Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021–22 season. Its main shareholder is the Chinese company Desport, and its president Jiang Lizhang. The club was founded in 1931 with the name of ''Club Recreativo Granada'', and plays its home matches at the

Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes Nuevo Estadio de Los Cármenes is a multi-use stadium in Granada, Spain. Currently, it is used mostly for football (soccer), football matches. The stadium holds 19,336 people, and was built in 1995 to be the home ground of Granada CF, the main f ...

. Since 17 July 2020, the club is located at position 22 of the historical points classification of the First Division, and 20 of the historical First Division number of seasons classification, where it has participated in 25 seasons and finished in sixth place twice. Granada was the Copa del Rey runner-up in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

(the competition was then known as the ''Copa del Generalísimo''). The club finished the 2019–20 season in 7th, qualifying for the first time to the UEFA Europa League, where they were quarter-finalists.

History

Foundation

''Granada Club de Fútbol'' was founded on 6 April 1931, originally as ''Recreativo de Granada''; the first president was Julio López Fernández. It was him who registered the club in the Registry of Associations in the Civil Government and presented the first Board of Directors. The first football match was played against the Deportivo Jaén on 6 December 1931, which resulted in a 2–1 victory. The first goal in the match, and in the club's history, was scored by Antonio Bombillar. The first home match was played against U.D. Andújar two weeks later. Granada won it 1–0. It took place at Campo de Las Tablas stadium. In the 1931–32 season, the club finished 2nd in the ''Tercera Regional – Región Sur'' championship. 4 wins in 6 matches helped Granada achieve promotion to the Segunda Regional. The club started the season in a new division with a new president, Gabriel Morcillo Raya. During the 1932–33 season the club had the biggest win in its history, 11–0 against

Xerez Xerez Club Deportivo, known simply as Xerez, is a Spanish football team based in Jerez de la Frontera, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Xerez currently plays in Tercera División RFEF, the fifth tier of Spanish football. Founded on 24 ...

on 23 April 1933.

La Liga entry and peak

After several promotions, in 1941–42 the club made its La Liga debut. It was the match against the Celta on 28 September 1941. The game ended up in 1–1 draw. The first Granada goal in the highest Spanish division was scored by César Rodríguez Álvarez. During that season the Granada had some historical home wins, among them 8–0 against

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo is a Spanish football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926 as a result of the merger of two clubs who had maintained a large sporting rivalry for years in the city: ''Real Stadium Club Ovetense'' and ''Real Club De ...

and 6–0 against Barcelona. Granada finished the season in the 10th position among 14 teams. From 1942 until the 1980s, it alternated between the top flight and the

, with its golden age coming during the late 1960s and mid 70s, as the Andalusian club had eight consecutive top flight seasons between 1968–69 and 1975–76 and made the Copa del Rey semi and quarter-finals on 4 occasions. These seasons also included a best-ever sixth league places in the 1971–72 and 1973–74 seasons. Granada finished the 1971–72 season with 9 wins in the last 10 home games, with powerhouses Barcelona and Real Madrid being among those wins. In 1959 Granada achieved its greatest landmark, being the runner-up of the '' Copa del Generalísimo'' (later ''Copa del Rey''). In the final, played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, the team lost to Barcelona 4–1. The only goal for Granada was scored by the Argentinian forward Ramón Carranza. In the 1980s, Granada had some brief appearances in the second division. In 1983–84, they finished 8th among 20 teams in the Segunda División, just 10 points away from the champion the

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in Primera Federación – Group 1 for the 2022–23 season. It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a cap ...

and the runner-up the Bilbao Athletic. In 1984–85, Granada finished 18th and were relegated to the Segunda División B; in the same season, the club was eliminated by fourth-tier club Estepona in the second round of the Copa del Rey. Although the club returned to the Segunda División after two years for the 1987–88 season, it was relegated again that same season after finishing 19th.

Decline and revival

Granada spent most of the following seasons in the

Segunda División B Segunda División B ( en, Second Division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish Foot ...

