Basque Derby

12.04.23 968

The Basque derby is a Spanish football fixture between Real Sociedad and Athletic Club Bilbao. The two cities are the capitals of the provinces Gipuzkoa and Biscay respectively, which are next to each other on the map.

The AP-8 is the main road which connects the two cities and the match is sometimes referred to as the AP-8 Derby.

We must go back to April 1909 to find the first time Real Sociedad and Athletic Club met and it was a Copa del Rey fixture. Real Sociedad were known as Club Ciclista at the time and it was they who came out on top in the match, winning 4-2 to progress to the next round of the competition. I

nterestingly, the build up to the Basque Derby is often a fun occasion, with the two sets of fans happy to mix and enjoy the occasion. As with any big rivalry in football, there have been some incidents over the years but these tend to be isolated when compared to some of the other big derbies across the world.

If we look at the record of the teams in La Liga fixtures, Athletic Club lead the way and they have 60 wins to their name compared to the 52 victories for Real Sociedad.

Ahead of their meeting at the San Mamés Barria on the 15th of April 2023, Athletic Club and Real Sociedad have met 151 times in the league, resulting in 39 draws.

Athletic Club have scored the greater number of goals and have netted 245 times in this fixture, with Real Sociedad scoring 203 goals.

Looking at recent fixtures in La Liga and Real Sociedad have had the better of the Basque Derby. Taking into consideration the 10 most recent matches in the league, Real Sociedad have won 6 times, with only 2 victories for Athletic Club.

However, last season, Athletic Club took 4 points of Real Sociedad, winning 4-0 at home and picking up a point in the away game thanks to a 1-1 draw.

As for the 2022/23 campaign, Real Sociedad won the home fixture 3-1 and can complete the double in the league for the first time since 2018/19.

If we look at the recent league finishes of the two teams, Real Sociedad have finished higher in the league than Athletic Club in five of the past six seasons.

In terms of the top goal scorers, Athletic Club lead the way and Telmo Zarra is the joint all-time top scorer in the Basque Derby, netting 14 times.

All his goals came in La Liga between 1940 and 1955. Jesús María Satrústegui also scored 14 times in the Basque derby for Real Sociedad, with 13 of his goals coming in La Liga between 1973 and 1986. Dani, who was known for his penalty taking, scored 13 goals in the Basque Derby for Athletic Club while Guillermo Gorostiza scored 9 times for the same team.

Interestingly, Pedro Uralde played for both clubs and scored 9 goals in total, including one on his debut for Real Sociedad against Athletic Club.