[3][4] Bilbao, a city open to the world through the sea, kept close trade and industrial relations with at the end of the 19th century, thus becoming the home to an important British colony, which also played football, among whom a certain group of British employees of the Nervión Shipyards stand out, as they formed a multi-sports entity called Club Atleta, who played the first known football match in Bilbao on 4 April 1890 in a game between the club's members.

[1] Some of these locals were Basques of well-off families who had studied in the United Kingdom and became fond of football there, and who upon their return to Bilbao felt the need to practice this sport.

The match was agreed to take place at half past ten in the morning of 3 May 1894,[1][5] which coincided with the launching of the Almirante Oquendo cruise ship, for which all employees were given a day off, and thus, with a busy Lamiako Racecourse available, this event aroused great expectation.

After the match, the Brits brought the beaten team roasted chickens as a consolation for the heavy defeat, and a prize out of respect for the audacity of the challenge.

[1] The result did not discourage the local population, who continued their newfound love affair with this British sport, which was particularly popular among the youth, including those Basque students who returned from the United Kingdom.

[1][6] Between 1894 and 1895, the Lamiako facilities experienced spectacular growth in terms of the number of meetings, which were usually contested on Sunday mornings by the British, both workers from the Shipyards and from the various mining companies in the area, but increasingly also against the locals.