, and were relegated to the fourth tier in 2002–03, due to failing to pay its players under the presidency of Francisco Jimena. After four seasons in the fourth division, former

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

president

Lorenzo Sanz Lorenzo Sanz Mancebo (9 August 1943 – 21 March 2020) was a Spanish businessman who was the 14th President of Real Madrid and a former owner of Málaga CF. Early life He was born in August 1943 in a humble family in Madrid, being the eldest o ...

, along with his son Paco, arrived at the club. With their help, the Andalusian side was again promoted to the third category but got itself into serious financial trouble. In the 2005–06 season Granada won Group 9 of the Tercera División and qualified for the promotional play-offs, where the first rival was Linense. After the two games ended up in 1–1 draws, Granada won in the penalty shootout. After that they had to face

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

, winning 3–1 on aggregate, which gave them promotion to the third tier. In 2006–07, Granada played in Group IV of the third level after four seasons in the Tercera. The president Paco Sanz, with the massive support of the fans, continued to lead the project with the intention of bringing the team to the top division, but the lack of time after the promotion led to hasty actions. In July 2009, the club was in such financial difficulty that it was on the brink of dissolving. The solution to the crisis came with the signing of a partnership agreement between Granada and Udinese Calcio, with the Spaniards incorporating large numbers of players contracted to the Italian club as well as receiving its youth players and reserves as part of the agreement. At the end of the season, Granada won its group and then got promoted by beating

Alcorcón Alcorcón () is a city and municipality of Spain located in the Community of Madrid. as of 2020, it had a population of 172,384. Geography The municipality, largely flat, lies at an average altitude of 711 metres above sea level, with the h ...

in the play-offs, returning to the second division after 22 years. SDE - GCF DSC02799 (24101740629)

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, Granada finished in fifth position, with most of the players loaned by Udinese still on board. On 18 June 2011, the club became the first winner of the promotion play-offs – a different system was used from 1985 to 1999 – after successively defeating Celta de Vigo (1–1, penalty shootout) and Elche (1–1 on aggregate,

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

), thus returning to the top division after a 35-year absence. In June 2016, Chinese businessman Jiang Lizhang became the new owner of the club, buying the Pozzo family's controlling stake. After surviving in the top flight for six seasons, the team was relegated in 2016–17 after being defeated by

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

. Under new manager Diego Martínez, Granada returned to the top flight as runners-up to CA Osasuna in the

2018–19 Segunda División The 2018–19 Segunda División season, also known as LaLiga 1, 2, 3 for sponsorship reasons, was the 88th season of the Spanish football second division since its establishment. Summary On 18 January 2019, just one day before the start of the s ...

. The following season, the team finished 7th in the top flight, earning qualification for the UEFA Europa League, the first time the club qualified for any European competition. It also reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals for the first time in 50 years, narrowly losing to Athletic Bilbao on away goals after a 2–2 aggregate draw. They reached the quarter-finals in Europe, being eliminated by

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. On 22 May 2022, the team was relegated after a draw against Espanyol. In the 2022–23 season, Granada returned to La Liga, by sealing a 1st position in the table on the very last match day of the season.

Seasons

---- *27 seasons in La Liga *34 seasons in the

*22 seasons in the

*5 seasons in the Tercera División *2 seasons in the Categorías Regionales

Players

Current squad

Reserve team

Out on loan

Current technical staff

Alejandro Gutiérrez
José Gutiérrez
Alberto Vera
Juan Sánchez
Fernando García
Miguel García

Honours

National

(4): 1940–41, 1956–57, 1967–68,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

(3): 1982–83, 1999–00, 2009–10 * Tercera División (3): 1933–34, 2003–04, 2005–06 * Copa del Rey: ''runners-up (1)'': 1958–59

Regional tournaments

* Andalucia Cup (1): 1932–33 * Andalucia Championship reservations (1): 1971–72

Friendly

* Antonio Puerta Trophy (1): 2010

Individual

Pichichi Trophy

* La Liga: Enrique Porta ( 1971–72) *

: Miguel ( 1964–65), Rafa ( 1955–56)

European record

Derby of eastern Andalusia

The Eastern Andalusia Derby is played between Granada and

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

. Stats are updated to derby #86, played on 17 January 2021 (Copa del Rey, last 16).

