SAN MAMÉS, WELCOME TO THE FOOTBALL CATHEDRAL

Yesterday, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma enjoyed the 2024 UWCL Final in San Mamés Stadium, also known as The Cathedral.

The San Mamés Stadium also known as San Mames Barria is an all-seater football stadium in Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, Bilbao, Basque Country.

 

Inaugurated on 16 September 2013, the stadium replaced the old San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao. With a capacity of 53,331 seats, San Mamés is the largest in the Basque Country. The first stages of planning occurred as early as 2004, with initial contracts signed late on in 2006, after receiving approval to build in March 2006. The new stadium was to be built next to the existing San Mamés on land that was occupied until 2003 by the Bilbao International Trade Fair.

On 26 May 2010 at 12:00 the ground-breaking ceremony took place at San Mamés. In a symbolic display, a piece of turf and a brick from the facade were removed from the old stadium and carried to the adjacent construction site by a human chain including famous players Iribar, Larrazábal, Iturraspe and Muniain as well as members of the youth system, the women's team, the reserve team and its oldest and youngest registered supporters.

Initially, three-quarters of the new stadium were built and then matches took place in it, while the old one was demolished to make room to complete the new arena.

Despite the economical woes the country was going through at the time, especially the Basque people, 52.6% of the total €211 million cost of the stadium was paid by public institution -some by the Basque Government (€50m), some by the Bilbao City Council (€11m) and some by the Biscay Provincial Council (€50m including land), as well as Athletic (€50m including land) and BBK/Kutxabank (€50m), on the proviso that the stadium would include facilities for use by the public such as a sports centre.

San Mamés was inaugurated on 16 September 2013, 102 days after the final game at the old stadium. At that time the official capacity of the partially completed arena was 35,686. The first match was a league match played at 22:00 between the hosts Athletic Club and Celta Vigo, which the local team won 3-2. A crowd of 33,000 was in attendance.  Prior to the match, the captains of each of the club's age group teams, club captain Carlos Gurpegui and president Josu Urrutia took part in a short presentation accompanied by a traditional Aurresku dance.

On 16 July 2021, the UEFA Executive Committee announced that due to the withdrawal of hosting rights for Euro 2020, San Mamés was given hosting rights for the 2024 UEFA Women's Champions League final and the 2025 UEFA Europa League final. This was part of a settlement agreement by UEFA to recognise the efforts and financial investment made to host UEFA Euro 2020.

More information: Athletic Club

Athletic, Athletic, Athletic eup!
Athletic, gorri ta zuria
danontzat zara zu geuria
Erritik sortu ziñalako
maite zaitu erriak .

Athletic, Athletic, Athletic eup!
Athletic, red and white
for all of us you are yourself
Because it was born from the town
the people love you.

Athletic Bilbao Anthem

FUTBOL CLUB BARCELONA IS THE 2024 UWCL WINNER

Today, Claire Fontaine and The Grandma have attended the 2024 UWCL Final in San Mamés Stadium, Bilbo, where FC Barcelona has proclaimed the winner after defeating Olympique Lyonnais 2-0 with goals scored by Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas.

Futbol Club Barcelona Femení, commonly referred to as Barça Femení is a Catalan professional women's football team based in Barcelona.

It is the women's football section of FC Barcelona and competes in the Liga F, playing home games at the Johan Cruyff Stadium in Sant Joan Despí, and occasionally at the Camp Nou or Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

The club was formed in 1970 with some financial and logistical support from FC Barcelona, but without being an official section. In its inaugural season it competed in matches against other Catalan teams and was known as Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, taking the name Peña Femenina Barcelonista in 1971. 

It was a founding member of the Liga Nacional, in 1988, when it became known as Club Femení Barcelona, and in 2002, when it officially became a section of FC Barcelona, it took the official name Futbol Club Barcelona.

Since the club's professionalisation in 2015, Barcelona cemented itself as dominant women's football team, becoming the league's most successful team in the UEFA Women's Champions League, and one of the most successful women's football teams in Europe. It won the Champions League in 2021, 2023 and 2024.

Women's football in Barcelona, had a certain level of popularity in the 1960s, but was amateur and unofficial. The embryo of Barcelona Femení was the Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, formed in November 1970. 

In at least as early as the 1960s, FC Barcelona had women's teams play in exhibition games at the Camp Nou; the club does not consider these antecedents to its current women's team as they were teams that had been created only for that occasion, unlike Selecció Ciutat de Barcelona, which was created with the idea of continuity and laying the groundwork for a future project.

Upon Barcelona announcing Selecció Barcelona as its new women's team, El Noticiero Universal reported that the club had almost pioneered women's football many years earlier, having gone so far as to organise a game that could not be played for reasons beyond their control.

In 2020-21, they won the Champions League for the first time by defeating Chelsea 4–0 in the final.

In 2022-2023, they won the Champions League for the second time by defeating Wolfsburg 2–3 in the final.

On 25 May 2024, Barcelona completed the second continental treble and first continental quadruple in the club's history by defeating Lyon 2-0 in the 2024 Champions League final; it was their first defeat of longstanding European rivals Lyon.

Barcelona Femení has a fan base distinct from that of the men's team, even when the team has sold out the main stadiums. The popularity of the team grew vastly in the years after it became professional.

The team moved to the Johan Cruyff Stadium in 2019, located in Sant Joan Despí, a town north of the city of Barcelona. They previously played at the Mini Estadi, next to the Camp Nou. Despite playing outside of the city, by 2022 the team had averaged crowds four times larger than when they played at the Mini Estadi.

More information: FCBarcelona

Blaugrana al vent
Un crit valent
Tenim un nom, el sap tothom
Barça, Barça, Barça

Blaugrana in the wind
A brave cry
We have a name that everyone knows
Barça, Barça, Barça

FC Barcelona Anthem