Real Santander is a professional Colombian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

team based in

Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemployment rate and has the ninth-largest population in the country, with 68 ...

, that currently plays in the

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay (formerly ''Torneo Águila''), is the second-division football league in Colombia. Format DIMAYOR has applied a new forma ...

. They play their home games at the

Estadio Villa Concha A stadium (plural, : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to ...

Piedecuesta Piedecuesta (, officially ''Villa de San Carlos del Pie de la Cuesta'') is a town and municipality in the Santander Department in northeastern Colombia, South America. It has a population of about 120,000. It is part of the metropolitan zone of B ...

, a municipality in the metropolitan area of Bucaramanga.

History

The club was founded on 17 January 2006 in Floridablanca, Santander Department after the demise of Real Floridablanca eight years earlier. In late 2006 they acquired the license (''ficha'') of

Pumas de Casanare Real Santander is a professional Colombian football team based in Bucaramanga, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Estadio Villa Concha in Piedecuesta, a municipality in the metropolitan area of B ...

and became affiliated to DIMAYOR, entering

, Colombia's second tier in 2007. The club's best achievement in Primera B was a runner-up finish in the first tournament of the

2017 Categoría Primera B season The 2017 Categoría Primera B season (officially known as the 2017 Torneo Águila season for sponsorship reasons) was the 28th season since its founding as Colombia's second division football league. Format For this season, the league switched fro ...

, losing the double-legged final to

Boyacá Chicó Boyacá is the name of a region in Colombia. It may refer to other connections to Colombia: * Battle of Boyacá * Boyacá Department (Gran Colombia) * Boyacá Department ** Boyacá, Boyacá, a municipality * Boyacá State, a former state * P ...

Relocation to San Andrés Island

Financial difficulties at their hometown forced the club to relocate the men's team to the Caribbean island of San Andrés in late 2018, being renamed as ''Real San Andrés'' and playing their home matches at

Erwin O'Neil Stadium Erwin O'Neil Stadium (Spanish: ''Estadio de Fútbol Erwin O'Neil'') is an association football stadium located on the island of San Andrés, part of the Colombian department of the Archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina. The ...

, becoming the first professional team from the islands, while their youth and women's teams remained behind in Floridablanca. In their first tournament after the relocation, the 2019 Apertura, they ended in 14th place.

Return to Santander

Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the multiple logistical drawbacks stemming from it ranging from lack of transportation to the islands to games behind closed doors and potentially scarce financial support from the local government, the agreement with the San Andrés and Providencia authorities was not renewed at the end of the 2020 season, and the men's team returned to the Santander Department for the 2021 Primera B season. Having been refused the use of

Estadio Alfonso López Estadio Alfonso López is a multi-purpose stadium in Bucaramanga Bucaramanga () is the capital and largest city of the department of Santander, Colombia. Bucaramanga has the fifth-largest economy by GDP in Colombia, has the lowest unemploym ...

by its main tenant

Atlético Bucaramanga Club Atlético Bucaramanga S.A., better known as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bucaramanga. The club plays its home games at the Alfonso López stadium. The club was founded on 11 May 1949 by Rafael C ...

, they played their first games of the season at

Estadio Daniel Villa Zapata Estadio Daniel Villa Zapata is a multi-use stadium in Barrancabermeja, Colombia. It is currently used mostly for football matches. The stadium was originally built in 1970 with a capacity of 6,000 people. Alianza Petrolera play their home matche ...

Barrancabermeja Barrancabermeja is a city in Colombia, located on the shore of the Magdalena River, in the western part of the department of Santander. It is home to the largest oil refinery in the country, under direct management of ECOPETROL. Barrancabermeja ...

until the completion of the adaptation works of

Current squad

References

Football clubs in Colombia Association football clubs established in 2002 2002 establishments in Colombia Categoría Primera B clubs {{Colombia-sport-stub