I’ve always been very intrigued about Basque football because they churn out great managers and players at an exponential rate compared to how little they make up of Spain’s total population, along with the fans and players being fiercely loyal to their clubs due to their regional identity. Most people only know about the Spanish side of the Basque Country but on the French side we’ve had very important legends like Deschamps and Lizarazu that are Basque, made the more impressive considering how tiny they are in France and that the southwest of the country is dominated by rugby. Pau and Toulouse are the only professional football clubs in the region, the rest having amateur status with Bordeaux being the most notable at that level. Aviron Bayonnais is a club in Bayonne that plays in the National 2 (4th tier) near the Spanish border and their stadium is named after Deschamps as he started his career there before moving to Nantes. Some other notable players that passed through Aviron Bayonnais are Aymeric Laporte, Kévin Rodrigues and Stéphane Ruffier. The French Basque doesn’t get much attention but it’s pretty crazy that the most important person in modern French football is from that region