Arenas Club de Getxo

Arenas Club

Full name	Arenas Club de Getxo
Nickname(s)	El Histórico
Founded	1909; 115 years ago (1909) as Arenas Foot-ball Club
Ground	Gobela Getxo, Basque Country, Spain
Capacity	2,000[1]
President	Francisco Javier Egusquiaguirre
Head coach	Javier Olaizola
League	Segunda Federación – Group 2
2022–23	Segunda Federación – Group 2, 9th of 18
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in Segunda Federación – Group 2, holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-seat capacity.^[2] They were winners of the 1919 Copa del Rey, beating FC Barcelona 5–2.

It was among the pioneering clubs of Spanish football, and in 1928 was a founding member of La Liga, alongside neighbouring Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad and Real Unión. Only Real Unión has remained a consistent rival since then due to both of their downfalls from the top flight.

History

Origins of local football

The area of Greater Bilbao was deeply connected to Britain due to its iron ore mines and industry.^[3] Don Manuel, a priest in the local parish of the Las Arenas neighborhood, would gift balls to local children during Catechism lessons. Some of these boys would go on to study in England and learn about the local game of football. After their return to Getxo, they spread football to nearby neighborhoods.^[4]

By 1901, weekly matches were played in the fields of Lamiako by youth from Las Arenas.^[5] In 1903 the same group would win the "Copa Athletic", the biggest local tournament at the juvenile level, as well as play a match against Club Ciclista de San Sebastián, the precursor to Real Sociedad.^[5] They eventually founded a local team in 1909 (encouraged by the recent creation of the Spanish Federation of Football Clubs)^{[6][better source needed]} with the name of Arenas Football Club.^[4] It was renamed to Club Arenas three years later.^[5]

In 1914 they moved their home ground to the local sports club Real Club Jolaseta in the Neguri neighborhood.^[5]

Early successes

In 1912 they started competing in the Campeonato Norte along with Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, Racing de Santander, Sporting de Gijón and Celta de Vigo, being crowned champion in 1917.

During the 1916-17 season of the Campeonato, all the teams except for Arenas, Athletic, and Real Unión were suspended.^[7] The sporting committee of the tournament decided to play only the remaining matches between these three teams.^[8] Jolastokieta, one of the suspended teams, was dissolved that year. Arenas lost one match and won another against Unión as well as beating Athletic twice to claim the title.^[a] They then beat Sporting de Gijón in the semifinals.^[11] This qualified them to that year's Copa del Rey, where it reached the final in Barcelona, losing 1–2 against Madrid FC after extra time.^[5]

In 1917 a knock-out match in the Spanish Cup^[12] between Arenas and Athletic Bilbao had to be suspended after the pitch was stormed by Athletic supporters who were looking to assault the referee for seeming biased against their team.^[13]

In 1919 Arenas won another regional competition, the Campeonato de Vizcaya, thus qualifying for the Copa del Rey again, and won the national tournament after defeating FC Barcelona 5–2 in the final, scoring three in extra time.^[4] The following year, when the Spain national team were runners-up at their international debut in the Olympic Games, the squad included three players from the club, Francisco Pagazaurtundúa, Félix Sesúmaga, and Pedro Vallana.^[4]

Arenas Getxo appeared in Spanish Cup finals on two further occasions, losing against Barcelona in 1925 (0–2) and two years later against Real Unión (0–1), the latter in the only all-Basque decisive match in the competition's history not to feature Athletic Bilbao.^[14][15] Every member of the Spanish squad at the 1928 Olympics was with a Basque club, and Arenas provided four of the players.

Decline

After playing in La Liga's first seven editions – finishing third in 1929–30 – and the following six seasons in the second division, the club has spent the vast majority of its existence competing at the fourth level, with the occasional visit to the regional leagues. In 2015, Arenas gained promotion to the third tier for the first time in 35 years, via the playoffs.^[16]

