Athletic Club’s trip to Newcastle United brings together two very different Champions League teams.
One of just four Spanish clubs owned by their fans, the Basque side are well known for a policy of only fielding players from the local area spanning north-west Spain and part of south-western France.
Newcastle’s majority owner is Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, allowing them to invest almost €800million (£704m; $919.3m) in new signings since an October 2021 takeover, according to Transfermarkt, and build a squad capable of competing at the highest level.
Athletic goalkeeper Unai Simon agrees that Wednesday’s league-phase fixture at St James’ Park will contrast two distinct approaches to the game.
“There are different ways of thinking about football, and you have to respect them all,” the 28-year-old Spain international says, speaking exclusively with The Athletic.
“Some people identify more with the Saudi idea of football, that people with lots of money come in and make lots of signings to improve your team. At Athletic, we have been brought up to trust in our youth system, our own kids, from our own land. We want to show everyone that making big signings is not the only way you can compete in the Champions League.”
Bilbao-based Athletic Club qualified for the 2025-26 Champions League by finishing fourth in La Liga last season, where they also reached the Europa League semi-finals, losing to Manchester United. Their current side includes Simon’s fellow 2024 European Championship winners Nico Williams and Dani Vivian, and Ghana international Inaki Williams, who was born in Bilbao to Ghanaian parents.
Their biggest spend this season was €12million on right-back Jesus Areso from fellow Basques Osasuna, while €10m more was used to bring now 31-year-old ex-Manchester City defender Aymeric Laporte back to the club from Saudi side Al Nassr. Most of the other squad members are less heralded, and manager Ernesto Valverde’s team have found the step up from the Europa League to European club football’s elite competition challenging.
They lost 2-0 at home against Arsenal in the first of their eight league-phase games, and were then defeated 4-1 at Borussia Dortmund, before getting a 3-1 win over Qarabag last time out at their San Mames home. Simon is optimistic they can still qualify for the knockout stages, which begin in February — because of what makes them unique.
“We know that we don’t have the same quality as some of the other squads,” he says. “I’m not the best goalkeeper in the competition, and we don’t have the best centre-backs, or the most technical midfielders. But I’ve been playing with a lot of my team-mates since I was 14. Our fundamental strength is that we always stick together. No matter what, we trust in each other. The joys taste much better shared with people you’ve been through so much with.”
Unai Simon during Athletic’s 2-0 La Liga defeat against Valencia in September (Manuel Queimadelos/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
Born in Vitoria-Gasteiz, an hour’s drive south from Bilbao, Simon joined Athletic Club’s youth academy aged 12. After four seasons of football with their feeder and reserve sides lower down the Spanish league’s pyramid, his big first-team break came in August 2018 at the age of 21 — in unusual circumstances.
That July, Simon was sent out on loan to Elche, then in the second division. There were three good goalkeepers ahead of him at Athletic: Kepa Arrizabalaga, Iago Herrerin and Alex Remiro.
A month later, Kepa was sold to Chelsea for €80million, still a world-record fee for a goalkeeper. Then Herrerin was injured, while Remiro was sidelined in a contract dispute that would eventually see him leave for Real Sociedad the following summer.
Simon was called back from his loan before he had played for Elche, and grabbed the opportunity with both hands.
“A lot of things happened that summer,” he says. “When I left, I had envisioned trying to win a starting spot with a Segunda (second-tier) team, so another Primera side would sign me. But in 19 days, I had to change that entirely and return to Bilbao. The rest happened from there.”
When Herrerin became available again in the October, Simon ceded his place to his more senior team-mate, then 30, but the impressive early performances were not forgotten. When the 2019-20 season came around, Simon was the club’s new No 1. Tonight’s game against Newcastle will be his 233rd appearance for Athletic Club.
