Athletic Bilbao and the Cantera Policy

I love all that Athletic stand for they are my favourite club in Spain. In a recent FM save they have been great fun. I was wondering what other people thought of their policy of only using players from the Basque region of Spain. This is hard coded in to the game and prevents you signing foreign players or any Spanish/French players outside the region. have you ever chosen to manage Bilbao and quit/resigned because you can't sign the players you want?

never tried them but can imagine it been tough.

It's very difficult to build them up to dominate in the same way as you can with other big clubs. I had a decent game running with them on FM10, although there was a slight bug present that enabled you to sign any U18 Spanish player. I think that's now been changed to make it U16 Spanish players, which is more accurate. You are completely reliant on your youth system (and to a lesser extent clubs like Osasuna and Real Sociedad), but fortunately you do tend to produce at least a couple of decent-to-good players a year, so it is possible to do well.

One thing that did irritate me a little last year was that there never seemed to be any French/Basque players, so it was impossible to find another Bixente Lizarazu for example. I don't know if that's been changed this year.

I think I've seen some weird nationality/Basque players, like half-African half-Basque, so it's possible to get those other than Spaniards this year.

I think I've seen some weird nationality/Basque players, like half-African half-Basque, so it's possible to get those other than Spaniards this year.

i think thats been bought in as this is starting to happen in real life, they now just to have ben formed in a basque region to be eligable, the rule is more relaxed now then it once was, they do not even need to be basque to play for the club.

yeah, that's a real challenge.

the best players are X.Alonso and Arteta and you need to make some progress with the club to sign them: Arteta was brought before my 3rd season when I finished 4th and was qualified for CL, but Alonso was still unreachable for me even when he was 33.

the real problem when you have concentration of good players in central midfield while wingers are generally pretty moderate, so using the middle is the choice and at the same time your squad is physically strong and good for direct football which is more appropriate for using the flanks, crosses and so.

also i must admit that central defenders were very good during corners and IFK: there were seasons when San Jose and Amoribietta scored 20 goals a season together.

anyway it's very interesting experience, and it would be nice to hear opinions of other 'basque-philles'

my results were: 1st season: 9th + copa, 2nd: 4th, 3: 6th + europa league, 4: 5th, very-very tough task to compete with both madrid clubs and barca

I played 20 seasons at Inter Milan without signing a player that was either Italian or had Italian nationality for the second one (often Argentines).

It's very difficult with Athletic though because of the lack of nationals.

Worth checking for their thread in the good player and team forum, there are quite a few who play as them for the unique challenge they present. I would post a link but not sure how to using my phone lol.