Athletic Femenino

Athletic Club Femenino is the women's football section of Athletic Bilbao, competing in the Spanish First Division. Athletic is one of the most successful women's teams in Spain, with five championships. Just as with the men's team, their official policy is to sign players native to or trained in football in the greater Basque Country. The team plays at the club's facilities in Lezama on the outskirts of Bilbao.

History

The team was founded in 2000 as Leioa EFT after CD Sondika disbanded its women's team, which had played in the defunct Division de Honor in the 1990s. After Leioa gained promotion to the new Superliga Femenina in just two years, it was absorbed by Athletic Bilbao. At that time a reserve team, Athletic B, was also introduced – they currently compete in Group 2 of the Segunda Division, the regionalised second tier.

In their debut season Athletic won the championship, and successfully defended the title in the next two seasons, becoming the first team to be awarded the trophy to keep permanently. After a disappointing 2006 season, Athletic won its fourth title in 2007. As a result of their title wins they made four appearances in the UEFA Women's Cup, being knocked out in the group stages by 1. FFC Frankfurt in 2004, Djurgardens IF in 2005, SV Saestum in 2006 and ASDCF Bardolino in 2008.

Athletic finished third in the next four championships between 2008 and 2011. In 2012 they were runners-up, and reached the Copa de la Reina final for the first time, losing to RCD Espanyol after extra time. On 5 January 2013 the team celebrated its tenth anniversary, beating Arsenal LFC in a friendly match. They were cup runners-up again in 2014, this time losing on penalties to FC Barcelona, having finished second behind the same club in the league.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Атлетик Бильбао (russian)