Athletic Bilbao

Spain

Founded

1898

Arena

San Mamés Barria · 53,289 cap

Athletic Club (Basque: Athletic Kluba), also commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (Basque: Bilboko Athletic Kluba / Spanish: Athletic de Bilbao), is a professional football club, based in Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. They are known as Los Leones (The Lions) because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés (Saint Mammes). Mammes was a semi-legendary early Christian thrown to the lions by the Romans. Mammes pacified the lions and was later made a saint. The club is one of three founding members of the Primera División that have never been relegated from the top division, the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona. Athletic have won La Liga on eight occasions, fourth most in the history of the league. In the table of Copa del Rey titles, Athletic is second only to Barcelona, having won it 24 times (per the team's official records; the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) recognizes 23 victories). The club also has one of the most successful women's teams in Spain, which has won five championships in the Primera División Femenina. 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 and Javi Martínez). Athletic's official policy is signing professional players native to or trained in football in the greater Basque Country, including Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Álava and Navarre (in Spain); and Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre (in France). Since its foundation, Athletic has played exclusively with players meeting the criteria to be deemed as Basque players, and has been one of the most successful teams of La Liga. This can be seen as a unique case in European football; it 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 three professional clubs in Spain in La Liga (the others being Real Madrid, and Barcelona) that is not a sports corporation; it is owned and operated by its club members. Athletic's main rivals are Real Sociedad, against whom it plays the Basque derby, and Real Madrid, due to sport and political rivalry.

Rangers

Scotland

Founded

1872

Arena

Ibrox Stadium · 50,987 cap

Rangers Football Club are a football club in Glasgow, Scotland, which plays in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Their home ground, Ibrox Stadium, is in the south-west of the city. Rangers have won more league titles and trebles than any other club in the world, winning the league title 54 times, the Scottish Cup 33 times and the Scottish League Cup 27 times, and achieving the treble of all three in the same season seven times. Rangers was the first British club to reach a UEFA tournament final and won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1972 after being runner-up twice in 1961 and 1967. A third runners-up finish in Europe came in the 2008 UEFA Cup. Rangers have a long-standing rivalry with Celtic, the two Glasgow clubs being collectively known as the Old Firm. Founded in 1872, Rangers are one of the ten original members of the Scottish Football League and remained in the top division continuously until the liquidation of The Rangers Football Club PLC at the end of the 2011–12 season. With a new corporate identity, the club gained admittance to the fourth tier of the Scottish game in time for the start of the following season, since when they have been promoted twice.