Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...

, Spain. It plays in

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

, the top flight of Spanish football. It plays home games at the 60,721-seat

Estadio Benito Villamarín es:Estadio is the spanish language word for Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered s ...

. Real Betis won the league title in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

and the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. Given the club's tumultuous history and many relegations, its motto is ''¡Viva el Betis manque pierda!'' ().

History

The name "Betis" is derived from ''

Baetis ''Baetis'' is a genus of mayfly, mayflies of the family Baetidae, known as the blue-winged olive to angling, anglers. There are at least 150 described species in ''Baetis''. They are distributed worldwide, with the most variety in North Amer ...

'', the Roman name for the

Guadalquivir The Guadalquivir (, also , , ) is the fifth-longest river in the Iberian Peninsula and the second-longest river with its entire length in Spain. The Guadalquivir is the only major navigable river in Spain. Currently it is navigable from Seville ...

river which passes through Seville and which the Roman province there was named after. ''Real'' ('Royal') was added in 1914 after the club received patronage from King

Alfonso XIII Alfonso XIII (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Alfonso León Fernando María Jaime Isidro Pascual Antonio de Borbón y Habsburgo-Lorena''; French language, French: ''Alphonse Léon Ferdinand Marie Jacques Isidore Pascal Antoine de Bourbon''; 17 May ...

Foundation

Betis' city rivals

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) 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 Peninsula. Seville ...

were the first club in Seville, founded in October 1905, while a second club, ''España Balompié'' were established in September 1907. "''Balompié''" translates literally as "football", as opposed to the most commonly adopted anglicised version, "''fútbol''". Balompié was founded by students from the local Polytechnic Academy, and were in operation for one year before being officially recognised in 1909 as ''Sevilla Balompié''; despite this, 1907 remains the official foundation date of the club. Following an internal split from Sevilla FC, another club was formed, Betis Football Club. In 1914, they merged with Sevilla Balompié. The club received its royal patronage in the same year, and therefore adopted the name Real Betis Balompié. Fans continued to refer to the club as ''Balompié'' and were themselves known as ''Los Balompedistas'' until the 1930s, when ''Betis'' and the adjective ''Béticos'' became common terminology when discussing the club and its followers. Real Betis originally played in all blue jerseys and white shorts, for no other reason than the easy availability of such plain colours. However, one of the club's founders and team captain, Manuel Ramos Asensio, was keen to take advantage of his relationships made while studying in Scotland, contacted

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

(whose green and white colours matched the Andalusian regional flag) and obtained the same fabric to make kits for his own club. Ramos had the lines re-orientated from horizontal 'hoops' into vertical stripes to make the shirts (no other Spanish club used the combination at the time). There is no mention of Celtic or Scotland in the history of Betis on the club's official website, but in 2017 the club officially acknowledged the link by producing a special hooped kit to coincide with

Andalusia Day The Andalusia Day () is celebrated on 28 February and commemorates the 28 February 1980 referendum on the Statute of Autonomy of Andalusia, in which the Andalusian electorate voted for the statute that made Andalusia an autonomous community of S ...

. The blue colour is still often used in away kit designs.

1930s: promotion, championship and relegation

During the

Spanish Second Republic The Spanish Republic (), commonly known as the Second Spanish Republic (), was the form of democratic government in Spain from 1931 to 1939. The Republic was proclaimed on 14 April 1931 after the deposition of King Alfonso XIII. It was dissol ...

(1931–1939), royal patronage of all organisations was nullified, and thus the club was known as Betis Balompié until after the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

when it would revert to the full name. The club reached the Copa del Presidente de la República final for the first time on 21 June 1931, when it lost 3–1 to

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

in Madrid. Betis marked their 25th anniversary year by winning their first

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

title in

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

, finishing two points ahead of

Real Oviedo Real Oviedo ( Asturian: Real Uviéu) is a Spanish professional football club based in Oviedo, Asturias. Founded on 26 March 1926, the club plays in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system. The club plays at ...

