The Club was founded on 9 October 1939. A previous club was originally founded on 26 April 1903 as Athletic Club de Madrid by three Basque students living in Madrid. The founders saw the new club as a branch of Athletic Bilbao. In 1904 they were joined by dissident members of Real Madrid. They began playing in blue and white, as did Athletic Bilbao, but by 1911 they were playing in their current colours.