Basque Country national football team

Sports team in Spain

The Basque Country national football team represents the Basque Country in football. It selects players from the Basque Country autonomous community, Navarre and the French Basque Country Most of their home matches have been played in the San Mamés Stadium which was replaced in 2013 by the new San Mamés. The Basque Country has had a football team of its own since 1930. (the Basque team), or sometimes just 'Norte'. On 3 January 1915 they played their first match which was against Catalonia in Bilbao and won 6–1, and then on 7 February they played them again but in Barcelona, this time drawing 2–2. In May 1915 they won the inaugural Copa del Príncipe de Asturias tournament in Madrid after beating Catalonia 1–0 with a goal from Legarreta and then holding the hosts, 'Centro' (a Castile/Madrid XI), to a 1–1 draw, in which the author of the Basque goal was Patricio. In the same competition they drew 1–1 with. In May 1916, 'Norte' faced Catalonia twice in Barcelona, winning by 1–3 on the 21st, and drawing 0–0 on the 22nd. On 4 June of the same year they beat Catalonia 5–0 in Bilbao. On 22 November 1916 the Cantabrian teams left the North Federation, joining the newly formed Cantabrian Federation (Federación Cantábrica de Clubes de Football), which encompassed Asturian and Cantabrian clubs. This Asturias/Cantabria XI participated in the 1917 and 1918 editions of the Copa del Príncipe de Asturias, finishing third and second respectively. In 1918 the province of Gipuzkoa formed its own federation and its own team, leaving the province of Biscay on their own in Federation Norte. In 1919 the Asturians decided to form their own federation (Federación Regional Asturiana de Clubes de Fútbol) so the Cantabrian teams rejoined 'Norte', but now it only had teams from Cantabria and Biscay. This complicated situation of federations splitting off continued for a few more years. In 1922 separate teams were created for Biscay and Cantabria because the former decided to form their own federation (Biscayan Federation). In the summer of 1922 a team calling itself 'the Basque team' (Equipo Vasco) was sent to South America. Although the trip was organised by the Gipuzkoan federation, 4 of the 19 players in the squad were from the Biscayan federation. They played once against the Argentine national side, losing 4–0, then drew 1–1 against Porteño, and finally winning 0–4 against a team selected from Argentina's interior league. The team also played the Uruguayan national side twice, losing both games, before visiting Brazil where they played in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. After the team had arrived back in Spain on 5 October 1922, the players resumed playing for either Biscay or Gipuzkoa. Both Gipuzkoa and Biscay participated in the 1922 23 and 1923 24 Copa del Príncipe de Asturias, with the later reaching the semi finals of the 1923 24 edition after defeating Asturias in Bilbao 4–2 thanks to a second half brace from Travieso, but then lost to eventual champions Catalonia, who had already eliminated Gipuzkoa from the competition.

The first game following the dictatorship was played on 2 March 1978 in San Mamés against the USSR. The team were called the 'Selección Vasca' and drew 0–0. On 16 August 1979 they played under the name 'Euskadiko selekzioa' for the first time since 1938 at San Mames stadium during the Great Week of Bilbao, winning 4–1 against a League of Ireland XI. Controversy was caused before the match by the Spanish government deciding that the song of the Basque football team (Gernikako Arbola – The Tree of Guernica) should not be sung before the game. This resulted in Carlos Garaikoetxea (the Lehendakari, head of the Basque regional parliament), the presidents of the regional councils and the mayors of the Basque capitals, all leaving the presidential box to sit elsewhere in the stadium to show their protest. CA Osasuna was the only club with players called up for the match who refused to release them. Iraragorri and Langara (two players from the 1937 team) kicked off, and Iribar served as captain. The game was played as a fundraiser for a campaign promoting the Basque language called "Bai Euskarari", organized by Sustraiak, as a response to its suppression during the dictatorship. A few months later the Basque team won again, 4–0 against Bulgaria in San Sebastián's Atotxa Stadium. In 1980, in Vitoria, they lost 1–5 to Hungary. Other key matches included defeats to Cameroon (0–1) and Wales (0–1), and victory over Serbia (4–0). Then, in 2007, after 69 years without playing outside Spain, the Basque Country faced Venezuela in San Cristóbal, winning 4–3. Prior to this, their last game outside Spain had been in June 1939, in the Spanish Civil War era against Club Atlético Corrales in Mexico City.

