The Vizcaya Regional Championship also called North Regional Championships in its early editions, was an official football tournament in Spain, organized by the Federation Cup Vizcaína-before Federation in the North-affiliated clubs involved in this.
It was played annually between 1913 and 1940 and served to elect the representative of the region in the Championship in Spain.
History
The tournament was launched in 1913, following the creation of the North Football Federation (Federación Norte), initially consisting of clubs from the Basque provinces (Biscay, Gipuzkoa and Álava) and Cantabria (formerly province of Santander). The first edition of the Northern Regional Championship started on 12 October 1913, with six teams: three Biscay (Athletic Bilbao, Arenas Club de Getxo and Sports Bilbao) and three Gipuzkoa (Royal Society, Sporting de Irun and Racing de Irun). Athletic was the first champion.
In 1916 the Royal Spanish Football Federation agreed the clubs from the province of Santander to abandon the North Federation and integrate them into the Cantabric Regional Federation of Football clubs, with clubs from the province of Oviedo. But the situation was reversed again two years later.
After several disagreements between the clubs Biscay and Guipuzkoa in 1918 the National Committee of the Spanish federation agreed to divide the Northern Federation in these two regions. Thus, the 1918/19 season Gipuzkoa clubs launched their own championship while the North Championship teams continued Basques and re-entry of the Racing de Santander, representing the Cantabrian club.
In 1922 the clubs in the province of Santander finally left North Federation to create its own umbrella organization, which launched the Cantabrian Regional Championship. That same year, the Assembly of the Northern Federation agreed to the change of name to the Federation Biscayne team being composed exclusively of the province of Vizcaya.
In 1934 the Spanish federation took out a major restructuring of the national tournaments, so that the regional championships were replaced by the superregional, which gathered the best clubs in various regional federations. In the case of the Basque Country, from the season 1934/35 was launched called Basque Cup. This tournament was held for two years until being interrupted by the summary of the Spanish Civil War.
In 1939 during the last months of the race war, football was resumed activity in some areas controlled by the national side, under the impetus of the Spanish Federation and the regional federations. In the reborn Championship Vizcaya five teams participated, including the champion and runner-up (Athletic Bilbao and Barakaldo Oriamendi) took part in the Copa del Generalissimo.
The 1939/40 season was played the last edition of the Championship of Biscay, which was also a qualifier for access to the Championship of Spain, since then called the Copa del Generalísimo (later turned into Copa del Rey). The restructuring approved by the Spanish Federation on 1940 marked the demise of the regional championships.