, thus becoming the first club from

to play in

. On 28 April 1935, under the guidance of Irish coach Patrick O'Connell, Betis won

, to date their only top division title. They topped the table by a single point over Madrid FC. A year later Betis went down to seventh. This was due to the dismantling of the championship-winning team because of the club's poor economic situation and the arrival of the Civil War, meaning that just 15 months after winning the league title only two players who won in 1935 were left: Peral and Saro. No official league was held during the Civil War between 1936 and 1939, until its resumption for the 1939–40 season and the first year back highlighted Betis' decline as exactly five years after winning the title the club was

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

Darkest period

Despite a brief return to the top division which lasted only one season, the club continued to decline and in 1947 an all-time low was reached when the club were relegated to

Tercera División Tercera División () was the fourth tier of the Spanish football league system. Until 1977, it was the third tier of the Spanish football league system. Founded in 1929, it was below the ''Primera División'' (also known as La Liga), the ''Segund ...

. Many fans see the ten years they spent in the category as key to the "identity" and "soul" of the club. During this time, Betis earned a reputation for filling its stadium and having massive support at away matches, known as the "Green March". When the side returned to the second level in 1954, it gained the distinction of being the only club in Spain to have won all three major divisions' titles. Much of the credit for guiding Betis through this dark period and back into the ''Segunda'' lies with chairman Manuel Ruiz Rodríguez.

Benito Villamarín

In 1955, Manuel Ruiz Rodríguez stepped down from running the club believing he could not offer further economic growth, he was replaced by Betis most famous former president, Benito Villamarín. During his reign Betis returned to the top division in 1958–59 and finished in third place in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. His purchase of the Estadio Heliópolis in 1961 is seen as a key point in the history of the club – the grounds were named after him as ''Estadio Benito Villamarín''. In 1965, Villamarín stepped down from his position after ten years at the helm of the club. Just one year after Villamarín's departure, the club would again be relegated to division two, then rising and falling almost consecutively until consolidating their place in the top level in 1974–75.

First Copa del Rey Title and European Qualification

On 25 June 1977, Betis played Athletic Bilbao at the

Vicente Calderón Stadium The Vicente Calderón Stadium ( ) was the home stadium of Atlético Madrid from its completion in 1966 to 2017, with a seating capacity of 54,907. It was located on the banks of the Manzanares, in the Arganzuela district of Madrid, Spain. The ...

in the Copa del Rey final. The match finished 2–2, with Betis winning 8–7 after a staggering 21 penalties taken to win its first ever Copa del Rey title. This rounded off a solid season in which the club finished fifth in the league. After that triumph, Betis competed in the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: after knocking out

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

3–2 on aggregate in the first round, the side reached the quarter-finals, where they lost to

Dynamo Moscow MGO VFSO "Dynamo" (), commonly known as Dynamo Moscow (), is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. Founded by Felix Dzerzhinsky on 18 April 1923, Dynamo Moscow was the first institution created from the All-Union Dynamo Sports Club. Dynamo Mosco ...

. Despite their strong performance in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, the team suffered league relegation. The following year, Betis returned to the top flight and ushered in a period of "good times" for the club, with the next three seasons seeing three top-six finishes, as well as

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

qualification in

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. During the summer of 1982, the Benito Villamarín hosted two matches as part of the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

, and also witnessed the Spain national team's famous 12–1 hammering of

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

qualify Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

Economic crisis and Manuel Ruiz de Lopera

In 1992, Betis found itself subject to new league rules and regulations due to its restructuring as an autonomous sporting group (SAD), requiring the club to come up with 1,200 million pesetas, roughly double that of all the first and second division teams, despite being in level two at the time. In just three months, the fans raised 400 million pesetas with then vice-president Manuel Ruiz de Lopera stepping in to provide an economic guarantee while himself becoming majority shareholder as the team narrowly avoided relegation. On 11 September 1994, Real Betis played its 1,000th game in La Liga.

Serra Ferrer success

After another three seasons in the second division, with the club managed by Lorenzo Serra Ferrer, Betis returned to the top flight for the 1994–95 season, subsequently achieving a final third position, thus qualifying to the UEFA Cup. Camiseta aniversario betis 001

In the European campaign, Betis knocked out Fenerbahçe (4–1 on aggregate) and

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern (), K'lautern or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to Association football, football ...

