Juan Manuel Elorduy Saracibar (21 December 1888 – 12 November 1977) was a Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder for Athletic Bilbao.
[1][2] In 1909, Juan Elorduy, then a Mining Engineering student and a rich heir, was going to spend the Christmas of 1909 in London,[3] and taking advantage of this trip, the then president of Athletic Bilbao Alberto Zarraoa commissioned him to purchase 25 shirts for the team.
[3] Elorduy had the firm intention of fulfilling the order, but he failed to do so because there were not enough left in the store and he could not find such a large number of harlequinade zamarras.
[9] The origin of the red and white Athletic Club shirts has been the subject of numerous debates throughout the history of the club, and recent studies carried out by Basque sports researchers and historians have questioned this story and come up with a much more logic and well-thought-out new theory, which states that during a friendly match between Athletic Club and San Sebastian in November 1909, to mark the opening of their new stadium, Athletic's goalkeeper Crawford complained about both sides sharing the same colours, and following a month-long debate over which team should change their colours, it was Athletic who did it, with Juan Arzuaga and William Dyer, the latter born in Sunderland, making it known that Sunderland AFC had a kit with white and red vertical stripes, and Arzuaga then contacted a friend of his in Sunderland who could purchase some of those shirts from Henry A. Murton's Shop.
[5] Elorduy only made his debut for Athletic Club on 9 April 1911, in a preliminary round of the 1911 Copa del Rey against Fortuna Vigo, helping his side to a 2–0 win.