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 and is organised by the Basque Football Federation. It is not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA and therefore only allowed to play friendly matches against FIFA or non-FIFA affiliated teams.
The team has been referred to by various names including Euskadiko selekzioa, Euskal Herriko futbol selekzioa, Selección de Euskadi, Vasconia, Equipo Vasco, Euskadi XI and Basque XI. 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. During the Second Spanish Republic, they played firstly under the name of Baskoniako selekzioa (the Vasconia team) and then from 1936 as Euzkadiko selekzioa (the Euskadi team). During Franco's 36-year dictatorship it only played two games. After Franco's death in 1975, the team was reformed using the name Euskadiko selekzioa and from the early 1990s began playing regular friendly matches, usually during La Liga's Christmas break. Up to the present time they have played 40 matches against a wide range of FIFA national teams such as Russia, Nigeria, Uruguay, Serbia, Tunisia, Estonia, Venezuela and Costa Rica, plus others against non-FIFA teams of various types.
In 2007, the team's name was controversially changed to Euskal Herriko futbol Selekzioa causing disagreements which led to the annual matches being cancelled. In 2008, a compromise was reached and it was changed again to Euskal selekzioa.
In the lower grades (such as in the for youths and the UEFA Regions' Cup for amateurs), the team is either called Euskadiko selekzioa or Seleccíon del País Vasco and exclusively represents the Basque Country autonomous community (Euskadi), with Navarre competing separately.
History Beginnings, the North team (1913) On 29 September 1913 the Royal Spanish Football Federation was formally created and along with it four regional federations (Norte, Oeste, Este and Centro). Each regional federation organised its own league, and also selected a team to play against other regions. The Basque Country was grouped with Cantabria in 'Norte' (North). As most of the biggest teams in the Norte federation were Basque, such as Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Real Unión, and Arenas Club de Getxo, the team fielded by the federation was often composed entirely of Basque players, and was called 'Vasconia', 'el equipo Vasco' (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 Basque team (1930)
It wasn't until 1930 that the Biscayan and Gipuzkoan federations finally came together to create the first permanent team with the name 'Vasconia' ('Baskoniako selekzioa') to represent the Basque Country. Their first game was against Catalonia on 8 June 1930, which they won by 0–1 in Montjuïc, and they played Catalonia again on 1 January 1931 in Bilbao, winning that match 3–2.
During the first year of the Spanish Civil War the Basque team changed its name to Euzkadiko selekzioa. Their first match with that name was against Cantabria on 29 November 1936 in Santander, when the Cantabrians won 3–2. In 1937 the first president of the Basque autonomous region José Antonio Aguirre, who in his youth had been a player for Athletic Bilbao, decided to send a Basque football team abroad with the dual aim of raising money to fund the cost of the civil war, and also as a form of propaganda letting the world know about the conflict in Spain. At the same time a choir called Eresoinka was formed to tour Europe for the same purpose. Money raised was reportedly used to fund a hospital in La Rosarie, France, used by Spanish refugees, and also to help support the thousands of Basque children who had been sent abroad for safety.
The team consisted of the following players: Goalkeepers: Gregorio Blasco (Athletic) and Rafael Eguzkiza (Arenas); Defenders: Serafín Aedo (Betis), Pedro Areso (Barcelona) and Pablito Barcos (Barakaldo); Midfield: Leonardo Cilaurren (Athletic), Jose Muguerza (Athletic), Pedro Regueiro (Madrid), Roberto Etxebarria Arruti (Athletic), Ángel Zubieta (Athletic), Tomas Agirre (Nîmes) and Enrique Larrinaga (Racing); Forwards: Jose Iraragorri (Athletic), Emilio Alonso (Madrid), Isidro Lángara (Oviedo), Luis Regueiro (Madrid), Ignacio Agirrezabala (Chirri II) (no team), José Manuel Urquiola (Athletic Madrid), Guillermo Gorostiza (Athletic); Coach: Pedro Vallana Also attached to the team were Perico Birichinaga, as a masseur, and Ricardo Irezábal and Manu de la Sota, both as delegates.
