The Basque Football Federation (, EFF; , FVF) is the body responsible for managing

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

in the Basque Country autonomous region. Its offices are in

Bilbao Bilbao is a city in northern Spain, the largest city in the Provinces of Spain, province of Biscay and in the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country as a whole. It is also the largest city proper in northern Spain. Bilbao is the List o ...

(in the

Otxarkoaga-Txurdinaga Otxarkoaga-Txurdinaga is the third district of the city of Bilbao (Biscay), in the Spanish Basque Country. It is divided into the neighbourhoods of Otxarkoaga and Txurdinaga. It has an area of 389.94 hectares and a population of 26,458 inhabit ...

district). The federation manages several leagues such as the Basque Youth League and the Basque Women's Football League, as well as the Basque regional stage of the Federation Cup. It also organises Group 4 of the regionalised

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

(the fourth tier of the men's

Spanish football league system The Spanish football league system consists of several professional, semi-professional, amateur and non-professional leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The top two tiers of the male league pyramid — Primera Di ...

), although unlike most parts of the country, the leagues at the fifth level and below are administered separately by provincial federations for

Álava Álava () or Araba (), officially Araba/Álava, is a Provinces of Spain, province of Spain and a historical territory of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, heir of the ancient Basque señoríos#Lords of Álava, Lordship ...

Biscay Biscay ( ; ; ), is a province of the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Autonomous Community, heir of the ancient Lordship of Biscay, lying on the south shore of the Bay of Biscay, eponymous bay. The capital and largest city is Bilb ...

and

Gipuzkoa Gipuzkoa ( , ; ; ) is a province of Spain and a historical territory of the autonomous community of the Basque Country. Its capital city is Donostia-San Sebastián. Gipuzkoa shares borders with the French department of Pyrénées-Atlantiqu ...

. The federation organises and selects the

Basque Country national football team The Basque Country national football team () represents the Basque Country (greater region), Basque Country in association football, football. It selects players from the Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country autonomous community ...

which draws its players not only from the Basque Country autonomous region, but also the neighbouring

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

regions of

Navarre Navarre ( ; ; ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre, is a landlocked foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, bordering the Basque Autonomous Community, La Rioja, and Aragon in Spain and New Aquitaine in France. ...

and the

French Basque Country The French Basque Country (; ; ), or Northern Basque Country (, or , ), is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitutes the Basque Municipal Community (; ) presided ...

. The women's senior national team also follows this model, but the various youth representative squads contesting nationwide competitions, and the Basque amateur-level selection playing in the Spanish stage of the

UEFA Regions' Cup The UEFA Regions' Cup is a association football, football competition for Amateur sports#Association football, amateur teams in Europe, run by UEFA. It was held for the first time in 1999 UEFA Regions' Cup, 1999 and has been played biennially sinc ...

, are composed of players only from the Basque Country autonomous region. The Basque Football Federation is part of the

Royal Spanish Football Federation The Royal Spanish Football Federation (; RFEF) is the governing body of football in Spain. Founded on 29 September 1913, it is based in La Ciudad del Fútbol of Las Rozas de Madrid, Las Rozas, a municipality near Madrid. RFEF organizes the natio ...

(RFEF).

History

In the early 20th century, football federations were formed for each of the Basque regions of

(1913, as the 'North Federation' with

Cantabria Cantabria (, ; ) is an autonomous community and Provinces of Spain, province in northern Spain with Santander, Cantabria, Santander as its capital city. It is called a , a Nationalities and regions of Spain, historic community, in its current ...

) and

(a 1918 offshoot), with each holding their own tournaments (the Biscay Championship and Gipuzkoa Championship respectively). As long ago as 1931 the idea of creating a single federation for the whole Basque Country was considered, but for various reasons this was not done at that time. In 1988 the Basque Football Federacion was finally created, encompassing the original provincial federations as well as a new one for

(split off from Gipuzkoa the previous year), each of which continues to organise football competitions within their area.

Purpose

The Basque Football Federation's purpose is to promote, organise and authorise association football competition across the Basque Country autonomous region. In addition to this, it selects and arranges fixtures for the

l, for which it aims to gain

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

and

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

affiliation so that it can participate in regular international competitions.