Stadium

After its foundation, the team played its home matches at the ''Campo de Las Tablas'', inaugurated on 20 December 1931. On that day Granada CF won the match against the U.D. Andújar 1–0 in the Tercera Regional. Granada's stay at this ground was a short one; on 23 December 1934, a new municipal stadium, '' Estadio Los Cármenes'', was opened. The club played in this stadium until 1995 when they moved to the Nuevo Los Cármenes Stadium (also owned by the Ayuntamiento de Granada). It was inaugurated on 16 May 1995, with a friendly fixture between Real Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen, whereas Granada CF played for the first time in the Summer of 1995, playing a friendly fixture against Real Betis. The stadium featured an original capacity of 16,212 seats. This was expanded to 22,524 after Granada CF's promotion to La Liga in the summer of 2011. After achieving promotion to the First Division in 2019, the stadium has been renovated, such as the replacement of the playing surface, the repairing and painting of seats plus the addition of white seats to form the words "Granada CF" across from the main stand and "1931" on the South Stand, the expansion of the official club store (now located on the corner where the old tickets office was located), and finally, the replacement of the illumination system in line with the lighting requirements of LaLiga. In addition, the club is working with Granada's council to get a deal for a long-lasting tenancy with the aim of performing a series of investments like a re-build of the stadium corners (which had been previously dismantled), establish shopping and entertainment zones or the expansion and refurbishment of sponsor and advertising areas. *Dimensions: 105 × 68 meters *Address: C/ Pintor Manuel Maldonado s/n *Inauguration date: 16 May 1995,

– Bayer Leverkusen (1–0) *First Granada CF match: 22 August 1995, Granada– Real Betis (4–1) XXIII Granada Trophy

Kit and colours

Upon its foundation, the club's kits were a shirt with blue and white vertical stripes and white shorts. After the Spanish Civil War the club owners went to Madrid to buy new ones, but they couldn't find other than red and white striped shirts. That became the official colour scheme from then on. In the 1970s, the club changed the vertical stripes to horizontal. The kit alternated horizontal and vertical strip patterns until 2004–05, when a member assembly decided to settle for the horizontal pattern.

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Coaches

Lippo Hertzka Lippo Hertzka ( hu, Hertzka Lipót, 19 November 1904 – 14 March 1951) was a Hungarian football player and manager of Jewish descent. He played for Essener Turnerbund, MTK Budapest and Real Sociedad. After retiring, he coached seven teams, inc ...

(1934–1935) * Gaspar Rubio (1939–1940) *

Antonio Bonet Silvestre Antonio Bonet Silvestre (14 August 1908 – March 1993) was a Spanish football midfielder and manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body ...

(1941–1943) * Francisco Bru (1941–1943) * István Plattkó (1943–1945) * Gaspar Rubio (1950) * Alejandro Scopelli (1957–1959) * Jenő Kalmár (1958–1960) * Fernando Argila Pazzaglia (1960–1961) * Francisco Trinchant (1961) * Heriberto Herrera (1961–1962) * Ignacio Eizaguirre (1963–1964) * Francisco Antúnez (1963–1964) * Jenő Kalmár (1965–1966) *

Marcel Domingo Marcel Domingo Algara (15 January 1924 – 10 December 2010) was a French football goalkeeper and manager of Spanish origin. He spent part of his career in Spain. Domingo coached RCD Espanyol, UD Las Palmas, UE Lleida, Pontevedra CF, Córdo ...

(1968–1969) * Joseíto (1970–1972) * Pasieguito (1972–1973) * Joseíto (1973–1975) * Miguel Muñoz (1975–1976) *

Héctor Núñez Héctor Núñez Bello (8 May 1936 – 19 December 2011) was a Uruguayan footballer and manager. He was manager of the Uruguay squad that won Copa América 1995. Playing career Núñez was born in Montevideo and started his playing career at ...

