A First For Athletic Bilbao's Long Standing Policy

Athletic Bilbao are one of the most successful clubs in Spanish history, only Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid are ranked above them in the historical classification of La Liga. Athletic Bilbao (along with Real Madrid and Barcelona) have also never been relegated from the Spanish top flight.

 

An interesting fact about Athletic Bilbao is that all the players they use are from the Greater Basque Country. To all you non-geographers out there the Greater Basque country consists of 7 regions.  4 in Spain: Vizcaya, Álava, Guipúzcoa and Navarra. And 3 in Southern France: Baja Navarra, Labort and Sola.



    Above names are in Euskera (Basque).    Greater Basque Country's location within Europe

 Athletic Club play their home matches in the San Mamés stadium located in Bilbao - the largest city in the Greater Basque Country, it is situated in the province of Vizcaya. The Greater Basque Country has a population of about 3 million people and Vizcaya's is about 1.15 million . 

On the 2/3/11 in their game away at Real Zaragoza, Athletic Bilbao made history as it was the first time that they have ever fielded a side, including substitutes which contained no Vizcainos (the demonym of Vizcaya).
Source : 2010MisterChip (Twitter username) 

The team was as follows:

Goalkeeper

Name: Gorka Iraizoz

DOB: 06/03/81

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Defenders

Name: Andoni Iraola

DOB: 22/06/82

From: Usúrbil, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Name: Mikel San José

DOB:  30/05/89

From: Villava, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: Borja Ekiza

DOB:  06/03/88

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: Mikel Balenziaga

DOB:  29/02/88

From: Zumárraga, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Midfielders

Name: Pablo Orbaiz

DOB: 06/02/79

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: Igor Gabilondo

DOB: 10/02/79

From: San Sebastián, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Name: Markel Susaeta

DOB: 14/09/87

From: Éibar, Guizpúzcoa (Gipuzkoa)

Name: Javi Martínez

DOB: 02/09/88

From: Ayegui, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Strikers

 Name: Gaizka Toquero

DOB: 09/08/84

From: Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava (Araba)

Name: Fernando Llorente

DOB: 26/02/85

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Subs Used

 Name: Iñigo Pérez

DOB: 18/01/88

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)

Name: David López

DOB: 10/09/82

From: Logroño, La Rioja (Product of CA Osasuna's Youth Setup)

Name: Iker Muniain

DOB: 19/12/92

From: Pamplona, Navarra (Nafarroa)