Athletic Club are continuing their original policy to increase attendance at San Mamés while rewarding the most loyal socios. There is a catch, however, as the whole venture presupposes that the club reaches the final of the Copa del Rey within the next two seasons.

1 match, 1 draw

Another edition of the campaign to reward the socios who attend Athletic Club's home matches has begun. This time, however, it will last not one but two seasons, as it will run from the first San Mamés league game of the 2024/25 season until the last game before the 2025/26 Copa del Rey final.

Attendance will be rewarded with additional chances in the raffle of tickets for the final. Each socio is allocated 1 ticket by default and each entry to a match with a ticket will give another ticket. Counted as entries are:

• entry to the stadium of the pass holder
• giving up their seat to another person to go to the match
• giving up their seat to the club to put it on sale.

Both La Liga and Copa del Rey matches are included in the campaign. An example of a supporter who, as of 15 August 2024, goes to 10 matches, gives a pass to a friend for 5 others and gives their seat to the club to put up for sale on 5 other occasions, will receive 21 tickets (1 default ticket + 20 from the campaign)

© Grzegorz Kaliciak 

The goal: a fortress without a single free seat

Not a single free seat in the stands (...), it's fundamental so that the team, backed by the fans, turn San Mamés into a fortress - this is the aim of the campaign. Leones are hoping to sustain the upward trend of recent years. They hope attendance will help them, as at San Mamés in the 2023-24 season it was the 4th best in absolute numbers and the 5th best in terms of percentage of the stadium fill.

Athletic achieved 42 of the 57 points in the game at San Mamés last season, winning 12, drawing 6 and losing just once. They also scored 42 goals, losing just 18. This year's team can achieve even better results, especially if the campaign motivates the almost 44,000 socios to go to matches regularly.

The 2024/25 season will be the club's first in seven years in European competitions, but at the same time it will probably be Nico Williams' last in the club's colours, which will be an extra motivation for fans to flock to San Mames to see the best Athletic in years.

© Grzegorz Kaliciak 

One condition: reaching the final

The catch, of course, is the condition needed for the lottery to take place, namely Athletic reaching the final in either the 2024/25 or 2025/26 season. The chances of this happening, however, are high, as the Lions have played a final match in three of the last five editions of the Copa del Rey (2020, 2021, 2024).

The historical classification also favours Athletic, as they have played in 40 Copa del Rey finals in their history, which puts them on a par with Real Madrid and just behind FC Barcelona (42 finals). The Basques have won the trophy in 24 editions of the cup, the first time in the inaugural competition in 1903 and the last time last season when they beat RCD Mallorca on penalties at Estadio La Cartuja (1:1, pen. 4:2).

Statistics are, of course, only an indication. The best argument for believing Athletic will reach the Copa del Rey final is the strong squad and dominant style of play that has secured the club 6th place in the table and a return to European competitions.