(1976) * Vavá (1977–1978) * Francisco Gento (1980–1981) * José Mingorance (1981) * Antonio Ruiz (1981–1982) * Manuel Ruiz Sosa (1982–1983) *

Felipe Mesones Felipe Mesones Temperán (9 February 1936 – 15 December 2017) was an Argentine football right winger and coach. Playing career Born in Buenos Aires, Mesones spent the vast majority of his career in Spain, representing Real Murcia, Levante UD ...

(1983–1984) * Nando Yosu (1984) * Joaquín Peiró (1985–1988) * Manuel Ruiz Sosa (1988) * Pachín (1988–1989) * José Enrique Díaz (1989–1990) * Nando Yosu (1992–1994) *

Lucas Alcaraz Luis Lucas Alcaraz González (born 21 June 1966) is a Spanish retired footballer, currently manager of UD Ibiza. In a managerial career of over two decades, he competed in ten La Liga seasons at the helm of Recreativo, Racing de Santander, ...

(1995–1998) *

Paco Chaparro Francisco "Paco" Chaparro Jara (born 30 November 1942) is a Spanish retired football forward and manager. Football career Chaparro was born in Seville, Andalusia. After a playing career that ended at the age of 30 due to a knee injury, and wit ...

(1998–1999) *

(2000) * Ismael Díaz (2000) *

José Ángel Moreno José Ángel Moreno (born 19 September 1953), simply known as Moreno, is a Spanish former football manager. Managerial career Born in Seville, Andalusia, Moreno began his managerial career with Carolinense CD in the Tercera División. He was late ...

(2001) * Ramón Blanco (2001–2002) * Josip Višnjić (2006–2007) * Óscar Cano (2007–2009) *

Pedro Braojos Pedro Pablo Braojos de Santiago (born 8 January 1957) is a Spanish retired Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football), forward, and a current Coach (sport), manager. Club career Braojos was born in Toledo, Sp ...

(2008–2009) *

Fabri Fabri is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anna Fabri (f. 1496), Swedish publisher and printer * Annibale Pio Fabri (1697–1760), Italian singer and composer * Emanuel Fabri (born 1952), Maltese footballer * Ernst Fabri (1891� ...

(2010–2012) *

Abel Resino Abel Resino Gómez (born 2 February 1960), sometimes known just as Abel, is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and a manager. Nicknamed ''El Gato'' (The Cat) due to his reflexes,

(2012) *

Juan Antonio Anquela Juan Antonio Albacete Anquela (born 11 September 1957) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a winger. Playing career Born in Linares, Jaén, Anquela spent the better part of his 17-year senior career in the lower leag ...

(2012–2013) *

(2013–2014) *

Joaquín Caparrós Joaquín de Jesús Caparrós Camino (born 15 October 1955) is a Spanish football manager. After winning the Segunda División with Sevilla in 2001, Caparrós was a regular on the La Liga sidelines for the best part of two decades. He coached ...

(2014–2015) * Joseba Aguado ''(interim)'' (2015) *

(2015) * José Ramón Sandoval (2015–2016) * José González (2016) * Paco Jémez (2016) *

(2016–2017) * Tony Adams (2017) * José Luis Oltra (2017–2018) * Pedro Morilla Pineda (2018) * Miguel Ángel Portugal (2018) * Diego Martínez (2018–2021) * Robert Moreno (2021–2022) *

Rubén Torrecilla Rubén Torrecilla González (born 24 May 1979) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a midfielder, and is a current manager. He amassed Segunda División totals of 137 games and five goals over the course of seven seasons, representing ...

''(interim)'' (2022) * Aitor Karanka (2022–)

References

External links

Official website

Official website

Futbolme team profile

Unofficial website
{{Authority control Football clubs in Andalusia Association football clubs established in 1931 Sport in Granada 1931 establishments in Spain La Liga clubs Segunda División clubs