Jon Uriarte, new president of Athletic with Ernesto Valverde as coach

The 43-year-old young businessman from Bilbao It has been imposed with almost half of the votes cast to Iñaki Arechabaleta (second most supported) and Ricardo Barkala, both a couple of decades older than him. His message of modernization of the entity has permeated the members of Athletic, as well as his Entrepreneurial profile (he co-founded the ticket sales portal Ticketbis)compared to two more classic profiles, one a historical manager of the Vocento Group (Arechabaleta) and the other a trusted man of the PNV for the last three decades (Barkala).

Valverde

With the second of them he shared the trick for the bench: Ernest Valverde. ‘Txingurri’, who entered the campaign with less than 48 hours to go before voting, will start his campaign at the age of 58 third stage on the bench at San Mamés, equaling Javier Clemente in that facet. The coach of Extremaduran origin had not assumed the reins of a bench since he was fired by Barcelona in January 2020, when the Barça team led LaLiga.

In that aspect of the elections, that relating to the coach, Valverde has clearly prevailed over Marcelo Bielsa, the bet of Iñaki Arechabaleta. The Spanish coach has been chosen by around two thirds of the votes cast by the members (added to those who have voted for Uriarte and Barkala), while the ‘Loco’ has been left with the approximate third of the votes obtained by Arechabaleta , half that of ‘Txingurri’.

Uriarte has thus emerged successful from an unorthodox campaign, in which he has avoided the usual debates in the media with his opponents, Focusing the strength of your message on social media. It is committed to professionalization and innovation in the different facets of the club, including the economic one, in the search for new income that guarantees the subsistence and competitiveness of the club, always respecting and reinforcing its peculiar philosophy.

It has also survived the strong setback that was, this week, the loss of who was going to be its general sports director, Carlos Avina. The dissemination of some macho, racist and homophobic tweets from the Mexican forced Uriarte to do without him just a few hours after announcing his bet on him. The relief of him has not yet been announced.

As for the rest of the sports structure, the men’s quarry remains in the hands of the former Levante and Villarreal Sergio Navarrowhile for the women’s team bench he will rely on Iraia Iturregi, something in which the three applicants agreed. The renewal of Ander Capa, whose contract with Athletic expires next week, will be one of the first issues addressed by the new board of directors.

No signings

Uriarte has not announced signings, although he has harshly criticized Barkala’s announcement that he would pay the Osasunist’s termination clause Jon Moncaola (22 million euros) if he was elected president.

22,689 partners They have come this Friday to cast their vote in San Mamés, 56.36% of those who were called to the polls. It has been a historic participation, almost ten points higher than in 2018 (held during the Christmas holidays) and only surpassed percentage-wise in the 2011 elections, in which Josu Urrutia prevailed over Fernando García Macua, who was seeking re-election. Voting at the stadium was a novelty in this electoral event, since until now the custom was to vote outside the Ibaigane Palace, Athletic’s headquarters.

The exit polls were anticipating during the day the final victory of Uriarte, to whom they were continuously giving support of around 50% of the voters. Both surveys also coincided in that Arechabaleta was the second option for Athletic members, with Barkala far behind. and they were right.