Athletic Bilbao B
Bilbao Athletic, officially named Athletic Club "B", is the reserve team of Athletic Bilbao, a football club based in Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. The team will play in the Segunda División B in the 2018–19 season. Founded in 1964, the team holds home matches at the small stadium attached to the club's training facility at Lezama, or occasionally at San Mamés Stadium, with its 53,500-seat capacity, for important fixtures.
History of Athletic Bilbao
With the departures of manager Marcelo Bielsa, forward Fernando Llorente and defender Fernando Amorebieta, Athletic looked to replace them in the transfer market. They would begin by replacing Bielsa with former player Ernesto Valverde, who had had a previous spell as manager at the club. They quickly moved to sign Beñat from Real Betis to reinforce the midfield, while also picking up two defenders in Xabier Etxeita and Mikel Balenziaga. Finally, to give the club another, more viable attacking option in tandem with Aritz Aduriz, they signed striker Kike Sola from Osasuna. With these reinforcements, as well as youth breakouts such as Aymeric Laporte and Jonás Ramalho, Athletic looked to have a bounceback-season.
With a very successful 2013–14 campaign, which included a 1–0 victory over Barcelona, they finished fourth in the league, meaning a new exciting UEFA Champions League campaign. Stars Aritz Aduriz and Ander Herrera shone, meaning the summer would be full of begging suitors for their players, and indeed, the summer transfer market began with a bid for Herrera; a €36 million deal was finalized in June 2014 with Manchester United.