(4–1) before losing to defeated finalists

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

(3–2). In 1997, 20 years after winning the trophy for the first time, the club returned to the final of the Copa del Rey – again held in Madrid, although this time at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium Santiago Bernabéu Stadium (, ) is a retractable roof association football, football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a seating capacity of around 83,000 following its extensive renovation completed in late 2024, the stadium has the second-largest ...

– losing 2–3 against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

after

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play 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 only if the game is required t ...

. Incidentally, ''Barça'' was the club Serra Ferrer would leave Betis for that summer, to be replaced by former player

Luis Aragonés Luis Aragonés Suárez (; 28 July 1938 – 1 February 2014) was a Spanish football player and manager. Aragonés spent the majority of his career as a player and coach at Atlético Madrid. He was a prominent player and then coach of the succes ...

. Aragonés would only last one season with the club, leading the side to the eighth position and to the quarter-finals in the Cup Winners' Cup, where they would lose 2–5 on aggregate to eventual winners Chelsea. Aragonés was followed by the controversial reign of

Javier Clemente Javier Clemente Lázaro (; born 12 March 1950) is a Spanish football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Forced to retire from playing in his early 20s through injury, he embarked on a coaching career with his first managerial ...

, who spat on a fan and implied Andalusia was "another country!". The team slipped down the table, finishing 11th and being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

in the third round. For the next couple of seasons, Betis went through numerous managers, a relegation and a promotion, after which the team finished sixth in the league with

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a former Spanish footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals ...

at the helm. Ramos was gone after just one season, however, being replaced by former Cup Winners' Cup-winning manager

Víctor Fernández Víctor Fernández Braulio (born 28 November 1960) is a Spanish football manager. He had four spells with his hometown team Zaragoza, winning the Copa del Rey in 1994 and the Cup Winners' Cup a year later. He also led Tenerife, RC Celta de Vi ...

. He led the team to eighth and

ninth In music, a ninth is a compound interval consisting of an octave plus a second. Like the second, the interval of a ninth is classified as a dissonance in common practice tonality. Since a ninth is an octave larger than a second, its ...

in the league and the third round of the 2002–03 UEFA Cup, being knocked out by

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

(1–2 on aggregate), during his two-year reign. For 2004, Fernández was replaced by the returning Serra Ferrer, who guided the team to the fourth position in the top flight. They also returned to the Vicente Calderón on 11 June 2005 for the Copa del Rey final, lifting the trophy for only the second time after an extra-time winner by youth graduate Dani in a 2–1 win against

Osasuna Club Atlético Osasuna (, ''Osasuna Athletic Club''), or simply Osasuna, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Pamplona, Navarre. It was founded on 24 October 1920 and plays in La Liga, the top division of Spanish ...

. The league finish meant Betis became the first Andalusian team to compete in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, and it reached the group stage after disposing of

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

in the last qualifying round (3–2 on aggregate). Drawn in Group G, and in spite of a 1–0 home win against Chelsea, the club eventually finished third, being "demoted" to the

, where it would be ousted in the

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

by Romanian club Steaua București with a 0–3 home loss. Compared to the previous season, the league campaign was disappointing, with the club finishing in 14th place, just three points off the relegation zone.

Centenary celebrations

Betis celebrated their

centenary A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century. Notable events Notable centennial events at a national or world-level include: * Centennial Exhibition, 1876, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ...

year in 2007. The festivities included a special match against Milan, the reigning European Champions, on August 9, with the hosts winning 1–0 thanks to a

Mark González Mark Dennis González Hoffmann (born 10 July 1984) is a Chileans, Chilean former professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He played top flight football in Chile, Russia, Spain, Brazil and England. He was descr ...

penalty Penalty, The Penalty, Penalization, Penalisation, Penalize or Penalise may refer to: Sports * Foul (sports) ** Penalty (golf) ** Penalty (gridiron football) ** Penalty (ice hockey) ** Penalty (rugby) ** Penalty (rugby union) ** Penalty kick (assoc ...

