Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional
football club in
Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
,
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
. Founded on 24 October 1920, the club currently plays in
La Liga, holding home games at the 23,576-capacity
El Sadar Stadium
Estadio El Sadar (; known as ''Estadio Reyno de Navarra'' from 2005 to 2011, ) is a football stadium in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. The stadium holds 23,576 people. It was built in 1967 and is the home of Osasuna. It is currently used mostly for f ...
. The team's regular home kit is a red shirt with navy blue shorts. Osasuna is one of four professional Spanish clubs to be owned by its members with an elected president.
Osasuna is the sole Navarrese club to have played in La Liga. Although the club has never won a national trophy it reached the Copa del Rey final in
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. The club’s best league finishes were fourth in
1990–91 and
2005–06.
"Los Rojillos" is the club nickname, meaning "The Little Reds". The word "''osasuna''" means "health" in
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, used in a sense of "strength" or "vigour", which makes Osasuna the only team in La Liga with a Basque name. For different reasons, rivalries exist between Osasuna and
Real Zaragoza
Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...
,
Real Madrid,
and
some Basque clubs, particularly
Athletic Bilbao
Athletic Club ( eu, Bilboko Athletic Kluba; es, Athletic Club de Bilbao), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao or just Athletic, is a professional football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Basque Country of Spain. They are known as ''Los Le ...
.
[A Orbaiz e Iraizoz sí les gusta el Reyno]
rbaiz and Iraizoz do like Reyno Diario de Navarra (in Spanish), 9 April 2009
Osasuna has a
cantera
Cantera, literally meaning "quarry" in Spanish, is a term used in Spain to refer to youth academies and farm teams organized by sports clubs. It is also used to refer to the geographical area that clubs recruit players from. The term is widely ...
which has produced several successful players similar to other clubs in the greater Basque region.
History
The club was founded on 24 October 1920 and its name, Osasuna, meaning ''health'' in
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
, was chosen by Benjamín Andoian Martínez. When Spanish football became professional in 1928, Osasuna was placed in the third division, gaining promotion to the
Segunda División after the
1931–32 season by winning the playoff against
Nacional de Madrid. They made it to
La Liga three seasons later. That same season, they reached the semi-finals of the
Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...
and lost to
Sevilla
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsu ...
. The
next season , Osasuna reached the semi-finals again, this time losing to
Barcelona over two legs, despite grabbing a victory in the first leg.
The club was hit hard by the
rearguard repression implemented by the Nationalist rebels in the
1936 coup-de-état against the Spanish Second Republic. At least ten players, employees and directive board members were murdered, imprisoned or otherwise persecuted.
The surviving members were forcibly recruited for the front, with some of them showing enthusiasm for the putsch. The strong support of Navarre for the Nationalist rebels led to Osasuna being offered a place in the
1939–40 La Liga
The 1939–40 La Liga was the ninth season since its establishment and the first one after the Spanish Civil War, that forced to suspend the competition during three years. The season started on December 3, 1939, and finished on April 28, 1940.
...
when official competitions resumed, although they had finished last in
1935–36 and should have been relegated; ultimately a play-off was arranged with the other demoted team
Atlético Aviación
Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to:
Sports Teams Athletico
*Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy
*Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...
– associated with the
Spanish Air Force
, colours =
, colours_label =
, march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 10 December
, equipment ...
and thus favoured by the military regime. The
Madrid team won the tie and, with support from their powerful backers, went on to claim the league title and retain it. It would not be until
1953–54 that Osasuna again participated in the top division, and
1956–57 when they managed to keep their place among the elite, remaining there for three further years.
In September 1967, Osasuna's
El Sadar Stadium
Estadio El Sadar (; known as ''Estadio Reyno de Navarra'' from 2005 to 2011, ) is a football stadium in Pamplona, Navarre, Spain. The stadium holds 23,576 people. It was built in 1967 and is the home of Osasuna. It is currently used mostly for f ...
was opened with a match between Osasuna and
Vitoria de Setubal, with the hosts winning 3–0. The club achieved its first ever
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, w ...
qualification in
1985–86 after
finishing sixth in the league; their campaign began in the first round, eliminating Scottish club
Rangers
A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to:
* Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...
before being knocked out by Belgian club
Waregem
Waregem (; vls, Woaregem), sometimes known as Waereghem, is a municipality and city located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality lies in the valley of the river Leie, between Kortrijk and Ghent. It is part of the arrondi ...
3–2 on aggregate. In the
1990–91 season, Osasuna finished fourth in the league, their best ever league finish until then. This gave them qualification for the
following season's UEFA Cup, where the club reached the third round by eliminating
Slavia Sofia
PFC Slavia Sofia ( bg, ПФК Славия София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which currently competes in the top tier of the Bulgarian football league system, the First League. Slavia's home groun ...
and
Stuttgart. Finishing last in
1993–94, the side spent six years in the second level, before finally being promoted in
1999–2000 after placing 2nd in the league table.
