History of Athletic Bilbao
Meanwhile, sons of the Basque educated classes had made the opposite journey and went to Britain to complete their studies in civil engineering and commerce. While in the United Kingdom, these students developed an interest in football and on their return to Bilbao they began to arrange games with British workers. In 1898, students belonging to the Gymnasium Zamacois founded the "Athletic Club", using the English spelling. In 1901, a meeting was held in the Café García, which established more formal rules and regulations. In 1902, the two Bilbao clubs formed a combined team, known as "Bizcaya", in the first Copa del Rey. They returned with the trophy after defeating Barcelona in the final. This would lead to the eventual merger of the two clubs as "Athletic Club" in 1903. In the same year, Basque students also formed "Athletic Club Madrid"; this club later evolved into Atlético Madrid. The club's foundation date is a subject of debate among football historians. The club itself declares 1898, but others claim 1901 or 1903 as the true founding year.
Athletic Bilbao in European football
In 2015, for the third time in seven years, Athletic lost the domestic cup final to Barcelona (who also won the league title); UEFA's rules had recently changed, so they no longer qualified as runners-up. However they also finished seventh in the league, and with absence of any qualifier from the Copa del Rey, this was sufficient to enter the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League. The first qualifying round involved a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan (the furthest distance they have travelled for a European fixture at 4,309km) where a goalless draw with Inter Baku was good enough to progress. In the group stage they topped the section, only dropping points to AZ Alkmaar, although it took two late goals from Aritz Aduriz to turn the away fixture with Augsburg on its head. Aduriz also scored in the away legs of subsequent rounds against Marseille (a volley from 35 yards) and Valencia (his former club, against whom he had already netted twice that season during league wins), and in both legs against the holders Sevilla, but there the run ended as the hosts won a penalty shootout 5–4 at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium to go through, eventually winning the trophy for the third consecutive year.
Aduriz finished as the competition's top scorer with 10 goals, and was named in the 'squad of the season'. Due to the early qualifying rounds played, the total of 16 matches in the campaign equalled the previous record set during 2011–12's run to the final.