early in the second half. Seven days later, the club won the

Ramón de Carranza Trophy The Ramón de Carranza Trophy () is a pre-season association football, football tournament organised by Cádiz City Hall, in memory of its former mayor, Ramón de Carranza – after whom Estadio Ramón de Carranza, the Cádiz F.C. stadium used to ...

held in neighbouring

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

, beating

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 football league system, Spanish league system. Zarag ...

on penalties in the final, having defeated Real Madrid in the semi-finals. Surrounding the celebration, it was a time of great change in terms of the playing and technical teams, with eight new signings replacing 14 departures. In the summer of 2006, Serra Ferrer was replaced by

Luis Fernandez Luis Miguel Fernández Toledo (born 2 October 1959), known as Luis Fernandez, is a French football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. Fernandez spent most of his playing career for Paris Saint-Germain. He earned 6 ...

for the 2006–07 season. However, the two seasons that encompassed the centenary year (2006–07 and 2007–08) were disappointing, with the club having four different managers and barely avoiding relegation in both seasons.

Relegation

After many years of staving off relegation, Betis' 2008–09 season culminated with a 1–1 draw against

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid (), is a Spanish professional List of football clubs in Spain, football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León that will compete from the 2025–26 season in the . The club ...

at home. As a result, the club finished 18th in the table and consequently was relegated to the second division on goal difference. On 15 June 2009 over 65,000 ''Beticos'', including icons such as

Rafael Gordillo Rafael Gordillo Vázquez (born 24 February 1957) is a Spanish retired footballer. A tremendously attacking left wing-back, equally at ease as defender and midfielder and with a good effort rate, he had an unmistakable style of playing with his ...

, Del Sol,

Hipólito Rincón Hipólito "Poli" Rincón Povedano (born 28 April 1957) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a striker. He played mainly for Real Madrid and Real Betis in a 13-year career, amassing La Liga totals of 239 games and 81 goals. Having won ...

, Julio Cardeñosa and others, joined the protest march in Sevilla with the slogan "''15-J Yo Voy Betis''" to let the majority owner Ruiz de Lopera know that it was time to put his 54% share of the club on the market for someone, some entity or the Betis supporters to buy those shares and remove Lopera from the day-to-day operations of the club. Despite the protests, no upper management changes were made during the season, which would ultimately see Betis fail to gain promotion back to the top level.

Lopera court action and sale

Seville judge Mercedes Alaya was investigating links between Betis and other Ruiz de Lopera-owned businesses, leading to him being formally charged with fraud. On 7 July 2010, one week before the start of preliminary court proceedings, Lopera sold 94% of the shares that he owned (51% of Betis total shares) to Bitton Sport, fronted by Luis Oliver, for the surprisingly low figure of €16 million, leaving Lopera with only minor shares; Oliver had already reportedly taken two football clubs, Cartagena and Xerez, to the brink of bankruptcy. Before the sale could be officially sanctioned, however, Ayala froze Lopera shareholdings. Left with nothing, despite putting down a €1 million deposit, Oliver hastily bought a nominal number of shares from a third party and was voted onto the board of directors by the existing members (all former cohorts of Lopera), allowing him to carry on running the club. In response to this, the judge appointed well-respected former Betis, Real Madrid and Spain national team legend

to administer Lopera's shares to ensure Lopera was not still running the club and that decisions made were for the benefit of the club not individual board members.

La Liga return

Again under

Pepe Mel José "Pepe" Mel Pérez (born 28 February 1963) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a striker, currently a manager. He amassed Segunda División totals of 215 matches and 78 goals over eight seasons, for Real Madrid Cast ...

, Betis started 2011–12 with four wins in as many games, with

Rubén Castro Rubén Castro Martín (; born 27 June 1981) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played mainly as a striker. He represented mainly Las Palmas and Betis during his career, appearing in 282 matches in La Liga and 435 in Segunda Divis ...

retaining his goal scoring form from the previous season, where he scored 27 goals. Betis finished 13th in their first season since returning to La Liga. In the 2012–13 season, Betis finished seventh in La Liga and qualified for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at the Juventus Stadium in Tu ...