The team made its debut on Monday 26 April 1937 in Paris's Parc des Princes against the French champions, Racing Paris, winning 0–3. This happened to be the same day that Guernica was bombed by Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. In May 1937 they toured France beating Olympique Marseille 2–5, losing 3–1 to Sète, and playing Racing Paris twice more, 3–3 and 2–3.
In May 1937, the team began to have problems with FIFA. Due to the civil war in Spain FIFA had banned all FIFA-affiliated countries and clubs from playing any Spanish teams. A match due to take place on 30 May in the Netherlands against Rotterdam was cancelled by the Dutch Federation. But many clubs and national sides continued to play the Basque team because they sympathised with Republican Spain which the team symbolised. The team's first match against a nation from outside of Spain was a 3–2 defeat, also in May 1937, to Czechoslovakia, who had been runners up in the 1934 World Cup. In June, they played Czechoslovakia again losing 2–1. Then they played Silesia in Chorzów on 9 June.
When Bilbao was captured by Franco's forces on 19 June 1937 the Basque team were in Moscow, having been invited by the Soviet Union's Politburo due to political motivations. They then toured the country during that summer, playing against Lokomotiv Moscow (1–5), Dynamo Moscow twice (1–2) and (4–7), Dinamo Leningrad (2–2), Spartak Moscow (6–2), Dynamo Kiev (1–3), Dinamo Tbilisi (0–2), the Georgian football team (1–3), and finally Dinamo Minsk (1–6). Their only loss was against Spartak Moscow. The Soviet authorities were determined to win the final game in Moscow, so the Spartak team was improved by bringing players from other parts of the country to play for the team just for that match. Lastly they travelled to Norway and Denmark in August where they beat an Østfold select (2-3), Norwegian AIF (1–3), and completed their biggest win to date against Denmark's (1–11).
In the autumn of 1937 the team crossed the Atlantic to play in Mexico where FIFA had given them permission to play clubs and the national side. FC Barcelona had undertaken a similar tour a few months earlier. After playing nine matches in the capital and one in Guadalajara they crossed over to Cuba where their problems with FIFA got worse. FIFA demanded that Cuba should not play the Basque Country. So the Basque team only played club sides, playing four matches, winning one and losing two. Next they travelled to Argentina, arriving on 25 February 1938. They stayed there for three months but officially played no matches due to their problems with FIFA. As they had run out of money and had no way of raising any, many of the big Argentine sides raised money for them. They then crossed the Andes to Valparaíso, Chile, where on 9 May 1938 they played Santiago Wanderers, but the result is not known. Later in May they travelled again to Cuba, this time playing the Cuba national team twice, before returning to Mexico. In the 1938–39 season they played under the name Club Deportivo Euzkadi in the Liga Mexicana de Football Amateur Association, one of the two major leagues in Mexico at that time where they won 7, drew 1 and lost 4 games, eventually coming runners up in the league. The Spanish civil war ended in April 1939 so when the season ended the team was broken up and as a reward each member received 10,000 pesetas. Most of the players stayed on in the Americas and joined teams there.
Franco years (1939–1975) Between 1939 and 1975 the Basque football team played only twice due to General Franco's dictatorship which severely limited the freedoms previously enjoyed by the regions of Spain. The first time was on 25 June 1966 on the 50th anniversary of Real Unión's founding. A team made up of players from the Basque Country played Real Madrid in the Gal Stadium in Irun, losing 0–2. Playing for the Basque Country were Carmelo Cedrún, (Alarcia), Gorriti, Martínez, Marigil, (Zabala), Azcárate, (Iruretagoyena), Iguarán, Amas, Dionisio Urreizti, Landa, (Chapela), Mauri, (Mendiluce) and Erro. Don Santiago Bernabéu had the honour of kicking off.
The second time was in San Mamés, Bilbao, on 21 February 1971 when a memorial match for Juan Gardeazábal was played between the Basque Country and Catalonia. The Basque Country lost 1–2. Playing for the Basque Country were Zamora, Deusto, Irusquieta, Zugazaga, Echeberría, Lema, Guisasola, Estéfano, Santamaría, Arambarri, Ibáñez, Marañon, Fernando Ansola, Araquistáin, Rojo II, Urtiaga, and Ortuondo.
Revival (1978) 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.