Editing Athletic Bilbao (section)

==Crest==
Athletic's shield has incorporated the escutcheons of Bilbao and Biscay. From the shield of Bilbao, it takes [[San Antón Bridge|the bridge]] and the [[Church of Saint Anthony the Great|church of San Anton]], and the wolves from the powerful [[House of Haro|Haro family]], who were lords of Biscay and founders of Bilbao in 1300. From the shield of Biscay, it takes the [[Gernikako Arbola]] (Guernica's tree) and the [[Cross of Burgundy|cross of Saint Andrew]] ([[saltire]]s). Its first documented use dates from 1922.

The first official club crest was a blue circle surrounded by a belt with the letters A and C in the centre in white (as the club colours were at that point).<ref name="Crest History">[https://www.athletic-club.eus/en/news/2021/06/10/a-crest-with-history A crest with history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614150948/https://www.athletic-club.eus/en/news/2021/06/10/a-crest-with-history |date=14 June 2021 }} Athletic Club official website, 10 June 2021</ref> The second was from 1910, consisting of a red-and-white flag (newly adopted as the shirt colours) with a red square in the top left corner, containing the initials of the club in white. The third, from 1913, involved the same flag, but in this case shown on a pole wrapped around a football (this is very similar to the [[Real Sociedad]] crest still in use today, ignoring the crown of royal patronage).<ref name="Crest History"/>

The first version of the current crest, roughly an inverted triangular shield shape with a section of red-and-white stripes and a section of local motifs, is from 1922; this was a really simple version which was adapted several times, some of which closely resembled the crest of [[Atlético Madrid]], originally a branch of the Bilbao club.<ref name="Crest History"/> Finally, in 1941 the first version of the current shield was created, but the name "Atlético Bilbao" was used when [[General Francisco Franco]] outlawed all non-Spanish names during his regime. In 1972, the club added full colour to the design and recovered the original English "Athletic Club" name.<ref name="Crest History"/> In 2008, the shape of the shield was slightly altered and a new "Athletic Club" typeface was introduced.

{{Gallery
| title        = Historical evolution of the shield
| align        = center
| height       = 100
| width        = 100
| File:Athletic Club crest 1901.png
 | First own shield with intertwined initials (1901-02)
 | alt1=
| File:Athletic Club crest 1903.png
 | Shield stylization and chromatic adjustment (1903-10)
 | alt2=
| File:Athletic Club crest 1910.png
 | The initials are transferred to a flag with the new colors (1910-13)
 | alt3=
| File:Athletic Club crest 1913.png
 | A ball is added to the one that embraces the flag (1913-22)
 | alt4=
| File:Athletic Club crest 1922.png
 | The signs of the city and club are collected on a shield (1922)
 | alt5=
}}