, the first European qualification for the club since the 2005–06 Champions League. This European campaign ended in the quarter-finals after losing on penalties to local rivals Sevilla. Betis were relegated from La Liga with three games still to play in the 2013–14 season, but returned immediately as champions with two games to spare.

Back into UEFA competitions

In the 2017–18 season, under

Quique Setién Enrique "Quique" Setién Solar (; born 27 September 1958) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a central midfielder, currently manager of Chinese Super League club Beijing Guoan. As a player, he was nicknamed ''El Maestro'', and was bes ...

, Betis finished sixth in La Liga and earned a spot in the Europa League. The 2018–19 campaign was very positive; the club reached the Copa del Rey semi-finals and topped their group in the Europa League, before eventually being knocked out by

Stade Rennais Stade Rennais Football Club (SRFC, ), commonly referred to as Stade Rennais () or simply Rennes,''Rennais'' and ''Stade Rennes'', used by some English-speaking media outlets and journalists, are not grammatically correct names for the club. is ...

in the

round of 32 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

. On 9 July 2020,

Manuel Pellegrini Manuel Luis Pellegrini Ripamonti (; ; born 16 September 1953) is a Chilean professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of Real Betis. As a coach, he has managed clubs in S ...

was appointed as Betis manager ahead of the 2020–21 season. Pellegrini guided Betis to a sixth-place finish and a Europa League spot, an improvement since the previous season (2019–20) which saw Betis finish 15th. On 23 April 2022 Betis won the

final against

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

after drawing 1–1 after 120 minutes and winning 5–4 on penalties. It was the first trophy after 17 years, since they won their second Copa del Rey on 2005 against

(2–1). The club displayed consistency under Pellegrini's management by qualifying for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

for three consecutive seasons, finishing fifth and sixth in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, respectively. The club qualified for the Conference League after a seventh-place finish in 2023-24 season and reached the club's first ever European final the following season. However, they lost to Chelsea 1-4.

Seville derby

Betis have a long-standing rivalry with city neighbours

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, that competes in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. The club was formed on 25 January ...

. The two have met 114 times in official competition, with Sevilla holding a 45% win ratio over Betis (31%). The first match between the two clubs took place on 8 February 1915, with Sevilla winning 4–3. The match was not completed, as high tensions led an aggressive crowd to invade the pitch, forcing the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other title ...

to abandon the match. In 1916, the first

Copa Andalucía The Copa Andalucía is played with the ACB teams of Andalusia and sometimes Andalusian LEB teams. It is organized by the Andalusian Basketball Federation since 1997. Finals Source: Titles Editions with more than one round 2001 Cajasur Có ...

was held, this being the first official derby of the Sevilla area. Of the 17 runnings of the cup, Sevilla were victorious 14 times, to Betis' one sole conquest; this included a 22–0 routing after the latter sent their youth team, in 1918. The first time the teams met in league, in ''Segunda'', happened in 1928–29, with both teams winning their home matches (3–0 and 2–1). They played for the first time in the Spanish top division during the 1934–35 season, with a 0–3 home defeat for Sevilla and a 2–2 draw at Betis, with the latter winning the national championship. On 17 January 1943, Betis lost 5–0 at Sevilla, eventually being relegated. In the first game held at the

Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium The Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium (; ) is a association football, football stadium in Seville, Spain. It is the home stadium of Sevilla Fútbol Club, Sevilla, and is named after the club's former president, Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán (1900–195 ...

