FMV Tours Presents: Athletic Club Bilbao

Welcome to La Liga!
The Primera División (First Division) of the Liga de Fútbol Profesional (Professional Football League), commonly known as La Liga (The League) or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA (BBVA League) since 2008, is the top professional association football league in Spain. It is contested by 20 teams, with the three lowest placed teams relegated to the Segunda División and replaced by the top three teams in that division. A total of 59 teams have competed in La Liga, nine of which have been crowned champions. Since the 1950s, Real Madrid and Barcelona have dominated the championship. The former have won the title 31 times while the latter have won it on 20 occasions. However, during the 1930s and 1940s and in the last two decades, La Liga has seen other champions including Atlético Madrid, Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Real Sociedad, Deportivo, Sevilla and Real Betis. Barcelona are currently back to back winners of La Liga.

La Liga is one of the most popular professional sports leagues in the world, with an average attendance of 29,029 for league matches in the 2007–08 season. This is the eighth highest of any domestic professional sports league in the world and the third highest of any professional association football league, behind the Premier League. La Liga is currently ranked the second strongest league in Europe according to UEFA’s league coefficient, based on recent European performances.

The competition format follows the usual double round-robin format. During the course of a season, which lasts from September to June, each club plays every other club twice, once at home and once away, for a total of 38 games. Teams receive three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss. Teams are ranked by total points, with the highest-ranked club at the end of the season crowned champion. The top four teams in La Liga qualify for the UEFA Champions League, with the first, second, and third placed teams directly entering the group stage and the fourth placed team entering the third qualifying round. The fifth and sixth placed teams qualify for the first round of the UEFA Europa League.

Athletic Club Bilbao

Athlectic Club is based in the city of Bilbao in Biscay, Basque Country, Spain. The club has played in the Primera División of La Liga since its start in 1928. They have won La Liga on eight occasions. In the historical classification of La Liga Athletic Bilbao are in 4th place and one of only three clubs which have never been relegated from La Liga (the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona). The club also has a women’s team, which has won 4 championships in the Spanish Superliga.

The club is known for its cantera policy of bringing young Basque players through the ranks, as well as recruiting top Basque players from other clubs (like Joseba Etxeberria or Javi Martínez). Athletic official policy is signing professional players native to the greater Basque Country, including Biscay, Guipúzcoa, Álava and Navarre (in Spain); and Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre (in France). Still, in recent times, this policy has been somewhat relaxed and players with direct Basque ancestry or with no Basque ancestry but formed in Basque clubs have played for the team. This has gained Athletic both admirers and critics. The club has been praised for promoting home grown players and club loyalty. Athletic is one of only four professional clubs in Spain (the others being Real Madrid, Barcelona and Osasuna) that is not a sports corporation; the club is owned and operated by its associates (socios).

In recent seasons Athletic Bilbao have languished in mid-table and the club was embroiled in a relegation battle during the 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons. In 2006 top-flight survival was ensured on the 37th match day when Deportivo de la Coruña were beaten at Riazor 2–1. Javier Clemente began his third spell as club coach in 2005, at a time when the club were last in the table. He is widely acknowledged to have brought defensive stability to the team, and so is also credited with having saved the club from relegation, despite this he was not left in charge for the 2006–2007 season. The 2006–2007 season has been the worst in the club’s history, top-flight survival was ensured on the last match day when Levante were beaten at San Mamés 2–0. In December 2008 Spanish media claimed that this match had been fixed and that some of Levante UD players accepted a bribe from the Basque club. Despite the lack of on-field success, a majority of the club’s supporters think the club’s identity is more important than winning trophies. According to an El Mundo survey in the 1990s, 76% of Athletic fans would rather see the club relegated than give up the cantera policy. The most successful Athletic team of recent times has been the women’s football team who have won the Superliga Femenina four times between 2003 and 2007.

Athletic also fielded a black player (Jonás Ramalho) for the first time in their history in 2009. It should be noted that this situation was not a result of any previous official all-white rule at the club but more a consequence of the Basque/Cantera policy – immigration to the Bilbao area from without Europe was fairly uncommon until the 1990s, so there were few local footballers from ethnic minorities who could have played for Athletic in that time. Today in addition to Ramalho the club has several other promising players of various other ethnic origins in their (consistently successful) youth teams, which says more of the applaudable aspect of the club’s policy as supporting local young players, as opposed to the more questionable angle of their employment of only ‘Basque’ players at the exclusion of all others.