In the
2002–03 Copa del Rey
The 2002–03 Copa del Rey was the 101st staging of the Copa del Rey.
The competition started on 28 August 2002 and concluded on 28 June 2003 with the final, held at the Martinez Valero in Elche, in which Mallorca lifted the trophy for the first ...
, Osasuna reached the semi-finals for the first time since 1988. The team entered the competition in the Round of 64, where they beat
Lemona
Lemoa ( es, Lemona) is a town and municipality located in the province of Biscay, in the autonomous community of Basque Country, northern Spain.
Sports in Lemoa
* SD Lemona (Football) in ''Segunda División B
Segunda División B ( en, Second ...
. In the following rounds, they beat
Eibar
Eibar ( eu, Eibar, es, Éibar) is a city and municipality within the province of Gipuzkoa, in the Basque Country of Spain. It is the head town of Debabarrena, one of the '' eskualde / comarca'' of Gipuzkoa.
Eibar has 27,138 inhabitants ( Eusta ...
,
Real Unión and Sevilla, until the semi-finals where they were knocked out after losing to
Recreativo de Huelva
Real Club Recreativo de Huelva, S.A.D. () is a Spanish football club based in Huelva, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 23 December 1889, 2 days before Christmas, they are the oldest football club in Spain, and currently play i ...
4–2 on aggregate.
In
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
, they reached the Copa del Rey final for the first time, losing to
Real Betis
Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () or just Betis, is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1907, it plays in La Liga. It holds home games at the Estadio Benito Vill ...
after
extra time
Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...
.
They had a tough campaign in
that season's Copa Del Rey, almost being eliminated in the round of 64 but narrowly beating
Segunda División B side
Castellón on penalties after a goalless draw. They went on to beat
Girona 1–0 in extra time, then Getafe, Sevilla and
Atletico Madrid each by just one goal difference on aggregate to get to the final.
On 27 November 2005, Osasuna played their 1,000th game in La Liga. After a stellar
2005–06 domestic campaign, they made history by finishing in fourth place – equalling the best-ever finish – to enter the
qualifying phase for the
UEFA Champions League in the following season. This achievement was made more dramatic by the suspense that was maintained until the last day of the championship in which Osasuna and
Sevilla
Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsu ...
were both vying for fourth place – both eventually ended the season with the same number of points but Osasuna finished higher due to their head-to-head record. However, they did not make it to the Champions League group phase, after being eliminated by
Hamburger SV
Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of thre ...
in the third qualifying round, leaving the
Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
se to compete in the UEFA Cup for the fifth time.
Osasuna were drawn in Group D of the
2006–07 UEFA Cup
The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match ...
, and qualified for the knockout stage after finishing second in the group. In the Round of 32, they and were drawn against
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...
, progressing 1–0 on aggregate, drawing 0–0 away before winning 1–0 in Pamplona through an extra time winner by
Javad Nekounam
Javad Nekounam ( fa, جواد نکونام; born 7 September 1980) is an Iranian retired professional footballer who played as a central midfielder and is the current manager of Foolad FC.
He spent most of his professional career with Pas and S ...
. Osasuna's next opponent was Rangers, and Osasuna again progressed following a 1–1 draw in
Glasgow and a 1–0 win at home. The club was drawn against German side
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional association football, football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes ...
in the quarter-finals. Regarded as severe underdogs, Osasuna not only progressed to the semi-finals but did so in style (a 3–0 away win had virtually sealed the tie, but the ''Rojillos'' also won the second leg, 1–0). In the semi-finals, the club was drawn against
holders and fellow Spanish side Sevilla, eventually losing 1–2 on aggregate after a 1–0 home win.
In the following two seasons, Osasuna struggled heavily in the league. In
2007–08, they finished 17th and only one point above relegation. In
2008–09, they only avoided relegation in the final day; being in 18th place and entering the final matchday at home to
Real Madrid, the club fell behind but came back with two goals (the decider courtesy of
Juanfran, a ''Merengue'' youth graduate) to beat 9-men ''Los Blancos'' and remain in the top flight by finishing 15th.
Osasuna had great success in
2011–12, finishing seventh and one place away from qualifying for the European places, but struggled again in the next 2 seasons, finishing 16th in
2012–13
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 ...
and being relegated to the second division after an 18th-place finish in
2013–14. In the
2014–15 season, the club managed to end up one position above the relegation zone. A managerial change resulted in substantial improvement, and Osasuna won the final match of the regular
2015–16 season 0–5 away to
Oviedo
Oviedo (; ast, Uviéu ) is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias in northern Spain and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It is also the name of the municipality that contains the city. Oviedo is located a ...
, finishing sixth in the table and qualifying for promotion playoffs and. They subsequently won all the playoff games – against
Gimnàstic de Tarragona
Club Gimnàstic de Tarragona, commonly known as Gimnàstic Tarragona or sometimes just Nàstic, is a Spanish sports club based in Tarragona, in the autonomous community of Catalonia. Its football team plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2 ...
in the semi-final and
Girona in the final – to achieve promotion to La Liga once again. Osasuna finished
2016–17 in 19th position, resulting in relegation. They could only manage 8th in their
first campaign back in the second tier.