, on 21 September 1958, the ''Verdiblancos'' won it 4–2. In later years, several matches were also marred by violence, including: a security guard attacked by a Sevilla fan with a crutch (that he did not require to walk), Betis

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Toni Prats Antonio 'Toni' Prats Cervera (born 9 September 1971) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career spent mainly with Betis, he appeared in 338 La Liga matches over 12 seasons (467 across both major levels ...

being attacked and Sevilla manager Juande Ramos being struck by a bottle of water; the latter incident led to the 2007 Copa del Rey match being suspended, being played out three weeks later in

Getafe Getafe () is a municipalities in Spain, municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city c ...

with no spectators. On 7 February 2009 Betis won 2–1 at the Pizjuán, but was eventually relegated from the top flight, while Sevilla finished in third position. On 9 November 2019 more than 10,000 Betis fans visited the team training before the last derby in 2019.

Statistics

History in European competitions

:''Accurate as of 28 May 2025'' Source
UEFA.com
br />Pld = Matches played; W = Matches won; D = Matches drawn; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference.

Team statistics

Season to season

---- *60 seasons in

*28 seasons in

*7 seasons in

(as third tier) *Participations in

: 1 *Participations in

: 7 *Participations in

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 2

Recent La Liga seasons

Real Betis were relegated from

in both the 1999–2000 and 2013–14 seasons but were promoted back on their first attempt each time.

Players

First-team

Reserve team

Out on loan

Retired numbers

Miki Roqué Miguel "Miki" Roqué Farrero (8 July 1988 – 24 June 2012) was a Spanish professional footballer who played as a central defender. He signed with Liverpool before his 18th birthday, going on to be loaned to several teams in England and Spain f ...

''(deceased)'' (2009–12)

Player records

Most appearances

Most goals

Personnel

Board of directors

*President: Ángel Haro García *Vice-president: José Miguel López Catalán *Board members: José Montoro Pizarro, Tomás Solano Franco, Ernesto Sanguino Gómez, José Maria Pagola Serra, Adrián Fernández Romero, María Victoria López Sánchez, Rafael Salas Garcia, Ramón Alarcón Rubiales, Cayetano García de la Borbolla Carrero *Ambassadors:

, Andrés Saavedra

Technical staff

*Director of Football: Manu Fajardo *Assistant Director of Football:

Alexis Trujillo Humberto Alexis Trujillo Oramas (born 30 July 1965) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Playing career Born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, Trujillo was a penalty kick specialist. His 21-year professio ...

*Head Scout: Vasiliki Pappa *Scouting: Jakob Friis-Hansen,

Vlada Stošić Vlada Stošić (; born 31 January 1965) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is best known for his spell with Red Star Belgrade in the 1980s and 1990s, being part of the side's European Cup victory in 1 ...

, Carlos Vargas, Adrian Espárraga and Paulo Meneses *Technical Analysis Department: Tino Luis Cabrera (Head) and Jaime Quesada *Scouting U20s:

Juan José Cañas Juan José Cañas Pérez (9 June 1826 – 19 January 1918) is known for possibly having written the ''Himno Nacional De El Salvador'' ( national hymn of El Salvador) along with Italian-born composer Juan Aberle. Cañas studied medicine at un ...

(Head) and Pedro Morilla

Coaching staff

*Head coach:

*Assistant coach:

Rubén Cousillas Rubén Cousillas Fuse (born 9 May 1957 in Roque Pérez) is an Argentinian football assistant manager and former player, who is assistant manager at Betis to Manuel Pellegrini. Playing career Cousillas started his career at San Lorenzo wit ...

*Fitness coach: José Cabello, Félix Fernández *Goalkeeper coach:

Toni Doblas Antonio "Toni" Doblas Santana (born 5 August 1980) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent the better part of his professional career with Betis, appearing in 95 competitive matches and winning one Copa del Rey. He ...

Medical staff

*Head of Medical Services: Tomás Calero *Physiotherapists: Fran Molano, José Manuel Pizarro, Manuel López, Manuel Alcantarilla *Nurse: José María Montiel

Honours

Real Betis Balompie has won all the national championships there are.

Leagues

**Winners (1): 1934–35 *

**Winners (7): 1931–32, 1941–42, 1957–58, 1970–71, 1973–74,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2014–15 *

**Winners (1): 1953–54

Cups

**Winners (3): 1976–77, 2004–05, 2021–22 *

Copa Federación de España The Copa Real Federación Española de Fútbol, popularly known as the Copa Federación (Federation Cup) or Copa RFEF, is a Spanish football competition organised by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF). It has been held since the 1993−9 ...

