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
The second leg was eventually played a month later in Brussels after Honvéd, unwilling to return to Hungary, took part in several exhibition matches around the continent. That return ended in a 3–3 draw with Athletic progressing 6–5, although Honvéd played a portion of the match with ten men after the goalkeeper was injured; their international winger Zoltán Czibor took his place between the posts. Honvéd continued to play tour matches across Europe and in South America for some time, until most returned home. Czibor, Sándor Kocsis and captain Ferenc Puskás did not go back and had to serve bans for their defection before they were able to play for their new clubs – Athletic's domestic rivals FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Honvéd would not be a major force in the game again.
Athletic's next opponents were the young Manchester United squad known as the Busby Babes, who progressed after another battle ending 6–5. After 85 minutes of the first leg in Bilbao, the home side led 5–2 before the "Red Devils" scored a third goal, giving themselves a more achievable target in Manchester, and it was also with five minutes remaining in the return that they found the decisive goal to win 3–0. The United players had helped to clear snow off their aeroplane at Bilbao Airport to enable them to fly home after the first leg; exactly a year after their win over Athletic, the English club was decimated in the Munich air disaster which involved their plane failing on take-off in wintery conditions.