In 2007 the team's name was changed to 'Euskal Herria' (Euskal Herriko Futbol Selekzioa), and on 29 December they played a match against Catalonia in San Mames. The result was Euskal Herria 1, Catalonia 1. The name change, driven by the Basque Football Federation, was denounced by politicians from the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV), including the Lehendakari, Juan José Ibarretxe, and also the main Spanish political parties such as the Partido Popular (PP) and PSOE. For this reason the Basque Football Federation proposed returning to the team's previous name, 'Euskadi' (Euskadiko Selekzioa), for the match scheduled for December 2008 against Iran. 165 Basque players signed a statement announcing that they would not play unless the team was called 'Euskal Herria'. The controversy went beyond the sports arena and against this statement were positioned many political parties such as the PNV, PSE PSOE and PP, and supporting it were Eusko Alkartasuna, Ezker Batua and Eusko Abertzale Ekintza. At the heart of this dispute were the meanings of the two terms 'Euskadi' and 'Euskal Herria'. For the politicians of the PNV who favoured the name 'Euskadi', they saw this as the historic name used by the Basque football team since the 1930s and geographically they said it always included the Spanish Basque Country, the French Basque Country and Navarre (from where the players are selected), but to the players and the politicians supporting them, only the term 'Euskal Herria' had this geographic meaning and to them 'Euskadi' only referred to the Spanish Basque Country. This difference of opinion encompassed the nuances of the names, their history known or unknown, and changing public opinions towards what name should be used when referring to all people of Basque culture. In the end the match was cancelled. In 2009 a consensus was reached to use the name 'Euskal Selekzioa'. However, discrepancies between the federation, players and ESAIT led to the match, scheduled again to be played against Iran, not to be played. In 2010 however, although there was still no agreement between players and federation, the players agreed to play the match to be played on 29 December in San Mames, between the Basque Country and Venezuela, which ended 3–1. At this match the gold badge of honour of the Basque Football Federation was presented to Joseba Etxeberria, former player of Athletic Club Bilbao, for being the most capped player of the Basque team, and he was allowed to take the kick off.

In 2011 the Basque football team played two matches. Firstly on 25 May they visited Estonia, winning 1–2, then on 28 December they played their last game in the old San Mamés against Tunisia, losing 0–2. In December 2012 they played Bolivia in San Sebastián, winning 6–1. On 28 December 2013, the Basque team played its first match in the new San Mames stadium against Peru winning 6–0. The same teams played a year later, with Aritz Aduriz scoring the only goal in a 1–0 Basque win in Barcelona. In October 2017, the federation confirmed that the Basque team would not play a friendly in late December that year as had become traditional (for reasons including scheduling difficulties, credibility in the football community and a noted decline in attendances at the festive matches), but instead would look to schedule a fixture during one of the FIFA International Match Calendar dates, possibly in March 2018. However, a proposed meeting with Chile did not come to pass. Eventually, a fixture was arranged for the Basque team to face Venezuela in October 2018 at Mendizorroza, which they won 4–2. did little to enhance their credentials. Scheduled ten days after the 2018–19 La Liga season had ended but prior to the second division's conclusion, various factors meant experienced players were reluctant to put themselves forward for the long trip across the Atlantic, and the small squad was augmented with promising youngsters, including four who had never played at a higher level than the regional third tier with Athletic Bilbao's reserves. The match itself, described in the press as "boring at times", "bland" and "poor", petered out into a goalless draw in humid conditions, although both coaches stated they were satisfied with the outcome and the effort shown. A provisional announcement was made for a fixture against Argentina in October 2019, but this was never confirmed by the opposition federation and was soon cancelled officially. With no December fixture forthcoming, but UEFA Euro 2020 international matches to be played in Bilbao, it was reported that the Basque team may be able to arrange a match against one of the qualified teams who would meet Spain there (Poland or Sweden) as part of their preparations before the tournament. However, the tournament was delayed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. The next Basque fixture was played in November 2020 against Costa Rica in a closed doors setting due to the issue; the Basque team won the match 2–1. With the pandemic still ongoing in late 2021 (earlier causing the Euro fixtures to be moved from Bilbao to Seville), the Basque federation confirmed there would be no festive match that year, but an attempt would be made to arrange one for March 2022. Eventually the next match took place in March 2024, a draw against Uruguay.

Several organisations including the Basque Government and the Basque Football Federation are trying to persuade FIFA and UEFA to accept the Basque Country as an affiliated member. There is a lot of support for this within the Basque Country, with recent polls showing up to 63,5% of basques support the idea (including the French Basque Country and Navarre). The United Kingdom provides one model for a sovereign state with more than one FIFA member, while the Faroe Islands is an example of an autonomous constituent country having a separate football team to the national team (Denmark). In late 2018, the Basque Football Federation voted in favour of applying to FIFA and UEFA for official recognition for the team.

The following players were called up to or played for the Basque Country in recent matches and are still eligible to represent.

Latest results: At this level, the Basque team only represents the Basque Country (autonomous community), with the Navarre region having their own team along with the other autonomous communities of Spain. The team plays in the biennial UEFA Regions' Cup; they won the overall pan European tournament in 2005, having won the preceding Spanish qualifying tournament in 2003–04. Alain Arroyo scored the winning goal in the 2005 final, held in Poland. The Basques retained the Spanish stage title in 2005–06 (hosting the semi finals and final), but did not progress from their intermediate group in the subsequent 2007 UEFA Regions' Cup. Since then, their results have been less successful.