Basque-only and proud: Athletic Club’s story of loyalty and perseverance

• Since 1912, Athletic Club have fielded only Basque players. Around 85% of their academy players graduate to the first team.

• “I know the difficulties of working in these conditions, as I’ve been dealing with these circumstances since I was a child, but I’ve come to terms with them,” says Sporting Director Rafael Alkorta, the former Spain international and Real Madrid centre-back.

• Athletic are one of only three clubs – the others being FC Barcelona and Real Madrid – never to have been relegated from the Spanish top tier.

In an age in which globalisation, worldwide scouting networks and enormous transfer fees have changed the game, Athletic Club have resisted the temptation to adopt mainstream business methods. By contrast, they have remained loyal to their unique philosophy, sticking to a strict policy of fielding only players born or raised in the Basque regions of Spain and France.

While their rivals have the luxury of recruiting talent from around the globe, Athletic are restricted to harvesting the fruit of their own youth academy and selecting players from a handful of other clubs in the region. It might seem to be a massive competitive disadvantage, but Sporting Director Rafael Alkorta, the former Spain international and Real Madrid centre-back, who was brought up at Athletic, has had a lifetime’s experience of adjusting to the limitations of their recruitment policy.

“I don’t look at other clubs or compare us with others. I know the difficulties of working in these conditions, as I’ve been dealing with these circumstances since I was a child, but I’ve come to terms with them. We’ve got to accept the realities of our situation and understand our limitations and leverage them, turning them into a strength,” says Alkorta.

In the context of modern football, the fact that Athletic Club remain a force to be reckoned with in Spanish football is a minor miracle given their restrictions. Their last Spanish title dates back to 1984 but they have been in four Copa del Rey finals over the last decade and – along with FC Barcelona and Real Madrid – have never been relegated from the top flight.

Alkorta also makes it clear that the tradition of only signing Basque players hasn’t prevented the club from fulfilling its potential. “Athletic have always prioritised tradition and it has never prevented us from enjoying lots of success, winning trophies and staying clear of relegation. Our philosophy has given us more power to compete,” says Alkorta, stressing that the key to success is the club academy.

Astonishingly, some 85% of Athletic’s squad members are graduates from the youth academy based in Lezama and, on average, two home-grown players break into the first team every year. The efficiency of the Athletic system is very evident, with the likes of Iker Muniain and Aymeric Laporte being the latest stars to come out of Lezama.

For the upcoming season, there will be three Basque sides in Spain’s La Liga, but none of them can compete with the impressive regional scouting network of Athletic Club.

“We have 156 feeder clubs helping us to find the right players,” Alkorta says.

But despite their scouting system and well-coordinated youth set-up, Athletic will occasionally be forced to look elsewhere for options. It’s a difficult task, Alkorta explains, as clubs worldwide are well aware of Athletic’s limitations.

“Of course, my transfer options are very restricted given our policy and if we identify a Basque player within another team that we would like to bring to Athletic, it certainly won’t be easy to sign him,” says Alkorta.

But while Athletic may struggle to recruit prolific Basque players from other clubs, it can be an equally gruelling affair trying to sign players from Athletic. There is no incentive for Athletic to offload their star players for anything less than their release clause, simply because the transfer money that they might be in line to receive can usually not be spent beyond the region’s borders anyway.

Consequently, Bayern Munich were forced to pay over GBP 30 million for Spain international Javi Martínez in 2012, while Manchester City forked out GBP 57.2 million to activate the aforementioned Laporte’s release clause.

Alkorta emphasises that Athletic won’t prevent players from leaving, but he says the club tries to foster a strong sense of loyalty in the players from the first day they enter the academy. In addition, the club attempts to create a clear pathway from the academy to the first team, by continuously pushing promising youngsters to play with higher age groups.

“Our strategy is to make youngsters identify with Athletic from the first time they are introduced to the club. But sometimes they still want to leave and we have to understand and accept that. However, our youngsters know that there is a much greater chance of playing at the top level with Athletic and money should never be the most important thing to them,” Alkorta concludes.