IT IS the tiny Spanish province fiercely proud of holding the most Michelin stars per head on the planet.
Yet one which now has an equally red- hot reputation for producing managerial stars as well — certainly as far as the Premier League is concerned.
With a population of around 750,000 — and dozens of world-class eateries — Gipuzkoa, a Basque enclave bordering the Pyrenees, is similar in size to Nottingham.
But as another season kicks off, no less than four of England’s 20 top flight clubs have managers who hail from the region.
Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, Aston Villa chief Unai Emery, Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola and Julen Lopetegui — returning to the Prem at West Ham — were born there.
As was Juanma Lillo, right-hand man to Pep Guardiola with perennial champions Manchester City.
And just for good measure Xabi Alonso, whose Bayer Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s Bundesliga dominance, is another small-town-boy-made-big.
It is an astonishing production line of talent from the tiniest province in Spain, which covers just over 770 square miles.
And one that has seen a Basque invasion become the dominant force in dugouts of the world’s toughest league.
Three of them — Emery, Arteta and Lopetegui — began their careers with Sociedad, as did Alonso.
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Iraola spent his playing days with Athletic Bilbao, the club renowned for its all-Basque playing policy — or at the very minimum a family related link.
Alonso, Arteta and Iraola were even pre-teen team-mates at Antiguoko, the famous Spanish youth club which has unearthed countless diamonds over the decades.
Aritz Aduriz, who spent the bulk of his career alongside Iraola at Bilbao, is another who emerged from the same era.
And the former Spain striker, now assistant sporting director of Real Mallorca, reckons he knows why the Basque region constantly punches above its weight.
Aduriz, 43, insisted: “They have many characteristics in common like hours of hard work, perseverance and being honest with themselves and the players.
“In Basque football, commitment, honesty and respect for the shirt are instilled straight away from the lower categories.
“This is something that we all demand from ourselves and then demand from others.
“And at Bilbao we were always told you have to go for things, in life things don’t come to you.
“That’s the reality of life and anyone who plays for the Basque teams soon has that mentality instilled in them.”
NOTHING stays the same forever.
And that includes the Premier League, which is making a number of tweaks this season.
Team news will now be released 75 MINUTES before kick-off, 15 minutes earlier than had been the case before.
Things could get crowded on the touchline, with the number of substitutes permitted to warm-up boosted from three players per team to FIVE.
There’s also a change to how added time is calculated when a team scores a goal, an update to the ‘multiball’ system and the introduction of semi-automated offsides – but not straight away.
Go here to read about all the changes to the Premier League for 2024/25.
There is also an age-old mantra that no single player can ever be bigger than the group — however big the star.
Jon Ayerbe, a one-time Antiguoko team-mate of Arteta, Alonso and Iraola, revealed: “There is a strong sense of doing things as a group.
“No one tries to stand out over the rest. That idea is deep in society here and you see it clearly in Xabi and Andoni — reflective, intelligent and not presumptuous.”
And Bilbao’s insistence on sticking to home-produced talent extends beyond the pitch.
Aduriz added: “Our mentality is to give a lot of importance and make use of young local people.
“With the competitive nature that we have, it is an important value for the teams in our area and why we export so many top-level players and coaches in Spain and abroad.”
To the Prem in particular, it seems.
No wonder so many Liverpool fans were desperate for Alonso to replace Jurgen Klopp this summer.
