted, "Nothing compares to this." Why?

Well, it was partly down to the fact Athletic hadn't won a title for 40 years - and that they'd lost six finals in that time.

But it was about more than that for Valverde, and every other person connected to the club. Lifting the Copa del Rey didn't just remove a weight off the Basques' backs, it vindicated an entire ethos, providing tangible proof that it was possible to achieve success in the money-dominated modern era without compromising their principles or changing their ways.

"This cup is unlike any other," Valverde said, "because of who we are." And who they are is really remarkable.

Athletic Club are truly the pride of Bilbao. Even locals who don't follow football support the team, which has, for more than a century, been a defiant symbol of the Basque people, and their culture.

"Athletic Club cannot be understood without understanding our values," board member Igor San Roman said. "This club has championed a model that is unique in the world, the values and principles which we have managed to promote over the course of our 127-year history: loyalty to a club, loyalty to colours and, above all, loyalty to the community it represents.

"There is one enduring message, which is that loyalty is not dead. That is the message we want our players to convey."

And they continue to do so because Athletic have never abandoned their proud policy of only picking players with Basque roots or training.

It's obviously quite a restrictive recruitment strategy. The Basque Country may be made up of seven historic provinces that stretch from the north of Spain into the south of France but they account for just over three million people in total.

Athletic, though, make the absolute most of the talent at their disposal, by investing heavily in grassroots football. They also carefully cultivate the deep bond that already exists between Bilbao and its football team. As defender Dani Vivian told The Guardian, "It's like you don't choose to be an Athletic fan; you're born with it.

"For us, it's not just the recent history, not just sport, but the way the club treats its people, how it reaches them. It's a very special way of being, that very few clubs can create that."

Consequently, while the club has a relatively small catchment area, the net result is a squad composed of the same values, pride and passion.

Athletic thus becomes, "a way of life", as legendary winger Julen Guerrero put it, for every single player lucky enough to represent the club and their own people.

"It's very deeply rooted, there in the way we work with our academy, in our ideology," Vivian explained. "There's an identification we all share in the dressing room: that definitely helps us compete."

Inevitably, challenging for trophies is tougher today than it once was. The gap between the haves and the have-nots has widened dramatically since the creation of the Champions League in recent years. But that only made Athletic's Copa triumph all the sweeter.

When Unai Simon said they'd been waiting their whole lives to celebrate a major title triumph in Bilbao, he wasn't exaggerating. Not a single member of the squad had been born the last time Athletic lifted a trophy, all the way back in 1984, when Javier Clemente's team won the double and marked the occasion by taking a barge, 'La Gabarra' along the Ria de Bilbao as more than a million people watched on.

Those spectacular scenes were replicated by Simon and Co. after they defeated Mallorca on penalties to end 40 years of hurt. "This has always been our dream; our grandparents and parents told us about this. Bloody hell!" the goalkeeper enthused from aboard the barge.

For Valverde, the joyous scenes in Bilbao were just as stupefying, and yet utterly unsurprising. "This is the most fascinating club on earth," he pointed out, "and when it comes to celebrating, it is the best."

And that really is because of who they are, and what they're about. CD Guadalajara may only employ players from Mexico but Athletic really are an outlier at the very highest level of club football in that they restrict their recruitment to a region and, as even Barcelona has previously admitted on their own website, "It is testimony to the quality of football in the region that Athletic have remained so competitive in the face of the 'globalisation' of football."

It is, of course, a real shame that Barca haven't shown similar levels of resistance. But at least Athletic have remained true to themselves, and for that very reason they're not just beloved in Bilbao. As Valverde says, they're respected and revered all around the world, because they provide comfort to those who have grown bitterly disillusioned with the way in which the game has gone.

"People recognise our philosophy, the way we compete," he said. "Deep down, maybe it reconciles you with football."

In that sense, it's Athletic who are more than a club. They're a source of hope.