A region of two million people on Spain's northern coast that produces futbolistas, coaches and academies out of all proportion to its size, and the place Coach Jul's fútbol comes from.
EUSKADI
01 / EL PAÍS
Small place, serious fútbol.
Three provinces, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Araba, plus Navarre and the French Basque Country across the border. Industrial, rainy, fiercely local, and fútbol-mad in a way that has nothing to do with fashion.
2.2M
People in the Basque Country
3
La Liga clubs from the region
0
Relegations in Athletic Club's history
10mi
Galdakao to San Mamés
Athletic Club fields only players born or developed in the Basque Country, a restriction no other elite club in the world imposes on itself, and has still never been relegated from Spain's top flight. That rule turns the whole region into one academy: every town club, every age group, is a supply line for a first team playing in Europe. A kid here is inside a serious fútbol structure by the age of seven.
02 / LAS CANTERAS
The training institutions.
“Cantera”: the quarry. Where the region's players are cut. These are the academies the rest of Europe studies.
Lezama · Athletic ClubBILBAO · SINCE 1971The academy behind the Basque-only policy: if Athletic can't buy players, it has to make them. Iñaki & Nico Williams, Unai Simón, Aritz Aduriz, Javi Martínez (as a young pro) all came through here. Coach Jul still collaborates with its development program.
RSZubieta · Real SociedadSAN SEBASTIÁNArguably Spain's most admired academy of the last decade: Xabi Alonso, Antoine Griezmann (arrived at fourteen after French clubs passed on him), Mikel Oyarzabal, Martín Zubimendi, Mikel Merino.
CATajonar · CA OsasunaPAMPLONA · NAVARREOsasuna's training city outside Pamplona. Javi Martínez, Nacho Monreal and César Azpilicueta started here before La Liga, Bayern, Arsenal and Chelsea.
DAIbaia · Deportivo AlavésVITORIA-GASTEIZThe Araba academy, feeding a club that reached a European final from a city of 250,000.
AKAntiguokoSAN SEBASTIÁN · YOUTH CLUBA neighbourhood youth club, not a professional one, and it alone produced Xabi Alonso, Mikel Arteta and Andoni Iraola. This is what the region's base looks like.
+The development clubsBIZKAIA · COACH JUL'S LAYERDanok Bat, Santutxu, Sestao River, Balmaseda, Getxo: the clubs where Coach Jul played and coached for over a decade, and the pathways of Iñigo Lekue, Ander Capa, Unai Gómez, Dani Vivian and Ibai Gómez. The academies above draft from this layer.
03 / LOS LUGARES
The places.
Road distances from Bilbao. Every ground on this page is within two hours of San Mamés. A Basque coach grows up inside a dense fútbol region, not a scattered one.
Galdakao → San MamésCoach Jul's hometown · Athletic Club, “La Catedral,” 53,00010 MI
Vitoria-GasteizDeportivo Alavés · Mendizorroza · Ibaia academy40 MI
San SebastiánReal Sociedad · Reale Arena · Zubieta academy · Antiguoko62 MI
Bayonne · French Basque CountryDeschamps and Lizarazu country95 MI
Pamplona · NavarreCA Osasuna · El Sadar · Tajonar academy98 MI
04 / LOS NOMBRES
The big names.
Born here or made here: players and coaches who defined their era.
Xabi Alonso
TOLOSA · PLAYER & COACH
Real Sociedad, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Bayern. World Cup 2010. As a coach: unbeaten Bundesliga with Leverkusen, now Real Madrid.
Unai Emery
HONDARRIBIA · COACH
Four Europa Leagues: three with Sevilla, one with Villarreal. Aston Villa.
Mikel Arteta
SAN SEBASTIÁN · PLAYER & COACH
Antiguoko, Barcelona youth, Everton, Arsenal captain, now Arsenal's manager.
Antoine Griezmann
MADE AT ZUBIETA
Joined Real Sociedad at fourteen. World Cup 2018 winner, Atlético icon.
Andoni Zubizarreta
VITORIA-GASTEIZ
Athletic, Barcelona. 126 caps, Spain's most-capped player of his era.
Didier Deschamps
BAYONNE · PLAYER & COACH
World Cup winner as a player (1998) and as a coach (2018).
Nico & Iñaki Williams
PAMPLONA · BILBAO
Athletic's brothers, both Lezama. Nico scored in the Euro 2024 final.
Mikel Oyarzabal
EIBAR
Real Sociedad captain. Scored the winner in the Euro 2024 final.
Martín Zubimendi
SAN SEBASTIÁN
Zubieta, Real Sociedad, Euro 2024, now Arsenal.
Unai Simón
VITORIA-GASTEIZ
Lezama. Spain's No. 1 at Euro 2024.
Julen Lopetegui
ASTEASU · COACH
Spain, Real Madrid, Sevilla (Europa League 2020), Wolves, West Ham.
Andoni Iraola
USURBIL · PLAYER & COACH
Antiguoko, Athletic for twelve seasons, now one of the Premier League's most admired managers at Bournemouth.
DE BIZKAIA A NEW JERSEY
This is the fútbol Coach Jul grew up in.
Born in Spain, raised in Galdakao, ten miles from San Mamés. The method taught here is the one he learned there.