On 20 May 2019, Osasuna achieved promotion back to La Liga after
Granada's victory over
Albacete
Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete.
Lying in the south-east of the Iberian Peninsula, t ...
, mathematically ensuring a promotion place with three matches left in the season. On 31 May, they defeated
Córdoba to finish as
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 ...
champions.
The club celebrated its centenary in October 2020 with a league victory over Athletic Bilbao, albeit the match was played in an empty stadium owing to restrictions caused by the
COVID-19 pandemic in Spain
The COVID-19 pandemic in Spain has resulted in confirmed cases of COVID-19 and deaths.
The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Spain on 31 January 2020, when a German tourist tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in La Gomera, Canary Isla ...
. In May 2021, after decades of silence and alongside other Navarrese institutions, club president Luis Sabalza paid homage for the first time to the members who went through the rearguard Nationalist repression during the
Spanish Civil War, on behalf of the board of directors.
Kit evolution
Red and navy blue are the colours of CA Osasuna, reflected in the home kit and club logo. The away kits tends to differ greatly from the home kit.
Rivalries
Osasuna has many rivalries: these include Real Zaragoza, Real Madrid,
and Athletic Bilbao.
The rivalry with Real Madrid began in December 1990, when Osasuna won 4–0 at the
Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.
The rivalry with Zaragoza wasn't always a heated rivalry, but hostility between the two clubs began during a match in October 1987, when Zaragoza fans threw an object at Osasuna goalkeeper
Roberto Santamaría. Since then, these matches often have altercations between fans and players, and it is known to be one of the most heated rivalries in Spain. In recent years however, there have been large periods of time where this rivalry match wasn't played, due to the clubs being in different divisions.
Seasons
Recent seasons
:
Season to season
----
*41 seasons in
La Liga
*37 seasons in
Segunda División
*13 seasons in
Tercera División
Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...
(as third tier)
*1 season in
Categorías Regionales
Current squad
First team squad
.
Reserve team
Out on loan
Current technical staff
Honours
Segunda División:
* Winners (4):
1952–53,
1955–56,
1960–61,
2018–19
Tercera División
Tercera División ( en, Third Division) was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segunda División'', and the semi-professional ''Segunda Di ...
:
* Winners (7):
1931–32,
1947–48,
1948–49,
1968–69,
1971–72,
1974–75,
1976–77
Notable players
Note: this list includes players that have appeared in at least 100 league games and/or have reached international status.
World Cup players
The following players have been selected by their country in the
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
Finals, while playing for Osasuna.
*
Savo Milošević
Savo Milošević ( sr-Cyrl, Саво Милошевић, ; born 2 September 1973) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player.
A former forward, he signed for English club Aston Villa after making a name for himself at Partiz ...
(
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 FIFA ...
)
*
Francisco Silva (
2014)
*
Ante Budimir (
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
)
*
Ez Abde (
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
)
Famous coaches
*
Javier Aguirre
Javier Aguirre Onaindía (; born 1 December 1958), nicknamed ''El Vasco'' (The Basque), is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager who is currently in charge of Spanish team RCD Mallorca.
Aguirre played for Mexico at the 1986 Wor ...
*
Ivica Brzić
*
Rafael Benítez
*
José Antonio Camacho
José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and manager.
He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major titles, in ...
*
Miguel Ángel Lotina
Miguel Ángel Lotina Oruechebarría (; born 18 June 1957) is a Spanish professional manager and former footballer who played as a striker.
Playing career
Born in Meñaka, Biscay, Lotina started playing football with local Gernika Club, repr ...
*
José Luis Mendilibar
José Luis Mendilibar Etxebarria (born 14 March 1961) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently manager of Sevilla FC.
He played no higher than Segunda División, where he made 290 appearances and scored 34 goals mai ...
*
José Ángel Ziganda
José Ángel 'Cuco' Ziganda Lakunza (born 1 October 1966) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a centre-forward. He is the current manager of SD Huesca.
He played 381 La Liga matches over the course of 12 seasons (111 ...
*
Jagoba Arrasate
Women's football
See also
*
CA Osasuna B – Osasuna's
B team in ''
Segunda División B''
*
CD Subiza – affiliated team in ''
Tercera División RFEF''
*
CA Osasuna cantera
The cantera (''quarry'') of Spanish professional football club CA Osasuna is the organisation's youth academy, developing players from childhood through to the integration of the best prospects into the adult teams.
The final category within t ...
–
youth system up to 19 years, in leagues including ''
División de Honor Juvenil''
*
Xota FS – affiliated
futsal club
*
Corruption in Navarre
References
External links
Official websiteFutbolme team profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osasuna
Football clubs in Navarre
Association football clubs established in 1920
Sport in Pamplona
1920 establishments in Spain
La Liga clubs
Segunda División clubs