The biggest joy of that time? Their 2024 Copa del Rey final triumph — the club’s first major trophy since the league and cup double of 1983-84. The players and backroom staff celebrated by sailing down Bilbao’s river Nervion as over a million fans lined its banks, just as was done following that triumph four decades earlier.
Athletic fans celebrating the Copa del Rey win (H Bilbao/Europa Press via Getty Images)
“That was the best week of my sporting life,” Simon says. “I’d heard about it my whole life, but got to discover what it was really like. These things are worth more than winning a trophy with a different club.”
In 2024, Barcelona made a big effort to persuade Athletic Club’s biggest star, Nico Williams, Inaki’s younger brother, to join them while he (and Simon) were with Spain at the Euros in Germany. Williams came even closer to moving to Barca this summer, but eventually decided to sign a new contract until 2035.
“Nico is one of the best wide attackers in the world, so it’s normal that he makes so many headlines,” Simon says.
“The first summer, I didn’t think (what happened) was right. We were playing a really important competition, the Euros, and he was attacked a lot. Last summer, the experience of the previous year meant it was easier for everyone to handle. Next year, with the World Cup, the same speculation will happen again. Whatever happens will happen.”
Over the past decade or so, many players developed at Athletic Club have been tempted away: as well as Kepa, Javi Martinez left for Bayern Munich for €40million in 2012, Ander Herrera joined Manchester United two years later for €36m and Laporte went to City for €65m in 2018. Athletic can invest this money in their youth system, stadium and wages, and Simon says that each individual must make their own career decisions.
“If at any moment Nico, or any other team-mate at Athletic, decides to leave, you have to accept that’s the way football works,” he says. “Not everyone sees football the same as me. Some people play for money, some for trophies, some for the feeling of love from the fans. You must respect the decisions that every individual makes.”
Simon himself has had offers from wealthier clubs in other leagues. He has no release clause in his current contract, which was signed last year and runs until 2029.
“That was me telling the fans that I didn’t want to leave,” he says. “If the clause is €30million, €50m, €80m, and someone wants to pay it, I wouldn’t be going anyway. But the most important thing is the commitment you show on the pitch, in your day-to-day, how you treat people at the club and the fans. I want to keep showing that for a long time.”
Unai Simon on Spain duty in September (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)
Simon made his senior debut for Spain in November 2020, under Luis Enrique’s management. His 54 caps include reaching the Euro 2020 semi-finals, winning the 2023 Nations League and Euro 2024, and making the 2025 Nations League final.
Now coached by Luis de la Fuente, Spain are among the favourites for next year’s World Cup, and Simon says the key to their success is strong bonds built over many years together — much like at Athletic Club.
“To be closer to winning competitions like a Euros or a World Cup, you need a good group who get on well during camps of a month or more,” he says.
“You need players who put their shoulder to the wheel, who know each other well, who know how they like to receive the ball, which runs they make. Luis Enrique installed the base of today’s Spain side. Many of us have known (former Spain youth coach) De la Fuente since the under-18s. But you also need top players, to play good football, and to be decisive in the two penalty areas.”
Spain’s togetherness looked strained after last month’s Clasico, when international team-mates Dani Carvajal of Real Madrid and Lamine Yamal of Barcelona were involved in angry scenes following the final whistle.
“Clasicos always have these things,” says Simon, who captained his country during World Cup qualifying wins against Georgia and Bulgaria in October. “But it came in the heat of the moment, and by the time of the next squad (to be announced on Friday for this month’s final two qualifiers with the Georgians again and Turkey), everything will have cooled down. You have to separate what happens with clubs from what happens with the national team, where winning a World Cup comes above everything.
“Lamine knows how to look after himself. He’s a kid who has very clear ideas. It’s annoying sometimes that the image (of the 18-year-old forward) people see outside is really different from what we see on the pitch and in the dressing room.
“He’s a much different person in private, a much better team-mate. We all have to be on his side when he has a bad moment. Just like when I need some support, he’d be there for me. That way, things go well for the team.”