Season to season

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1929 1 1ª 5th Round of 16 1929–30 1 1ª 3rd Round of 16 1930–31 1 1ª 5th Semi-finals 1931–32 1 1ª 5th Round of 16 1932–33 1 1ª 7th Round of 32 1933–34 1 1ª 10th Round of 32 1934–35 1 1ª 12th Sixth round 1935–36 2 2ª 2nd Round of 16 1939–40 2 2ª 7th 1940–41 2 2ª 8th First round 1941–42 2 2ª 7th First round 1942–43 2 2ª 4th First round 1943–44 2 2ª 12th 1944–45 3 3ª 2nd 1945–46 3 3ª 1st 1946–47 3 3ª 1st 1947–48 3 3ª 8th 1948–49 3 3ª 13th 1949–50 3 3ª 3rd 1950–51 3 3ª 10th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1951–52 3 3ª 16th 1952–53 3 3ª 10th 1953–54 3 3ª 3rd 1954–55 3 3ª 9th 1955–56 3 3ª 4th 1956–57 3 3ª 4th 1957–58 3 3ª 4th 1958–59 3 3ª 7th 1959–60 3 3ª 1st 1960–61 3 3ª 3rd 1961–62 3 3ª 3rd 1962–63 3 3ª 2nd 1963–64 3 3ª 3rd 1964–65 3 3ª 5th 1965–66 3 3ª 9th 1966–67 3 3ª 6th 1967–68 3 3ª 7th 1968–69 3 3ª 15th 1969–70 3 3ª 15th 1970–71 4 Reg. Pref. 10th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1971–72 4 Reg. Pref. 6th 1972–73 4 Reg. Pref. 5th 1973–74 4 Reg. Pref. 2nd 1974–75 4 Reg. Pref. 10th 1975–76 4 Reg. Pref. 2nd 1976–77 3 3ª 13th 1977–78 4 3ª 13th 1978–79 4 3ª 2nd 1979–80 3 2ª B 18th 1980–81 4 3ª 2nd 1981–82 4 3ª 18th 1982–83 5 Reg. Pref. 1st 1983–84 4 3ª 6th 1984–85 4 3ª 11th 1985–86 4 3ª 13th 1986–87 4 3ª 12th 1987–88 4 3ª 13th 1988–89 4 3ª 14th 1989–90 4 3ª 17th 1990–91 4 3ª 10th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 1991–92 4 3ª 8th 1992–93 4 3ª 8th 1993–94 4 3ª 6th 1994–95 4 3ª 19th 1995–96 5 Terr. Pref. 13th 1996–97 5 Terr. Pref. 1st 1997–98 4 3ª 13th 1998–99 4 3ª 8th 1999–2000 4 3ª 3rd 2000–01 4 3ª 7th 2001–02 4 3ª 9th 2002–03 4 3ª 10th 2003–04 4 3ª 10th 2004–05 4 3ª 7th 2005–06 4 3ª 5th 2006–07 4 3ª 11th 2007–08 4 3ª 12th 2008–09 4 3ª 12th 2009–10 4 3ª 15th 2010–11 4 3ª 7th

Season Tier Division Place Copa del Rey 2011–12 4 3ª 14th 2012–13 4 3ª 2nd 2013–14 4 3ª 3rd 2014–15 4 3ª 3rd 2015–16 3 2ª B 8th 2016–17 3 2ª B 9th Second round 2017–18 3 2ª B 12th 2018–19 3 2ª B 15th 2019–20 3 2ª B 18th 2020–21 3 2ª B 6th / 3rd 2021–22 4 2ª RFEF 5th 2022–23 4 2ª Fed. 9th 2023–24 4 2ª Fed.

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• 7 seasons in La Liga
• 6 seasons in Segunda División
• 7 seasons in Segunda División B
• 3 seasons in Segunda Federación/Segunda División RFEF
• 61 seasons in Tercera División

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In regional system

Current squad

As of 9 August 2022^[17]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ESP Joritz Landeta Batiz 2 DF  ESP Markel Bravo 3 DF  ESP Josu Lazkano 4 DF  ESP Asier Arana 5 DF  ESP Iñigo Gomeza (On loan from CD Basconia) 6 MF  ESP Guillermo Alonso 7 FW  ESP Gabriel Lizárraga 8 MF  ESP Iñigo Arzuaga 9 MF  ESP Gonzalo Zorrilla 10 MF  ESP Jurgi Oteo 11 DF  ESP Jorge Bengoetxea 13 GK  ESP Unai Goti

No. Pos. Nation Player 14 DF  ESP Paul Álvarez 15 DF  ESP Gaizka Argente 16 MF  ESP Markel Mayo 17 MF  ESP Mikel Escobar 18 MF  ESP Markel Goñi 19 FW  ESP Iñigo López (On loan from CD Basconia) 20 DF  ESP Jon Elorza 21 DF  ESP Gorka Gastesi 22 GK  ESP José Ortega

Honours

• Copa del Rey: 1919

Runners-up (3): 1917, 1925, 1927

• Tercera División (3):^[b] 1945–46, 1946–47, 1959–60
• North Regional Championship: 1916–17^[18]
• Biscay Championship (3): 1918–19, 1921–22, 1926–27
• Copa Vasca: 1935–36

Famous players

• Delmiro
• Gorka Luariz
• Tomas Agirre
• Guillermo Gorostiza
• Rafael Eguzkiza
• Javier Iturriaga
• Raimundo Lezama
• Joseba del Olmo
• Félix Sesúmaga
• Ian Uranga
• José María Yermo
• José María Zárraga

Famous coaches

• Javier Clemente

References

• Morbo: The Story of Spanish Football (2003), Phil Ball.

External links

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