Editing Athletic Bilbao (section)

=== Pichichi and Copa del Rey ===
[[File:Athletic Club 1915.png|thumb|upright=1|Athletic Club champion team in 1915 along with the 1914 and 1915 Copa del Rey trophies.]]
The club featured prominently in early Copas del Rey. Following their triumph at the Copa de la Coronación by ''Club Bizcaya'', Athletic won their first Copa del Rey in [[1903 Copa del Rey|1903]]. After watching [[1903 Copa del Rey final|the final]] in the Spanish capital that year, Basque students also formed an affiliated team, ''Athletic Club Madrid'', which later evolved into [[Atlético Madrid]]. In [[1904 Copa del Rey|1904]], holders Athletic were declared winners of the trophy after their opponents failed to turn up. In 1907, they revived the name ''Club Vizcaya'' after entering a combined team with ''La Union'' and were beaten in the Copa final. After a brief lull, they won again in [[1910 Copa del Rey|1910]], with [[Luis Astorquia]] as the new captain and goalkeeper.

In 1911, former team captain [[Alejandro de la Sota (footballer)|Alejandro de la Sota]], was elected as the 7th president of the club, and he was the driving force behind the construction of the [[San Mamés Stadium (1913)|San Mamés Stadium]] (architect Manuel María Smith), which opened in 1913 and soon became one of the symbols of Athletic's dominance in the 1910s, winning the Copa del Rey three times in a row between [[1914 Copa del Rey|1914]] and [[1916 Copa del Rey|1916]], with [[Billy Barnes (footballer)|Billy Barnes]] as coach. Between 1917 and 1919 the club went through a period of institutional crisis and during that time did not participate in the Copa del Rey, having failed to win the [[Biscay Championship|regional tournament]] which acted as the qualifier. In 1920, with the return of Billy Barnes, Athletic once again participated in the national championship and in 1921 won the Copa del Rey again.

The star of this team was [[Pichichi (footballer)|Pichichi]], a prolific goalscorer who scored the first goal at the San Mamés on 21 August 1913<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/08/21/paisvasco/1377102106.html|title=El viejo San Mamés cumpliría hoy cien años|trans-title=Old San Mamés would be 100 years old today|newspaper=[[El Mundo (Spain)|El Mundo]]|language=Spanish|date=21 August 2013|accessdate=23 September 2017|archive-date=3 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103095711/https://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/08/21/paisvasco/1377102106.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and a [[hat-trick#Association football|hat-trick]] in the [[1915 Copa del Rey Final|1915 final]]. The last championship won by Pichichi was the 1921 Copa del Rey, before his death aged just 29 in 1922. Today, the La Liga top-scorer is declared the [[The Pichichi Trophy|''Pichichi'']] in his honour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://athletic.elcorreo.com/noticias/201510/08/pichichi-reune-goleadores-rojiblancos-20151008210636.html |title=Los discípulos de Pichichi |trans-title=Pichichi's disciples |newspaper=El Correo |language=Spanish |date=9 October 2015 |accessdate=23 September 2017 |archive-date=8 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108054024/http://athletic.elcorreo.com/noticias/201510/08/pichichi-reune-goleadores-rojiblancos-20151008210636.html |url-status=live }}</ref>