**Winners (1): 1953–54

European competitions

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

**''Runners-up (1):''

2024-25 A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

Others

* Campeonato Regional Sur ''(defunct)'' **Winners (1): 1927–28

Coaches

Presidents

*SEVILLA BALOMPIÉ ** Juan del Castillo Ochoa ''(1907–09)'' ** Alfonso del Castillo Ochoa ''(1909–10)'' ** José Gutiérrez Fernández ''(1910–11)'' ** Juan del Castillo Ochoa ''(1912)'' ** Herbert Richard Jones ''(1914)'' *BETIS FÚTBOL CLUB ** Eladio García de la Borbolla ''(1909)'' ** Manuel Gutiérrez Fernández ''(1910–11)'' ** Miguel Folgado ''(1913–14)'' ** Pedro Rodríguez de la Borbolla ''(1914)'' *REAL BETIS BALOMPIÉ ** Herbert Richard Jones ''(1914–15)'' ** Pedro Rodríguez de la Borbolla ''(1915–17)'' ** Roberto Vicente de Mata ''(1917–18)'' ** Eduardo Hernández Nalda ''(1918–19)'' ** Carlos Alarcón de la Lastra ''(1919–20)'' ** Jerónimo Pérez de Vargas ''(1920–21)'' ** Carlos Alarcón de la Lastra ''(1921–22)'' ** Gil Gómez Bajuelo ''(1922–23)'' ** Ramón Navarro ''(1923–25)'' ** Antonio Polo ''(1925–26)'' ** Ramón Cortecero ''(1926–27)'' ** Antonio de la Guardia ''(1927–28)'' ** Ignacio Sánchez Mejías ''(1928–29)'' ** Daniel Mezquita ''(1929–30)'' ** Camilo Romero Sánchez ''(1930)'' ** Adolfo Cuelliar Rodríguez ''(1930–31)'' ** Jose Ignacio Mantecón ''(1931–33)'' ** Antonio Moreno Sevillano ''(1933–39)'' ** Ramón Poll ''(1940–42)'' ** Alfonso Alarcón de Lastra ''(1942–43)'' ** Francisco Cantalapiedra ''(1943–44)'' ** Eduardo Benjumena ''(1944–45)'' ** Manuel Romero Puerto ''(1945–46)'' ** Filomeno de Aspe ''(1946–47)'' ** Pascual Aparicio ''(1947–50)'' ** Francisco de la Cerda ''(1950–52)'' ** Manuel Ruiz Rodríguez ''(1952–55)'' ** Benito Villamarín ''(1955–65)'' ** Avelino Villamarín ''(1965–66)'' ** Andrés Gaviño ''(1966–67)'' ** Julio de la Puerta ''(1967–69)'' ** José León ''(1969)'' ** José Núñez Naranjo ''(1969–79)'' ** Juan Manuel Mauduit ''(1979–83)'' ** Gerardo Martínez Retamero ''(1983–89)'' ** Hugo Galera ''(1989–92)'' ** José León ''(1992–96)'' ** Manuel Ruiz de Lopera ''(1996–2006)'' ** José León ''(2006–10)'' **

''(2010–11)'' ** Miguel Guillén Vallejo ''(2011–2014)'' ** Manuel Domínguez Platas ''(2014)'' ** Juan Carlos Ollero Pina ''(2014–2016)'' ** Ángel Haro García ''(2016–present)''

Records

Club records

*Best

position: 1st ( 1934–35) *Worst

position: 20th ( 1990–91, 2013–14) *Biggest home win: Betis 7–0

Zaragoza Zaragoza (), traditionally known in English as Saragossa ( ), is the capital city of the province of Zaragoza and of the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributaries, the ...

