Athletic Club generally enjoyed a good season, but there will still be a sense of bitterness with how their European run ended and fell on a fatal 3-0 defeat at home at Manchester United. It ended their hope and dreams of a house final in San Mames, with a red card for Dani Vivian who proved the point of bent in the draw.
The whole of Bilbao was in celebration mode before the game, with the square where Los Leones stayed before the game was packed, and a raw atmosphere that greeted the teams at San Mames. Despite a good start, things quickly became sour and UEFA's view got out of hand.
Athletic announced on Tuesday that they had been fined for the behavior of their fans, both in Bilbao and in Manchester. The total of the fines is € 50k, with a first fine imposed for attacking songs (€ 10k) and throwing objects from the stands (€ 20k).
In the meantime, the traveling support at Old Trafford was generally well received, but an extra fined € 20K for lighting flares and offensive hymns were received equally.
Although athletics generally points good behavior of their fan base, Basque ultras were involved in several incidents during their European collisions last season. Both real Sociedad and athletic fans clash with Ultras in Rome, who belong to Lazio and Roma respectively. In the meantime there was violence when other attachment also visited Donostia-San Sebastian.
The club makes these sanctions public, which are harmful to Athletic (which are published by both the RFEF disciplinary committee and, in this case, UEFA), with the aim of ensuring that they are not repeated during the coming season 2025/26.
It should be noted that the behavior of fans was exemplary for a large part of the second half of last season. The support at San Mames was extraordinary, the team pushed a draw in every European knockout and wore them on their shoulders in the direction of Champions League qualification: clear evidence that it is possible to fully support the team, with respect and without sanctions.
However, this exemplary behavior was undermined in recent competitions, with renewed incidents that have led to the opening of new procedures.
Tolerance and freedom of expression are values that Athletic Club identify. But all rights include obligations, and in the case of the fans they require compliance with the current rules, because it does not harm them to the club of which we are all part of. With respect, every disagreement is legitimate.
Finally, the club repeats that it will defend its objective with the same robustness as it has done so far: respect must be one of the fundamental principles of the club's support, avoiding actions that damage the image of Athletic or cause financial damage to the organization.