FIFA affiliation

The Basque Football Federation has as one of its aims the official participation of the Basque Country national team in international competitions. In 1979, Pablo Porta, president of the Spanish Football Federation, stated that the Basque Country might participate in the next

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

; he explained that in the same way that Welsh clubs participate in the English league but are also represented by the Wales national team, so the same model could be used in Spain. However this idea has not been implemented. In 2010, the Basque Football Federation changed its statutes to claim responsibility for international competitions in the greater Basque Country, but the

Supreme Court of Spain The Supreme Court ('', TS'') is the Supreme court, highest court in the Spain, Kingdom of Spain. The court has original jurisdiction over cases against high-ranking officials of the Kingdom and over cases regarding the legalization of political p ...

suspended these new statutes. In 2012, it was decided by the

Constitutional Court of Spain The Constitutional Court () is the supreme interpreter of the Spanish Constitution, with the power to determine the constitutionality of acts and statutes made by any public body, central, regional, or local in Spain. It is defined in Part I ...

that the Basque Country could compete in international competitions so long as it did not compete against Spain. In early 2019, the Federation voted in favour of applying to FIFA and UEFA for official recognition for the team. In December 2020, Basque federation applied for UEFA and FIFA recognition.

Competitions

The Basque Football Federation organises the following competitions: *

, Group 4 * RFEF Basque tournament (Regional phase of the Federation Cup) *Copa Vasca Juvenil (Basque Youth Cup) *Liga Vasca Juvenil (Basque Youth League) *Liga Vasca Cadete *Copa Vasca Cadete * Liga Vasca Femenina (Basque Women's Football League) *Copa Vasca Femenina (Basque Women's Cup) *Liga Vasca de Fútbol Sala (Basque

Futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

league)

Champions

These tables provide the winners of the competitions administered by the Basque Football Federation each season.

Tercera División

Winners of the Basque Country fourth tier group, with possible promotion to the level above and an entry to the following season's

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

Women

Liga Vasca Femenina

The ''Liga Vasca'' (Basque League) was introduced (along with other regional sections) in the 2012–13 season as a stage between the provincial leagues and the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

, which is also divided into geographical groups. The table also shows the winner of the promotion playoff between the Álava, Gipuzkoa and Biscay leagues in the seasons prior to the introduction of the all-Basque league.

Copa Vasca Femenina

The Copa Vasca (Basque Cup) has been held since the 1980s. In its current incarnation, it is usually disputed between clubs from the region who are not in the Primera División; the senior team of

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

have never taken part since their formation in 2002, although their B-team has featured in several finals. From 2020, the Copa Vasca was incorporated as 'Group B' of the Copa Euskal Herria (Basque Country Cup), which does include top division clubs – all of the finals of that competition have featured Athletic Club or

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

(usually both).

Notable clubs affiliated to BFF

(as of 2021–22 season)

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

* Real Sociedad de Fútbol

* SD Amorebieta *

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

Real Sociedad B Real Sociedad de Fútbol "B" (also known as Sanse) is a Spanish football team based in San Sebastián, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1955, it is the reserve team of Real Sociedad and plays in Primera Federación � ...

Primera División RFEF Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

* Athletic Bilbao B *

Real Unión Real Unión Club, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Irun, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, in the province of Gipuzkoa, near the border with France. Founded on 15 May 1915 it currently plays in Primera División RF ...

Segunda División RFEF *

Arenas Club de Getxo Arenas Club de Getxo is a Spanish football club based in the town of Getxo, near Bilbao, in the autonomous community of Basque Country. Founded in 1909, it currently plays in , holding home games at Campo Municipal de Gobela, with a 2,000-se ...

* Gernika Club * Sestao River Club * Real Sociedad C

Primera División (women) The Primera División de la Liga de Fútbol Femenino, currently known as the Liga F (finetwork Liga F for sponsorship reasons), is the highest level of league competition for women's football in Spain. It is the women's equivalent of the men's ...

Deportivo Alavés Gloriosas Deportivo Alavés Gloriosas is a Spanish Women's association football, women's football team from Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country, currently playing in the Liga F. It is the women's section of Deport ...

* Athletic Club (women) *

SD Eibar (women) SD Eibar Femenino is a Spanish women's football team from Eibar, Gipuzkoa, Basque Country, currently playing in Liga F. It is the women's section of SD Eibar. Below the first team, the club also incorporates a senior B-team playing at the pro ...

* Real Sociedad (women) Segunda División Pro (women) * Athletic Club Femenino B

Presidents

*Laurentzi Gana Gorozika (1992–?) *Iñaki Dobaran Garetxana (2006–2009) *Santiago Arostegi Oleagordia (2009–2012) *Luis Maria Elustondo Ciarreta (2012–present)

General Secretary

* Jon Ander Gamboa (1993-2014) * Kepa Allica (2014–present)

References

External links

*
Alava Football Federation

Gipuzkoa Football Federation

Biscay Football Federation
{{Tercera División Group 4 Spanish football associations Football in the Basque Country (autonomous community) 1988 establishments in Spain Sports organizations established in 1988 1980s establishments in the Basque Country (autonomous community)