( 1958–59) *Biggest away win:

0–5 Betis ( 1977–78) *Biggest home defeat: Betis 0–5

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

( 1960–61, 2013–14), Betis 0–5

( 2006–07), Betis 0–5

( 2017–18) *Biggest away defeat:

9–1 Betis ( 1932–33) *Biggest comeback for: Betis –

: 0–2 to 3–2 ( 2007–08), Betis – Alavés: 0–2 to 3–2 (

2020–21 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 ...

Celta Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta Vigo, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues), the club was foun ...

– Betis: 2–0 to 2–3 (

) *Biggest comeback against: Betis –

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

: 2–0 to 2–5 ( 1999–2000)

Player records

*Most appearances:

José Ramón Esnaola José Ramón Esnaola Laburu (born 30 June 1946) is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent 40 years at the service of Betis, working with the club in various capacities. Club career Esnaola was born in Andoain, Gipuz ...

– 574José Ramón Esnaola
; Manquepierda, 25 July 2018 *Most official appearances:

– 460 *Most appearances in La Liga:

– 378 *Most appearances in Copa del Rey:

– 64 *Most appearances in European competitions:

Joaquín Joaquín or Joaquin is a male given name, the Spanish version of Joachim. Given name * Joaquín (footballer, born 1956) (Joaquín Alonso González), Spanish football midfielder * Joaquín (footballer, born 1981) (Joaquín Sánchez Rodríguez) ...

– 23 *Top goalscorer (La Liga):

– 78 *Top goalscorer (overall):

– 148 *Top goalscorer (European competitions):

Alfonso Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic Kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula. I ...

– 8 *Most red cards: Jaime Quesada – 7 *First to play for

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

: Simón Lecue – 1934 *Most capped for Spain:

– 75 *Spanish internationals: 27

Stadium

Upon Real Betis' formation, the club played at the Campo del Huerto de Mariana. In 1909, Betis moved to the Campo del Prado de Santa Justa, moving to the Campo del Prado de San Sebastián, sharing the site with rivals Sevilla two years later. In 1918, Real Betis moved to the Campo del Patronato Obrero, with the first game at the ground coming against rivals Sevilla on 1 November 1918, resulting in a 5–1 loss for Real Betis. During the 1920s, the ground was redeveloped numerous times by club president Ignacio Sánchez Mejías. After the construction of the Estadio de la Exposición, the former name of Betis' current home, in 1929, Real Betis moved into the site officially in 1936, after playing a number of games at the stadium since its construction. With a 60,720-seat capacity, the

is the home ground of Real Betis. It was named ''Estadio Manuel Ruiz de Lopera'' during the 2000s after the club's owner, who decided to build a new stadium over the old one. Despite much planning, the stadium's renovation plans were constantly postponed, and half of it remained unchanged. On 27 October 2010, it returned to its first denomination after a decision by the club's associates.

Colours

Evolution

In its initial years, Sevilla Balompié dressed in blue shirts with white shorts, which represented the infantry at the time. From late 1911, the team had adopted the shirts of

, at that time vertical stripes of green and white, that were brought over from

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

by Manuel Asensio Ramos, who had studied in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

as a child. On 28 February 2017, on the 37th

, Real Betis wore Celtic-inspired hoops against

Málaga CF Málaga Club de Fútbol (, ''Málaga Football Club''), or simply Málaga, is a club based in Málaga, Andalusia, Spain, who compete in Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish football league system, Spanish league system, following the ...

. When the team became Real Betis Balompié in 1914, various kits were used, including: yellow and black stripes; green T-shirts and a reversion to the blue top and white shorts uniform. By the end of the 1920s, Betis was once again sporting green and white stripes, around this time the Assembly of Ronda (1918) saw the Andalusian region formally adopt these colours, not being known how much the two are linked. Since then, this remained Betis' shirt, despite several versions (including wider stripes). Together with the basic green-and-white shirt, Betis has wore both black and green shorts in addition to white shorts.

References

External links

*
Real Betis
at

(archived)
Real Betis
at

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betis La Liga clubs Football clubs in Seville Copa del Rey winners Organisations based in Spain with royal patronage Association football clubs established in 1907 1907 establishments in Spain Segunda División clubs Multi-sport clubs in Spain