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Bilbao: San Mamés Museum and Stadium Tour
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Bilbao’s stadium is San Mamès, also known in the city as Nuevo San Mamès, as it was inaugurated on the ashes of the old stadium of the same name in September 2013. A temple of football and a modern and innovative construction, so much so that it immediately inherited the nickname of the old stadium, La Catedral, or Katedrala in Basque.
Home of Athletic Bilbao, the city’s main football team and Basque pride, the stadium is situated in a privileged location, on calle Rafael Moreno Pichichi a few steps from the south bank of the Nervion river and in a neighbourhood that is easily accessible by metro (the stop to consider is also called San Mames). This state-of-the-art facility is capable of accommodating 53,000 spectators all seated, and was inaugurated in 2013 after almost three and a half years of work led by the IDOM architectural firm, at an estimated cost of around €200 million. Money well spent, however, as the facility was awarded the title of best sports building in the world and hosted the Europa League final in 2025.
Today, the San Mames is more and more an icon of Bilbao and a symbol of the city’s strong attachment to Basque traditions, but at the same time it is a must for football fans from all over the world visiting the city, to watch a live Athletic match, to take part in a guided tour of the stadium, or to visit the very interesting museum it houses inside.
The Bilbao stadium tour starts at gates 19 and 20, and runs from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from November to February, and from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. from March to October. On 24 December and 31 December opening hours are from 10:00 to 15:00.
During the tour of the San Mames you will have the opportunity to visit this wonderful complex, the best sports building in the world. You can enter the pitch through the tunnel, visit the inside of the changing rooms, and even sit on the bench of Athletic Bilbao. The tour also includes access to the press room, the mixed zone and the VIP area of the stands.
The tour of the Bilbao stadium may vary, both in terms of things to see and timetable, during match days, training sessions or other events held at the stadium. During match days, access to the tour will close 5 hours before the start of the match.
The estimated duration of the tour is approximately 45 minutes. You can take part in it in guided mode accompanied by the official stadium guides or on your own with an audio guide, which covers 34 different zones created to explain some of the most interesting aspects of the stadium. The audio guide is available in Spanish, Basque, English and French.
The San Mamès stadium museum is a visit in itself, which can be done before or after the tour. During your visit to the museum you will discover not only all the secrets of the team, but also what Bilbao was like in 1898, the year the club was founded, and its evolution over the years. The museum is developed as a chronological journey through the history of Athletic, with objects and images of the club and the world. Inside there are also some artefacts and memorabilia from the old stadium, such as the wooden bench, in front of which is a screen showing an audiovisual documentary on the 100-year history of the team. Also not to be missed is the trophy room, which displays all the cups and official awards won by Athletic Bilbao, both for the men’s and women’s teams.
The San Mames is the home of Athletic Club, known abroad as Athletic Bilbao, one of the most important football teams in Spain. To see Athletic’s upcoming matches and buy tickets, click on the button below.
Athletic Bilbao TicketsThe current San Mames stadium was designed in 2004, next to the old San Mames, in an area that until 2003 was dedicated to fairs and exhibitions. The ground-breaking ceremony took place on 26 May 2010 at 12 noon and the construction work went on for three years. When the construction of the stadium reached three quarters complete, the first matches were played, while at the same time the old stadium was demolished to make way for it.
The opening ceremony was held on 16 September 2013, when it was not yet fully completed and its capacity was 35,000 seats. Afterwards, Athletic took on Celta Vigo, winning 3-2 amidst the celebrations of the home crowd.
The following year, in 2014, the stadium was finally completed. The first match played at full capacity was a Champions League match between Athletic Bilbao and Napoli, which ended 3-1 to the hosts.
Despite its young age, the Bilbao stadium has already seen numerous events take place inside it, beyond Athletic’s matches. Some of the most notable include the Guns N’Roses concert on 30 May 2017 in front of 28 thousand people, the 2018 finals of the European Rugby Challenge Cup and Champions Cup, an MTV-sponsored concert with Basque rock band Berri Txarrak, Muse and Crystal Fighter, and a curious stage of the Vuelta a Espana cycling race, when in 2019 cyclists began their race by riding a lap of the field.
The next event of international significance will be the final of the Europa League 2025, to be played on 21 May 2025.
Athletic Bilbao, officially Athletic Club, is the football team of the city of Bilbao. Known colloquially as Los Leones, i.e. ‘the lions’, they play at home with a red and white vertical striped uniform and black trousers. Founded in 1898, the club is one of the three founders of the Primera Division to have never been relegated, and is known for its policy of bringing young Basque players from youth teams into the first team, as well as recruiting players from other Basque teams: the club’s official policy is to only sign players from the Basque Country. However, the rule does not apply to coaches.
The club’s first star was Rafael Moreno Aranzadi, known as Pichichi, a very prolific goalscorer who died at only 29 years old in 1922. Today, the Spanish league’s top scorer is named Pichichi in his honour.
Athletic Club’s main rivalry is against Real Sociedad, a team from San Sebastián, who play each year in what is the Basque derby par excellence. Besides this, for political and sporting reasons, there are fierce rivalries with Real Madrid and Barcelona, so much so that the matches against these two teams have their own name: the Athletic-Real Madrid match is called El Viejo Clasico, while the Athletic-Barcelona match is called Athletic-Barcelona Clasico.
The Basque national football team, or Euskal selekzioa, plays its matches at the Bilbao stadium. This team is not affiliated with either FIFA or UEFA and is therefore only allowed to play friendly matches; however, Basque pride is very strong and fans come to Bilbao from all parts of the region to watch the matches.
The players of the Basque national football team are by passport Spanish citizens, which is why they are allowed to play in the Spanish national football team.
The Bilbao stadium is located in the west of the city, not far from the south bank of the river Nerviòn. It can be easily reached by metro, with the stop San Mamès.
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