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Learn all about the Athletic Bilbao with Bilbao Club De Fans app! Be the first to discover the latest Los Leones news and keep up to date with the latest news and gossip about one of the most notable clubs in Primera!Everything you need to know in just one place!- Find out about the best players on the team :Fernando Llorente, Andoni Iraola, Gorka Iraizoz, Óscar de Marcos, Iker Muniain, Ibai Gómez , Ander Iturraspe, Fernando Amorebieta, and other great football players!- Read biographies of players, as well as biographies of the legends who used to play football for Athletic Bilbao!- Latest transfer rumors and transfer news: Athletic Bilbao new home kit, news, calendar, games and results, the La Liga Table and more!- Livescore soccer trophies the club and squad-players and positions!- Coming Soon - Discussion and Bilbao Wallpapers update!- Get this app and find out the latest Athletic news!- The best app for fans of the Los Leones!- Athletic BilbaoTransfer News Rumors and gossip!- Football latest news, schedule, fixtures and results- Results of Ath. Bilbao VS Primera and Europe opponents!Football was introduced to Bilbao by two distinct groups of players, both with British connections; British steel and shipyard workers and Basque students returning from schools in Britain. In the late 19th century Bilbao was a leading port of an important industrial area with iron mines and shipyards nearby. It was the driving force of the Spanish economy and as a result attracted many migrant workers. Among them were miners from the north-east of England, and shipyard workers from Southampton, Portsmouth and Sunderland. The British workers brought with them (as to so many other parts of the world) the game of football. In the early 1890s these workers came together and formed Bilbao Football Club.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 Cafe Garcia 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 FC 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 Club began playing in an improvised white kit, but in the 1902–03 season, the club's first official strip became half-blue, half-white shirts similar to those worn by Blackburn Rovers, which were donated by Juan Moser. Later, a young student from Bilbao named Juan Elorduy, who was spending Christmas 1909 in London, was charged by the club to buy 25 new shirts, but was unable to find enough. Waiting for the ship back to Bilbao and empty handed, Elorduyrealised that the colours of the local team Southampton matched the colours of the City of Bilbao, and bought 50 shirts to take with him. Upon arriving in Bilbao, the clubs directors decided almost immediately to change the teams strip to the new colours, and since 1910, Athletic Club have played in red and white stripes. Athletic were one of the last major clubs who did not have the logo of an official sponsor emblazoned on their kit.