Key History
La Liga: 8 (Last in 1984)
Copa del Rey: 23 (Last in 2008)
Supacopa de Espana: 1 (1984)

San Mamés
Estadio San Mamés, AKA La Catedral (The Cathedral), is the home of Athletic Bilbao, known as “Los leones de San Mamés-Bilboko leoiak” (The lions of San Mamés). They are known as Los leones because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés (Saint Mammes). Mammes was an early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. The lions refused to eat Mammes and he was later made a saint.

Opened in 1913, it is Spain’s oldest built stadium (the oldest playing field being El Molinon), a distinction that together with its religious heritage has granted it the nickname, la Catedral (the Cathedral). San Mamés can seat almost forty thousand people and is renowned for the unique and boisterous atmosphere its crowds of devoted and loyal fans create on match-days.

The club has unveiled plans for a new stadium. From the 2014/2015 season, Athletic will play in the San Mamés Barria, a 53,000 capacity, UEFA 5-star stadium, built at a cost of 160 million euros. Construction is scheduled to begin in April 2010, and when it is three quarters completed, Athletic Club will move into their new home and the original San Mamés will be demolished.

CHALLENGE DYNAMICS

-This challenge will last for five seasons and once this period is completed no more points may be scored.

-You must manage Athletic Club Bilbao and no other team.

-You must start set your manager experience as “Automatic”.

-You have until the 11.59pm on 22th August 2010 to post your proof and accumulate as many points as you can.

-If you are sacked then the challenge is over and any points you have accumulated to date in this challenge will be your total.

HOW TO SCORE POINTS

LA LIGA
Relegation – 25 points
15th and below – 1 point
14th – 2 points
13th – 3 points
12th – 4 points
11th – 5 points
10th – 6 points
9th – 7 points
8th – 8 points
7th – 9 points
6th – 10 points
5th – 15 points
4th – 20 points
3rd – 30 points
2nd – 50 points
Win La Liga Title – 75points

LIGA ADELANTE
Relegation – -10 points
14th and below – 1 point
13th – 2 points
12th – 3 points
11th – 4 points
10th – 5 points
9th – 6 points
8th – 7 points
7th – 8 points
6th – 9 points
5th – 10 points
4th – 12 points
3rd – 15 points
2nd (Promotion) – 30 points
Win the Promotion Playoff game – 20 points
Win Liga adelante title – 40 points

LIGA 2DB
Relegation – -25 points
Survival – 0 points
7th – 1 points
6th – 2 points
5th – 3 points
4th – 4 points
3rd – 5 points
2nd – 15 points
1st – 20 points
Promotion – 25 points

SPANISH CUP
4th Round Win – 1 point
5th Round Win – 5 points
Quarter Final Win – 6 points
Semi Final Win – 8 points
Winner – 20 points

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Qualify for Groups – 2 points
Qualify from Groups – 5 points
Win in 1st Knockout – 10 points
Win in 2nd Knockout – 15 points
Win in Quarter Final – 20 points
Win in Semi Final – 50 points
Winner – 100 points

EUROPA LEAGUE
Qualify for Groups – 2 points
Qualify from Groups – 5 points
Win in 1st Knockout – 10 points
Win in 2nd Knockout – 15 points
Win in Quarter Final – 20 points
Win in Semi Final – 35 points
Winner – 75 points

RIVALS
Beat Osasuna – 5 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)
Beat R. Sociedad – 3 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)
Beat Barcelona – 3 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)
Beat R. Madrid – 3 points (Every time you do it in a competitive fixture)

FIVE YEAR ONE OFF ACHIEVEMENTS BONUSES
Increase bank balance to £40m – 20 points
Increase bank balance to £60m – 40 points
Sell a Regen from your youth team for £5m + – 30 points

POINT DEDUCTIONS
Sacked – -25 points

So there you have it. The challenge is to make this proud Basque club as successful as possible during your 5 year stay. Can you turn them into contenders or will you forge a path in other competitions? The choice of path is yours. Hoping to see some cool Current Game threads with the challenge and post any screenshots as proof of point earnings here as replies to this thread – Good Luck!

Join the tour here: http://forum.fm-view.com/topic/12059-athletic-club-bilbao/page__view__findpost__p__278243